What I interpret as quarry marks: 
A pile in the sun:
A pair of quartz fragements on a rock next to the trail. They had some debris buildup around them.
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This is about rock piles and stone mound sites in New England. A balance is needed between keeping them secret and making them public. Also arrowheads, stone tools and other surface archaeology.
statcounter
I agree that those marks look like holes created by feathers for the purpose of splitting the boulder. But I wouldn't conclude right away that the intent was for quarrying.
ReplyDeleteThere are several Rhode Island sites showing evidence that boulders were being split for ceremonial purposes using the plug and feather method, including Rockville and Francis Carter Preserve. I believe James and Mary Gage have also documented sites where similar activity had taken place.
Personally, I would look for other signs of quarrying. If none exist, and only features that can be attributed to ceremonialism surround this boulder, then you're more likely looking at evidence of post-contact ritual activity rather than quarrying activity.
I would need to see better photos of these holes before commenting at any length. In particular, I would need a photo or drawing which shows the layout of the holes. Quarrying activity follows fairly well defined rules for hole placement (i.e. lines of holes spaced between 4 to 8 inches apart). Ceremonially drilled holes generally are non-linear in placement, generally involve a few holes, and have utilitarian purpose in terms of subdividing a boulder or ledge into usuable blocks of stone. There is one exception. I know of one case in which traditional quarry splitting technique was used to create a ceremonial split boulder. This boulder also had two non-utilitarian holes drilled at odd angles on the boulder and it was 20 feet away from cairn group.
ReplyDeleteJames Gage
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