Sunday, September 09, 2007

Further pictures of the Rhinebeck cairn

Reader Ji sent these in:

7 comments :

pwax said...

I feel like those smaller quartz topped stacks are "new age". Would Native Americans honor an old structure this way? I do not think so.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, the Rhinebeck cairn is very much like the ones I saw on Overlook Mt. at Woodstock, NY.

Norman

Geophile said...

I agree that the small stacks look modern, but it's hard to attribute them to new age people in particular. That's a large rock pile. Would you call it a platform cairn?

Tim MacSweeney said...

Much better photos!
I searched the blog for the Rhinebeck Turtle and it appeared at RockPiles on Thursday, July 13, 2006
Voice of the Turtle - sent in by Tim MacSweeney
Saturday, July 10th, 2004: The Voice of the Turtle
Accessed from web 7/13/06 @: http://peacefile.org/wordpress/?cat=2

I've got friends in Rhinebeck who live at the edge of a swamp, with numerous stone rows I have never explored very much but someday I intend to...

Anonymous said...

To Geophile:

Would I call the cairn at Rhinebeck a platform cairn? No, I would not. To me, platform cairns are flat on top. This one is not.

Norman

Ji Hyang said...

Tim and Norman,
Just read Voice of the Turtle.
I'm fascinated by the idea that this rounded top of the cairn may have been a turtle shape-- although there are a few distinctive features, which are more clearly visible in person. Nothing that appears as a turtle head though I will look again.

Part of the outer, main body of the cairn slopes, as if it had been a ramp. Not sure whether this suggests removal of stones at some date in history or an intentional shape.

Thank you all, I am deeply appreciating your insight.

Tim MacSweeney said...

In the first photo, there is a yellow colored stone, that to me, looks almost identical to a hammer stone I once came across. I think rows and mounds etc. were places people left tools, often as part of an effigy of a turtle or something. I'll try to post it soon, or send to PW...