Saturday, November 10, 2007

A Comparison of Two Boulder Cairns

by JimP

Cairn A

Cairn B

Cairn A and Cairn B appear to me to share similarities that are beyond coicidence. Both cairns are built in depressions on boulders of similar size. Both cairns fill the depressions in a similar way. Both exhibit possible niches at the bottom centers with possible triangle symbolism offset above the niches.

Cairn A sits in a once-busy area with known 19th and 20th century activity. Nearby features include steel drill holes in a boulder, a nicely built turtle cairn, and a very well-constructed platform cairn. Both of those cairns are suspected by some researchers of having been reconstructed in fairly recent times.

Cairn B, however, sits on private property in a heavily wooded area that has had no known modern activity. It sits less than a mile from Cairn A, yet Cairn B has had a very different life from Cairn A. Cairn B has likely not been reconstructed for at least the last 200 years -- the last time any of the land nearby was pasture.

If both cairns were constructed by the same people, which is suggested by their similarities, it is not likely that could've happened since the 18th century. Cairn A sits on land adjacent to the Miner Farm but off Bob Miner's property. Cairn B is tucked deeply away in a wooded section of the Panther Orchard Farm property. Both pieces of property haven't had the same owner since the 18th century.

Both properties exhibit extensive colonial and Indian usage. The likeliest original builders of both cairns are the Niantic Indians. Narragansett Indians may also have used the site of Cairn A in more modern times, reconstructing the cairns and adding features such as the manitou stone by Cairn A.

Yes, it's all conjecture. I admit it. But it's constructive conjecture.


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