A revisit to a NY site

by theseventhgeneration
I went back out to this site yesterday to see the sunset. Last year, my suspicion was that the sun would set over that cairn on the spring equinox. I was wrong and, based on what I saw on March 21, 2008, I suspected March 1st as the date. Here's how it looked yesterday:
Not bad?
But I'm posting additional photos of this site because I found something new. Here's that cairn with the "pointer stone":
And this is what I found, in the cairn, behind that large stone that is leaning upright against the cairn (if you click on the photo above, you can see it, but here's a close up):
That wood definitely does not serve any "fence rail" purpose. So, why is it there?
And another cairn also had a small piece of wood in it.
Although the wood lacks the "fence rail" look, it is above something like a hole, or niche, in the cairn:
Both pieces of wood are on the north side of the cairns.
Here is a look at both cairns together, the one with the very small piece of wood in the far background and the large stone leaning against the cairn (the wood behind the leaning stone) is in the foreground:

Nice video at Hi-Tor Stone Monuments

[click here]

FFC finds a snake effigy - Carlisle Town Forest

We went to explore a part of Carlisle Town Forest where we hadn't been. Around the "T" in "Town Forest" there was a place where, at first glance, some rocks had fallen off of the nearby stone wall:FFC noticed that these rocks formed a pattern with a head formed by a ring at one end (near his feet in the next picture) and a tail that snaked away from the head (towards the camera).I went to take a closer look at the ring and I have to admit, it looked quite deliberately made.

Rock pile on an outcrop - Harvard, MA

A modern rock pile site - Southern Bolton, MA

I was walking in southern Bolton, scoping out the eastern side of a small pond, with the thought that in this area many of the small bodies of water have rock piles along their eastern sides. As I crossed a snow slope, the walking got too delicate and I slipped then almost slipped again; so I turned straight uphill and saw a rock pile I would have missed:
Looking more closely nearby, there were others:and then still others further away,I thought one looked somewhat fresh:Then with this one: Hey, there is dirt and debris lying on top of the snow, fallen from that upper rock!So this pile was made after the snow, in the last couple of weeks.

I look at the site and the way the piles are placed at the top and bottom of an outcrop, almost evenly spaced, several of them right at the edge of the "cliff", and it seems like a standard sort of rock pile site. A number of what I call "marker pile sites" are like this with piles along an outcrop.So I am thinking this is a recently built site, or at least recently added on to. Then I noticed the snowshoe tracksLet's look at some more pictures and think about that.As far as I know this site is built correctly. Although the piles are not situated in straight lines, still when I looked at the video [click here], I got a sense of things lining up and that was slightly convincing. So to me this is a real ceremonial site and not a whimsical rock stacking by the trailside.

Looking back at the outcrop from the south, the pond is to the left.
Hmmmm.

First look at a modern rock pile site

I stood in a place to take the video where I could see most of the piles on the side of an outcrop. Looking at the pictures now, there are suggestive smaller rocks in the foreground, almost lined up with the piles that are the focus of the camera. So perhaps the viewing position was nearly correct.

Roadside attractions - split wedged rocks by the road

A couple of examples from Bolton:

A small structure at the northern edge of Upton State Forest

I think this is deliberate, is it a prayer seat or is it too small?From the side: Note the drill holes: And the view outward:Perhaps not a seat but something else?

More from the NY site (or "Rocks on their haunches " - part 2)

by theseventhgeneration
Here are some rock pile pictures from the site I visited this past weekend. The large boulder from the prior post is just visible in the background, between the trees. If you click on this picture, you can also see that rock on top of the rock pile a little better.

There is a "hollow" or "bowl" just off to the right of, yet not visible in, this picture.Two piles on boulders.

This was up the mountain from the site, but it's something I've seen a lot of here in NY. The middle boulder appears to be split and pulled forward. The entire structure is about 6 feet tall if you stand on the low side.
There were a few small rock piles on the summit. Here is one of them.
I've posted additional photos at the Two Headwaters blog.

Rocks on their haunches

by theseventhgeneration
I found a new site this weekend with around 30 rock piles on about 3 acres of land. But before I post those features, something jumped out at me from this area and I felt it was worth bringing attention to - rocks on their haunches. This was brought up here and I can't help but see some similarities.

The first one I noticed is in the foreground of this rock pile picture. It is pointing in a direction different from the others I'm posting. I didn't put a compass on it, but generally speaking it's pointing west.
There are several piles in a line along this ridge. The line of piles comes to a large boulder which I am going to come back to later.

Going up the mountain, now out of the rock pile site, but just above it, I saw this feature again.
This one, that looks like a rock on its haunches, is a stacked rock on boulder that seems to mimic the rocks on their haunches.
Overlooking the rocks in the two prior photos looks like this. If you enlarge the photo, you can see a third rock in the distance. Look closely at the shadows. The direction in this photo is south.
Going back to the boulder, overlooking it, seems to be pointing to a mountain in the distance. The shadows in these pictures look very similar. I bring that up because I didn't get a compass direction on the large boulder. I was only looking at the view of the mountain.

A side shot of the boulder looks very similar to the rocks on their haunches.

Coincidence?

Crisis on the Schaghticoke Reservation mp3

Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond:

Join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode (Original air-date: 1-27-09) that focuses on a crisis on the Schaghticoke reservation in Kent, CT...

Early stone tools - not rock piles related

Pre-Clovis tools.
[Click here]
How the "pros" can be in doubt that these are man-made is the real mystery.

Scroll down here also [click]

Roadside Attraction in Hopkinton

I thought I saw rock piles in the median as I drove north on Rt 495 just south of the Mass. Pike exits.If you know someone who drives along there and doesn't mind risking life and limb, ask them if they can confirm there are rock piles visible. I don't get down that way too often.

Thanks to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum for the link

This blog gets a "Blogs of Note" rating. [Click here]. This is an important endorsement as Mashuntucket Museum is an official voice on New England Indians.

Whiling the winter away

The snow is finally melting. Maybe this weekend... . Meanwhile, another picture from last summer:

Money for public and tribal lands

Sorry to be political for a moment but, Holy Smokes! They are talking about real money:

"...
$4.6 billion in funding for the Corps of Engineers.
- $1.2 billion for VA hospital and medical facility construction and improvements, long-term care facilities for veterans, and improvements at VA national cemeteries.
- $3.1 billion for repair, restoration and improvement of public facilities at on public and tribal lands.
- $4.2 billion for Facilities Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization to be used to invest in energy efficiency projects and to improve the repair and modernization of Department of Defense facilities to include Defense Health facilities.
..."

More remembering summer

I love these things. Calasymbolus astylus.Correction Calasymbolus excaecata

Remember summer?

Rock pile in the blueberries. Falmouth, MA

Stone Turtle

at To The Greenwood Gone [click here]

Small Standing Stone from North Smithfield, RI

Reader Jeannine writes:

This sits all by itself on a little dry area mostly surrounded by swamps and a stream....It sits about a foot tall.

Carahunge - Stone circles in Armenia

Not rock pile related but it is about nice rocks. [Click here and make sure to click on "Photos"]

A little more on and around the underwater "Stonehenge" from Lake Michigan.

Googling around using the phrase, "Grand Traverse Bay," I found the photos above by Robert Charity ( www.pbase.com/bobc/image/83933534 and http://www.pbase.com/bobc/image/83954564).

And then these 3 above, by Matt Callow who captions the first one with: “… took a lot of pictures of the glacial erratics scattered all over the area. This is on the Lake Michigan shore near Pyramid Point, and that's one of the Manitou Islands in the background, South Manitou I believe.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackcustard/79345351/

But last and not least, the photos by Chris Doyal of the Archaeologist Dr. Mark Holley and Mastodon Stone in Grand Traverse Bay, MI. He calls it " the almost famous Michigan Mastodon Petroglyph Stone." He asks not to reproduce them without written permission, so click here:

http://www.chrisdoyal.com/gallery_88060.html