There is not much doubt in my mind that this is deliberate construction with the quartz placed as it is (lowest in picture). Also it really looks symmetric and like a head although [I know] it is subjective - Here is a side view:
What do you think? Tim, it is not a turtle and it is not a mammoth. On the other side of the pile from the quartz there was a bit of a flat plate. Could this be a bird? or a beaver?Update: Maybe this is the same Unktena "horned monster" myth that I wrote about here. I did not mention that this pile, here, is one of two; the second having quartz in the middle. That matches the previous rock pile pair reasonably closely. Theseventhgeneration's 2nd comment, for some reason, caused me to speculate that the flat plate behind the quartz might be like the 'horns". I know it does not fit exactly. Here is the 2nd pile. I did not show it earlier because it was so covered with plants:
And a "detail" of its piece of quartz:
There's a lot going on in that rock pile - and I'm distracted this early morning by the poison ivy and virginia creeper, the young ash tree taking root in the pile that might one day destroy it, which is a Woodbridge related thought because there are places there where I see what might be and what definately are rock piles destroyed by natural processes.
ReplyDeleteI kept looking back and forth at the two photos many times and in all honesty I tried not to see a turtle, but you know all too well by now about my Turtle Vision Mental Ilness: in the second photo, I imagine I see, behind the quartz stone, on a flat stone a turtle head (beak and eyes)with a neck covered by scutes in a deliberate piling to resemble those plates. I have to be honest, it's one of my many faults.
TMS: Knock, Knock.
Pw: Who's there?
TMs: Elephant
PW: Elephant who?
TMS: Knock, Knock.
Pw: Who's there?
TMs: Elephant
PW: Elephant who?
TMS: Knock, Knock.
Pw: Who's there?
TMs: Orange
PW: Orange who?
TMS: Orange you glad it's not another elephant?
Joking aside, it seems unlikely that the only animal figures the Native Americans would ever produce would be to turtles.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first looked at these pictures, I thought the same..."turtle".
ReplyDeleteBut, if you click on the pics to enlarge them, that quartz *head* really sticks out and I changed my mind to turkey, but it's the turkey after the hunt. See this image as an example: Turkey hunt picture.
Of course, this is just a wild guess. I'm not sure how to account for the tail, either, but the white head seems to fit.
Oh, I looked at this post again...could the flat plate account for the tail?
ReplyDelete"The Native American turtle has a lot of meanings. The turtle, a water animal, is a symbol for strength, fertility and perseverance. It was considered a power fetish animal. It was believed to have the ability to defy death." From Native American Turtle, where there's much more - including the thought that the turtle was the earth itself.(http://www.turtletanks.org/native-american-turtle.html)
ReplyDeleteMy Own True Story: Following a stone row that is connected to the Mound Swamp, no camera with me, I spotted a strange sight. It looked like someone had piled two box turtle shells on top of each other. I got closer and saw it was two live turtles, engaged in, well, let's call it the survival of the species to keep a G-rating.
I still see two turtles in the 2nd photo and I think I know what they are doing. Perhaps symbolizing fertility, perhaps a place to offer prayers for fertility???