I dismissed this as just an out-of-place fire ring, as it was clearly recent. But after seeing Tim's picture here (from here) that shows a similar tight spiral of stones, I suppose it might also have been done with a similar impulse - a bit ceremonial, or perhaps a bit new age. I only saw this kind of thing once before in a pile that seemed old.
All three of these examples -this one, Tim's, and the old one, were next to water. At the time I found this "old" one, it occurred next to fine effigy of a fish, so I assumed the spiral was representing a snail - another local food supply at that spot. But that is just my fantasy and it does not fit what is going on in the other examples here.
Those are Barry Magnusson's photos & he (a person of Native American/First People ancestry) may have made that ring - but I think the colors of the stones in PW's photo show "ceremony."
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