Wednesday, April 10, 2013

College Rock (part 2 - the beginning of mounds)

[Continuing from here] I headed west from the main trail following a yellow dot trail hoping to see some larger mounds. One valley I poked around in had that curious curve of low stones, that aperture hole, and nearby were a few low old rock piles. Near the center of the group, this slightly larger one:
 
This is not as shapeless as it looks. In the second picture, front left, you see a little side enclosure. In the first picture you can see that the height of rocks is lower in the middle than at the edges of the pile. Given that this is about 7 feet across and has these faint hollows, this is quite similar to some of the piles from Horse Hill, and the Scott Reservoir. I think they are old, older than the larger mounds with hollows.
Here are some of the satellite piles I found around this one. A couple of well buried split-filled rocks:
A couple of other piles built up on support rocks:
 Also, showing the scene.
As I poked around I saw some other piles in the category of low/broken down/small/with a trace of hollow (in this case kind of a crescent):
These are faint traces. I want to say that, for anyone looking at these pictures who is not intimate with the subject, you may just see a few random rocks. I see a distinct structure and believe it to be some of the oldest material at College Rock. It seems clear this was a major funerary region and I am betting these are from the earliest use of the site. 
The pattern of mound with hollow, surrounded by smaller satellite piles, is a standard formula. Coming up: the same formula, in the large.

Looking through my pictures, I see a few other of the "old style" mounds with hollows. One form - built into a rock, is pretty common (see Gates Pond and north of Horse Hill):
 Another (like "B" in the Tour de Mink Pond):
In context, I guess this is a very degenerate form of mound with hollow or "tail" [my subjective classification].

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