Re: "Rock Piles and Stone Structures"

Reader DG writes (commenting on this blog post):
I think part of the difficulty in comparing petroforms in the eastern US with those in Europe (particularly the subarctic regions) is that it is often difficult to visually judge their antiquity, especially in colder places where lichens and mosses grow relatively slowly. Here is a recent picture I took of a prehistoric cairn at an extensive assemblage in Pickens Co., Georgia:

Here are some images I took recently on Hardangervidda in western Norway:

While some of these cairns may be centuries old, others may have been set up by a happy hiker last Tuesday -- even under close inspection, it's hard to tell the difference. While I was initially miffed that people had been "vandalizing" these sites, I realize now that in some ways it represents a "living tradition." They remind me of the continued use of inuksuit in northern Canada -- initially started by the aboriginal peoples (and maybe representing a circumpolar tradition) and extended by modern hikers as a common custom. Here's another one on the Geilmyrren above Vanvikan in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, almost certainly recent:

While I would agree that the majority of the rock piles and other structures we look at in the eastern US are pre-European, they do exist in Europe, though they differ in materials, environment, and usage. In both places, we can accept that they are not strictly pre-modern. As I mentioned though, I wonder if some of the truly prehistoric ones may represent a circumpolar native tradition, with roots in the earliest migrations,  worth examining.

Here's some other stuff, maybe of interest:

There were reindeer wandering around here, in the Døvrefell:

and some older ones, about 6500 BP, in petroglyphs (in Norwegian, halleristninger) near Stjørdal:

Petroglyphs at Bardal (near Steinkjer, Norway). This site (6000 - 3500 BP) is very cool, and probably represents a transition from stone-age to bronze-age customs:

Helgeshaugen, a standing stone and burial mound (c. 600 AD), also near Steinkjer. Part of a much larger assemblage :