Deep in the Acton woods

There are old rectangular structures. Nearly invisible, in person, they do not photo well. I hope to brush away the leaves someday. They seem to beg to be revealed.

Hovering wedge

This, from Acton, near the trail head at Briar Hill Rd:

See how the larger rock sits in the water?
A few steps away in the woods:

 and also this

Planning Board Site Walk - Hopkinton RI

Some fine rock piles from Jeff in RI:
Here.

West of South Manoosnoc

A few little sites on the southwest summits of South Manoosnoc

Went to take another look at the site I found a few weeks ago (see here) and found a few other little spots, although I missed the site I had planned to see. At first I climbed in from the road and saw some faint rock piles on the western side of the small summit (lower outlines). Faint traces:

Perhaps a prayer seat, through the fallen branches:

It is facing west.

I went around the north side of the summit, west-to-east, coming to a boulder filled gully and then returning, east-to-west. Saw this solitary pile on the way back (shown as the smallest blue outline above):

From the lower left blue outline, I continued a bit north along the hillside, thinking "this looks promising. After all there are rock piles in a very similar setting only a mile to north of here...". 
Such instincts are not arbitrary and I soon came to more rock piles. Suggesting outlines (Also facing west):

And piles with symmetries and hints of shape which are effigy-like:

High on a hill in Leominster and facing west is not the sort of place I would expect to find effigies but I am happy enough to find anthing up in this high, rocky place.

At the Park on Easter Sunday

Maybe a bear:

Maybe a bird:

Maybe more here:
http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2014/04/veterans-park-2014.html

Hunting something else

Can't resist posting:

More Views of the Big Bladen's Rock Pile

    I really did mean to include these other views of that big rock pile at the "Bladen's Brook Open Space Land Trust Preserve" in Woodbridge CT at http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2014/04/bladens-brook-woodbridge-ct-little.html the other day.

     And since there is more about rows of stones (bears and turtles etc.) rather than stone piles, I posted up my first installment about the rows and all at:

http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2014/04/south-facing-slope-of-bladens-brook.html

Fragments...

My friend Garret and I went to go explore a favorite place on a nice Saturday afternoon. I found this point, it looks broken but it is actually flaked into in this shape. Probably this was a long point that broke and was hastily reworked in this asymmetric way.

Garret found this nice little triangle made from an interesting material.

That was back at the beginning of March. I couldn't have guessed, then, that it would be 6 weeks before I saw another whole arrowhead come out of the ground.

Last year I had some great finds in March and April. This year I haven't been having the luck. Plenty of finds, but virtually all broken stuff, mostly just fragments. This one was a real heartbreaker. Too fragile to have survived intact, I guess. With this deep concavity at the base I might be tempted to call this a Dalton. But I find a lot of Levanna type triangles in the same place, all made of quartz like this.

This broken triangle was easy to spot.

Broken stuff in rough shape. My friend Dave found the one on the left.

I found all these on the same sunny day, on a beautiful hill overlooking a spot where fresh water flows into a bay. Not a whole artifact in the lot!

I found this one afternoon after work, nestled in the grass. Sorry about the blurry photo but I wanted to show it because it's unusual to spot one nearly vertical like this and totally exposed. I'm glad to be able to get out and look for stuff in the evenings now that the days are long enough again.

 Really nicely flaked, but missing the tip.

A turkey vulture, at dusk.

Dave and I spent a whole day searching in different places and this was the only find. It was totally exposed and I almost didn't pick it up, I thought it was just a triangular rock. Broken, the base is gone. The material is rhyolite. Whatever this blade was a part of, it must have been really big.

Wednesday night I had some time to go and look. It rained so much and so hard on Monday and Tuesday, I knew conditions would be good. The ground was really muddy, I could only search a small area. But it was worth it. I love the way this looked on the ground, gleaming.

The very tip is gone, the edges show wear, but I consider this a "whole" arrowhead. My first in a very long time. I'm happy with it.

In another place. that same night, another obvious quartz triangle.

Broken again. The other broken fragment was only about 3 feet away.

I've got an exciting lead for a new place I hope to check out this weekend. It's far away and maybe I can find some things that are not quartz triangles. Spring is here and I'm hoping for good things.

Bladen's Brook, Woodbridge CT - (a little preview)

Peter was talking about it here: “Game on!” {http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2014/02/woodbrige-ctgame-on.html} and circumstance brought me by the preserve on Thursday (4/17/14), with some time to stop and look around. And I'll cut to the Rock Pile Chase here - I spotted only one rather large Rock Pile and just one other smaller one which was a little bit of a surprise, knowing that on the next hill south of here you can’t swing a cat without hitting a Stone Pile - and it does not have to be a cat with a particularly long tail.

Large Rock Pile (Stone Mound), possibly on Bedrock above, the smaller below. 

And this seemed rather modern looking:

        It was the remnants of the mostly linear rows of artistically stacked stones, cobbles and boulders, most likely Indigenous in origin, that turned out to be the most interesting features. In fact, they are featured on the PDF Trail Map here:

 http://woodbridgect.org/filestorage/8419/111/Bladens_Brook%2C_Russell_Swamp_%26_Round_Hill_Trails_-_color.pdf

This blue outline is about the extent of where I walked and took photos:

At Sanford Roadside:

Closer:

"Way UP on the top:"

Closer:

Over an outcrop...

...then a 90 degree turn up and into an outcrop...

...and one of those situations where natural and human enhanced combine.

Another interesting sight (or site):