Since we are standing here, let me explain that, to the left is what appears to be an artificial trench that drains a vernal pond just above the rise in this picture. We are looking at a rock pile built into the side of the gully and a propped boulder above:
So we walk up there:
There is the propped boulder, with a couple of piles to the left of it and maybe one behind it, to the right in back. Here is one pile behind it:
Last look:
4 comments :
To me, the rock piles surrounding the impressive propped boulder are there because of the latter's "presence," a term used by Jack Steinbring, a rock art specialist, to denote a feature's numinous characteristics. One could say the rock piles are donations, or commenorative in nature. A good find!
I think this boulder was moved. I did not show the vernal pond there, with its artificial drainage ditch, but I felt that the water was the original "center".
Was your sense that the artificial drainage of the vernal pond was colonial agriculture or something else?
In Harvard there is an odd ditch that drains a vernal pond. The surrounding land is rocky and doesn't look like it would have been plowable, and I would think that a vernal pond would have been desirable for pastured animals.
I can't make sense of why it would be drained.
I figure it is quite a lot older than colonial (but I do not really know). It was not a clean ditch and seemed to have other old piles buried in it. A puzzling place.
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