From R. Cachat-Shilling:
(1) Sacred Sites of Shutesbury, Massachusetts - YouTube
[shows a nice grid at 10:48]
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Call to Land Protectors - Tonight, Nayyag's Fate Again in Play (MA)
Tonight, February 17, 2021 from 6-7 pm there will be a Zoom presentation by Massachusetts Department of Transportation (link at bottom of page) on their planned traffic circle that would demolish a unique Archaic Native legacy site, one that was recommended for the National Register of Historic Places. MA DOT is billing this as a walk-through of their plans and the "alternative selection" process.
More:
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Burial Cairns on the Mattawa River
From an account by an early fur trader, at around 22:40 minutes in:
Mysteries of the Canadian Fur Trade: Episode 1 - YouTube
Funny how such things were common place in the 1700s.
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Hidden Landscapes Film and Discussion
Via Norman:
Here is a link to an upcoming video series presentation of "Hidden Landscapes".
Site to be found in Westminster MA
A commenter to a post from April 20, 2009 mentions a site:
"There are some really interesting stone features off the Midstate trail in Westminster which is right off the side of RTE 2A."
I wonder if someone could please go take a look. The area seems promising:
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
The Lost Forests of New England
Not rock pile related.... or is it?
A YouTube video:
The Lost Forests of New England - Eastern Old Growth - YouTube
Update:
From part 3: what is he standing on?
Monday, February 08, 2021
Alaska Science Forum: Were blue beads in the tundra the first U.S. import from Europe? | Juneau Empire
Norman sent this link [not rock pile related]:
https://www.juneauempire.com/news/were-blue-beads-in-the-tundra-the-first-u-s-import-from-europe/
This is about glass beads found in Alaska firmly dated to pre-Columbus times. I love this story because the standard "peopling of America" nonsense is forced to choose: either the beads got there overland from the east coast and - how the heck did they get across the Atlantic?; or the beads came from Asia and - who needs a land bridge?
Also, since the beads came from Venice, how did they get to Siberia before crossing the Pacific?
Sunday, February 07, 2021
Notice of a Rocking Stone in Warwick, R.I.
Providence, September, 20th 1823.
Prof. Silliman, Sir,
It has given me some satisfaction to become acquainted with
the particulars which Mr. Moore has given us in the last number of your
Journal, respecting the Durham Rocking Stone. It is true, as he intimates, that
there are but few rocks of this kind as yet known in our country; still, as
curiosity is continually increasing, and the votaries of geological science
daily becoming more numerous, it will not be long, it is believed, before they
will be found to exist here in considerable numbers. I have recently visited
one which is found in this State, and from its interesting character, have been
induced to forward to you a description of it, together with a drawing by Mr.
Moses Partridge
It is in the town of Warwick, about two hundred yards
south-west of the village of Apponaug, and twelve miles in the same direction
from Providence. In form, it resembles a turtle, although it is convex on the
bottom and somewhat concave on the top. It is about ten feet in length, six ^
breadth, and two in thickness. It reposes upon another rock, which rises a few
feet above ground, touching it in two points — the one under A, the other under
B. (Fig 1, Plate 1) Upon these points it is so exactly poised, that it moves
with the gentlest touch. A child five years old may set it a rocking, so that
the side C will describe an arc, the chord of which will be fifteen inches. The
easiest method to rock it is by standing upon it, and applying the weight of
one's body alternately from one side to the other.
What renders this rock peculiarly interesting is, that when
the side D descends, it gives four distinct pulsations, hitting first at E,
next at F, then at G, and lastly at H. The sound produced, is much like that of
a drum, excepting that it is louder. In consequence of this sound, it has very
appropriately entailed upon itself the name of "The Drum Rock." It
has been heard in a still evening at the distance of six miles. In the summer
season, it is a place of fashionable resort for the people of Apponaug, and of
the town generally.
The weight of this rock is estimated at four tons — upwards
of a ton heavier than the one at Kirkmichael in Scotland, and almost as heavy
as the famous Logan, in the parish of Sithney, near Helston in England. Its
composition appears to be an indurated ferruginous clay, with here and there
small portions of quartz. Its specific gravity is 2, 5. It has long been a
subject of inquiry with the inhabitants of Warwick, how this rock came here, or
by what means it was placed in its present situation. A little attention will
convince any one who sees it, that it was once united to the rock on which it
rests. Let A be turned round to I, and it will unquestionably be in the spot
where it originally belonged. But by whom it was shifted into the places which
it now occupies, is a matter of uncertainty. It has been attributed to the
Indians. The removal of such a mass seems however, to have required some
mechanical skill, more, perhaps, than many will be willing to allow, that the
savages of this region ever possessed. As we have never had any Druids* amongst
us, we shall probably never know for a certainty upon whom the honour of the
enterprize is to be bestowed.
This rock is surrounded with interesting scenery. South is a
dark and dismal swamp, which comprises from fifteen to twenty acres, containing
the birch, the hemlock, the maple and the alder. West is a side-hill, which
rises at an angle of eighteen or twenty degrees, from the top of which we have
a view of the central part of the Narragansett, with several of its beautiful
islands. East, a plain presents itself, intersected by a ravine, overgrown with
shrubs, along which flows a small stream of water from the swamp. North, the
land rises gently, and for some extent is completely covered with huge,
misshapen rocks, lying wholly above the surface ; gray with moss, and
exhibiting ten thousand fractures.
Very Respectfully yours,
STEUBEN TAYLOR.
Preceptor of the Charlesfield Street Academy.
Excerpt from: The American Journal of Science - v.7 (1824) p 200:
https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002151881/page/I/mode/2up
Friday, February 05, 2021
Thursday, February 04, 2021
Zuni Maps (NM)
“The
A:shiwi have been in present-day North America for thousands of years. Twelve
thousand members of the tribe live on the Zuni Reservation today. Their sacred
lands reach far beyond the reservation boundaries—trails of prayer snake and
meander through the history of Emergence from the Grand Canyon and the story of
Salt Mother’s migration, paths of song ascend the high buttes and tumble with
the rain through the arroyo…”
Detail
from: Larson Gasper, Migration of Salt
Mother, 2009
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