Prayers in Stone Project

 

Prayers In Stone Project

Native Sites Stewardship Program

Founded 2024 Sagamore Strong Bear Medicine & D.V.Boudillion

How do you know?

26 July 2024 Daniel V. Boudillion 

Several years ago I was at a Friends of Pine Hawk lecture on Native stone structures by two recognized experts in the field.  At one point while they were interpreting a type of stone structure, an audience member asked “But how do you know that?”  Much to the dismay of all there that night, they were unable to answer this question.  

This awkward situation left an impression on me.  It’s a question I often ask myself as I walk the woods and assess stonework as Native: “Yes, but how I know?”

 

This essay is not to answer this question, but to provide an illustration of people creating structures in the woods that resemble Native type structures, but are not.  It’s a cautious call to caution.  

On the recent Prayers in Stone survey of the local forestry property, I noticed some trees had been cut next to the forestry barn, and the wood left stacked there.  

I was intrigued because the wood was piled in a way – that were it stone and not wood – would likely have elicited a Native ceremonial origin assessment from me.  

 It illustrates that people pile things, often in the woods, in a manner that closely resembles the structures that we typically assess as Native-origin, ceremonial in nature.  If modern people can pile wood in a way that exactly resembles – were it in stone – constructions we would call Native, they can also pile stone as well in ways that look Native but are not.  

 

Which beings me back to the question: How do we know?

 

Please see below pictures of the “ceremonial” wood stacking.  

                          Log pile 1                           Log pile 2  

                                            Stick pile                              All three piles in view  

At the forestry barn large cut logs are stacked in a deliberately constructed pile on a boulder, much like these large rocks stacked on a boulder at Trails Through Time.  

These smaller “donation” sticks have been placed in a split rock at forestry barn.  This is much like the picture to the right of small donation stones placed in a large split rock.  

Here we have two large log lengths perched on a boulder in classic “rock-on-rock” style, as exemplified by the picture to the right.   

The picture to the left is of all three log pile constructions.  It has everything we look for: a variety of recognized styles, they are in a cluster, and the cluster is within an enclosure of stone rows.  Were this stone on stone, not wood on stone, we would assess it as Native.  

But its not Native.  This is the point, its not Native.  People pile things on boulders for a variety of reasons.  This is a perfect example.  Keep this in mind the next time you are working on assessments.  

                        Be cautious.  

Like the fellow said: “How do you know?”