For the last nine years I have been reporting on rock pile sites where the rock piles lie in lines and are more-or-less evenly spaced along those lines. As someone who has looked at more than 300 rock pile sites I can add that these types of rock pile sites are not just abundant but are actually the most common sites to be found, especially the further south I go exploring from here in Concord. I have also speculated about how these sites are calendrical. The most convincing evidence is the hypothesis confirmation as shown for example here.
Last weekend I found two sites with rock pile lines on the slopes of a knoll. At both sites the rock piles lay all to one side of the high point. At one site there was a brook nearby with some other rock piles there; at the other there was a short stretch of stone wall leading up to the high point. So the sites had their differences. Rock piles in lines often are constructed with one good near-vertical face while the rest of the pile tapers off with less structure. So when I see piles like that, and see a high point, and sense the piles being in lines, I am sure I am looking at an example of the same kind of very specific rock site function. Saturday I saw one site like this in Bolton. Sunday I saw another in Framingham. Let's have a look.
Monday, October 13, 2008
COLUMBUS AND THE INDIANS
"When we read the history books given to children in the United States, it all starts with heroic adventure--there is no bloodshed-and Columbus Day is a celebration..."Howard Zinn
"Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress,"
A People's History of the United States.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
A small site in Hopkinton State Park
I am having a "dry spell". I spent last weekend driving about 70 miles, twice, looking for a decent woods to explore. The first one turned out to have all sand/no rocks and driving extra miles didn't bring me any closer to something noteworthy. The second woods, in southern Hopkinton State Park, turned out to be full of rocks but they were thoroughly quarried and broken up. Finally, on the way home, stopping at an extreme northern part of that park, a small site.
This is a view uphill. A split rock is seen in the foreground with rocks piled next to and in the split. In the background, a nicer pile built on a rock with a space underneath the rock:
A view from above with the split rock in the background:
And a few other outliers, to the left in the first picture above:
I do not recognize this as any particular kind of site. Perhaps the "outliers" were slightly lined up with the larger pile.
This is a view uphill. A split rock is seen in the foreground with rocks piled next to and in the split. In the background, a nicer pile built on a rock with a space underneath the rock:
A view from above with the split rock in the background:
And a few other outliers, to the left in the first picture above:
I do not recognize this as any particular kind of site. Perhaps the "outliers" were slightly lined up with the larger pile.
Rumblings of important events - The Turner Falls Rock Piles
Some years ago, during planning for an airport extension in Turner Falls, MA, a survey found a rock pile site. Since the extension involved Federal funds, the Native Americans had to be consulted and they objected to the extension because of the presence of the rock piles. This is something that might not have happened a few years ago and it created an opposition between the Narragansett Indians and the FAA. I am not sure if NAGPRA was invoked.
I am told by Tim Fohl that the National Park Service (NPS), in Washington, has been discussing this with Doug Harris of the Narragansetts and possibly also our favorite archeologist Curtis Hoffman, and that people in the NPS watched Ted Timreck's Hidden Landscape Film (click here) and somehow got interested. They contacted the Massachusetts State Archeologist, Brona Simon, and asked her about the rock piles. According to the story, she told the NPS people that rock piles were of agrarian nature and of no interest. They asked her for her references and, when she gave them, reviewed those references and either concluded they were invalid or that they did not support Brona's conclusions. So now the NPS is supporting site preservation at Turner Falls and has, I guess, finalized the discussion with the FAA, setting a precedent for government agencies cooperating in protecting rock pile sites. There was even mention of an interpretive center at Turner Falls. Great!
I am told by Tim Fohl that the National Park Service (NPS), in Washington, has been discussing this with Doug Harris of the Narragansetts and possibly also our favorite archeologist Curtis Hoffman, and that people in the NPS watched Ted Timreck's Hidden Landscape Film (click here) and somehow got interested. They contacted the Massachusetts State Archeologist, Brona Simon, and asked her about the rock piles. According to the story, she told the NPS people that rock piles were of agrarian nature and of no interest. They asked her for her references and, when she gave them, reviewed those references and either concluded they were invalid or that they did not support Brona's conclusions. So now the NPS is supporting site preservation at Turner Falls and has, I guess, finalized the discussion with the FAA, setting a precedent for government agencies cooperating in protecting rock pile sites. There was even mention of an interpretive center at Turner Falls. Great!
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
More on Indiana stone mounds
Searching on Google.
From "Indiana and Indianans" [Click here] See page 10. There is, first a discussion of "many small stone mounds" which then shifts to a discussion of donation memorials. Is this an un-intentional slide into a new topic?
From "Indiana and Indianans" [Click here] See page 10. There is, first a discussion of "many small stone mounds" which then shifts to a discussion of donation memorials. Is this an un-intentional slide into a new topic?
What stone mound problem?
From the bibliography of "An Introduction to the Pre-history of Indiana" online.
Kellar, James H.
1960 The C. L. Lewis Stone Mound and the Stone Mound Problem. Indiana Historical Society, Prehistory Research Series, Vol. 3, No. 4. Indianapolis.Does anyone have access to this article?
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Short stretches of stone wall, rock piles, mounds, and inscriptions from Missouri
From "Rock Art of Missouri" [click here]
Several photos or rock piles. These items from Missouri look no different from things I see around here in Massachusetts. But we do not have the inscriptions or arrowheads like that.
Several photos or rock piles. These items from Missouri look no different from things I see around here in Massachusetts. But we do not have the inscriptions or arrowheads like that.
Return to the Mortar/Turtle (Part Two)
I expected to document the colors of the leaves along the linear stone rows that lead to the zigzag rows surrounding the wetland areas up where I found the Turtle Mortar Stone. I really didn't take many photos of the rows last time I was there. I had planned to, later in the month, return after the leaves fell, to photograph and explore, but looks like somebody has a different plan...
More Photos: Photos Return to Turtle Mortar Stone .
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Land use and rock piles at Long Hill Bolton, MA
Looking at the map of this hilltop,
you can see the orchards, which are in use today. When I stepped into the woods near the blue outline the hilltop was wetland consisting of wet mud over rocks with some blueberry bushes and laurel and trees not too densely spaced. It did not feel natural, clammy under foot, and my guess is that is was agricultural land before. But walking further into the woods, there was the beginning of a gully and I came into an area with more dense ferns...
...down into the brook proper; where there were rock piles. In addition to the piles being down in the brook area, the evidence is that this is the one part of the hilltop which remains undisturbed.
Here is the first pile I saw:
There are several rocks scattered up and to the left of the obvious rock-on-rock here. A detail of one:
FFC swears by these, calling them by turns "ice cream sandwich" and "spirit rock".
Another pile in the ferns:
Here is a view towards the very headwater of the brook:
I was happy to see such a clear pile. Note also what looks like a flat plate on top of a rock in the background - a faint shadow on the rock. Take a closer look:
How about that pattern of smaller rocks in the foreground?
Besides the small rock piles and structures down at the very head of the brook there was also a big old pile that might have been pure field clearing debris or something more structured. So the smaller piles are easier to identify as Native American. Here is the big pile seen beyond a stone wall, on the side of the gully at the very top of the gully:
Here is another view from the side, facing back down the valley:
It might have been a platform pile. It is certainly located where other platform piles occur at the headwater of a small brook. Or is that internal structure I see in the tumble of rocks?
The point I wanted to make was that land use can be seen in the ground cover, the footing, and the plants. That alone destinguishes this little brook headwater. The presence of rock piles confirms the land use rather than - turning the logic inside out - it being taken as a proof of the meaning of the rock piles.
you can see the orchards, which are in use today. When I stepped into the woods near the blue outline the hilltop was wetland consisting of wet mud over rocks with some blueberry bushes and laurel and trees not too densely spaced. It did not feel natural, clammy under foot, and my guess is that is was agricultural land before. But walking further into the woods, there was the beginning of a gully and I came into an area with more dense ferns...
...down into the brook proper; where there were rock piles. In addition to the piles being down in the brook area, the evidence is that this is the one part of the hilltop which remains undisturbed.Here is the first pile I saw:
There are several rocks scattered up and to the left of the obvious rock-on-rock here. A detail of one:
FFC swears by these, calling them by turns "ice cream sandwich" and "spirit rock".Another pile in the ferns:
Here is a view towards the very headwater of the brook:
I was happy to see such a clear pile. Note also what looks like a flat plate on top of a rock in the background - a faint shadow on the rock. Take a closer look:
How about that pattern of smaller rocks in the foreground?Besides the small rock piles and structures down at the very head of the brook there was also a big old pile that might have been pure field clearing debris or something more structured. So the smaller piles are easier to identify as Native American. Here is the big pile seen beyond a stone wall, on the side of the gully at the very top of the gully:
Here is another view from the side, facing back down the valley:
It might have been a platform pile. It is certainly located where other platform piles occur at the headwater of a small brook. Or is that internal structure I see in the tumble of rocks?
The point I wanted to make was that land use can be seen in the ground cover, the footing, and the plants. That alone destinguishes this little brook headwater. The presence of rock piles confirms the land use rather than - turning the logic inside out - it being taken as a proof of the meaning of the rock piles.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Alignments
Looking for something else, I came across a bunch of different drawings (and a photo) in my sketch books, some with dates, some without - including something that resembles the Stupid Sheet just posted. I think I was trying to represent a "Web of Life," using a drawing of the Calendar Stones, and I see I wrote, "Circles, cycles, functions of stonework, everything connected to everything" at the bottom of the page.
The page before has some quotes scribbled on it:
"Man did not weave the web of life, he's a strand of it. It is all connected," attributed to Chief Joseph, as well as a quote from my good friend Wendell Deer With Horns (who watched the vernal equinox sunset over the stones with me) who said, "People forget it's all connected," as we talked about the Mystery of the Stones.
I find I used some compass alignments and some math, mostly to figure out the Summer Solstice Sunset since the leaves on the trees block the view - the actual view in a particular place as observed by Native people being the most important thing.
The page before has some quotes scribbled on it:
"Man did not weave the web of life, he's a strand of it. It is all connected," attributed to Chief Joseph, as well as a quote from my good friend Wendell Deer With Horns (who watched the vernal equinox sunset over the stones with me) who said, "People forget it's all connected," as we talked about the Mystery of the Stones.
I find I used some compass alignments and some math, mostly to figure out the Summer Solstice Sunset since the leaves on the trees block the view - the actual view in a particular place as observed by Native people being the most important thing.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Rock circle and stone wall - Wellesley, MA
From Ji:
These are more basic.
On the stone clrcle--
Noting the shape, the dimensions and the quartzite, this could possibly be a grave.
There's one other small stone circle, which is quite striking. Different from this, same area.
The stone wall has no correlation to property lines that we can see, and its proximity to these rock circles is also kind of curious.
These are more basic.
On the stone clrcle--
Noting the shape, the dimensions and the quartzite, this could possibly be a grave.
There's one other small stone circle, which is quite striking. Different from this, same area.
The stone wall has no correlation to property lines that we can see, and its proximity to these rock circles is also kind of curious.
In the woods in the rain - Harvard, Boxborough, Littleton
with lousy color fidelity and poor blurry pictures. I am not sure which town this is in. A split wedged rock on the right at the termination of a line of stones to the left.
Here is a look down the line:
Speaking of impractical stone walls, here is one I have shown before, a short stretch of wall only existing on a little rise of dirt projecting into the water.
A sense of alignment:
And a more dramatic example of the same, at least another suggestive alignment.
I was cutting across the edge of a rock pile site I had been to before, so I only took a couple of pictures in passing. Some nice colors:
Here is an old friend from the road nearby. I think Mavor and Dix call this a "Harvard Chamber".
But this chamber may be on the Littleton and Boxborough line. For example, a few feet away is a boundary marker with a "B" suggesting "Boxborough".
Note the chunk of quartz in the wall behind it.
Here is a look down the line:
Speaking of impractical stone walls, here is one I have shown before, a short stretch of wall only existing on a little rise of dirt projecting into the water.
A sense of alignment:
And a more dramatic example of the same, at least another suggestive alignment.
I was cutting across the edge of a rock pile site I had been to before, so I only took a couple of pictures in passing. Some nice colors:
Here is an old friend from the road nearby. I think Mavor and Dix call this a "Harvard Chamber".
But this chamber may be on the Littleton and Boxborough line. For example, a few feet away is a boundary marker with a "B" suggesting "Boxborough".
Note the chunk of quartz in the wall behind it.
Simple Form of Ecosystem Management
I keep thinking about a few words (I just used in a post) from that A.M. Gibson quote from “The American Indian (1980).” I came across it on page 25 of that book:
“…simple form of ecosystem management.”
I think, alternately, “Yes it’s simple,” but then, as I look at the contributions at RockPiles, I say “No, it’s not that simple.”
There’s so much interconnected stuff going on – there’s the practical and the ceremonial, there’s a reflection of the sky in there, tied to the land, the sea, the rivers, the springs, and so much more that is missing from the “record,” the history, that we Rock Pilers see evidence of in stone structures - and the outcrops of the big stone we call Earth.
I think, alternately, “Yes it’s simple,” but then, as I look at the contributions at RockPiles, I say “No, it’s not that simple.”
There’s so much interconnected stuff going on – there’s the practical and the ceremonial, there’s a reflection of the sky in there, tied to the land, the sea, the rivers, the springs, and so much more that is missing from the “record,” the history, that we Rock Pilers see evidence of in stone structures - and the outcrops of the big stone we call Earth.
(He even uses a figure I've written about, drawn my own conclusions from, and has prompted me to draw my own pictures (like here: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2006/10/more-gary-snyder-control-burn.html) as I look at stone structures all around me...)
Gibson writes about “The Golden Age of American Prehistory,” describes the Southwestern Cultures and the eastern Hopewell and Adena, but what about that eastern seaboard – and beyond?There’s a story in these stones, placed as they were after the glaciers retreated, continued to be placed just so over the next 20,000 years as Native American civilizations advanced and thrived until very recently, the past few hundred years just a drop in the bucket...
Return to the Mortar/Turtle (Part One)
This "Return" will take a few posts...Up in the northwest corner of CT, fairly recently, a road was bulldozed into former farmland to create something called Technology Park. Remnants of stone fences from the farm are still visible here and there, but I have this idea that many of these fences were built over existing stone rows that had been there hundreds (thousands?) of years, firebreak devices of the Native Americans who once lived there, part of their ecosystem management scheme.
And I also came across another textbook from another family member – my daughter this time. Apparently (note the word parent contained in that word) my wife and I financed the purchase of “The American Indian; Prehistory into the Present” by Arrell Morgan Gibson – for $60.75 plus tax. My daughter was born in 1981; the book was published the year before. The book’s point of view could be sort of summed up as how the American Indian reacted to the waves of Empires that took over the Indians’ Homeland, sometimes called Turtle Island.
So I’ll return to that little section of land I started talking about and showed a photo of a quartzite mortar stone (Teaser Pix ), a little bit of that “vast estate” along the Greater Housatonic River System, where rows of stones were used in order control a burn in a relatively densely populated area, protected from the bulldozer in modern times still because it is inside the boundary of an inland wetland inside an industrial park.
I followed the wrong stone row trying to return to the place and drew a picture of that row that I posted at Rock Piles (Soon Come ). I’ll amend that here with a drawing of the “next row to the north” of that row. You’ll be looking west from inside the wetland area, and so the top drawing is south, the bottom to the west and if you'd like you could imagine them joined together to get a general feel for how this section would appear, sort of a stylistic representation, trees and brush and poison ivy left out for clarity…
I found the fields I entered following the the bulldozer path using MapQuest, pretty much the same view I got from Google Earth, north at the top. The fields in the upper right are part of the Dairy Farm…
A detail with landmarks added…
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Walls at Cononchet
Norman Muller writes:
Larry Harrop has put together a series of photos and a map explaining unusual wall or row constructions at Canonchet, RI. The link is http://larryharrop.com/wall2/
Larry Harrop has put together a series of photos and a map explaining unusual wall or row constructions at Canonchet, RI. The link is http://larryharrop.com/wall2/
Downhill from Mavor and Dix's "central mound"
I mentioned here that there were other large rock piles in addition to the one described in M&D and also within the innermost area surround by stone walls. Downhill nearer to a in their diagram was this smaler mound:
Then a sort of gateway between rocks, filled with cobbles:
Note the large triangular rock in the background. Here it is closer up: 
It is surrounded by still more cobbles and just beyond is where two stone walls meet in an acute angle at a.
Then a sort of gateway between rocks, filled with cobbles:
Note the large triangular rock in the background. Here it is closer up: 
It is surrounded by still more cobbles and just beyond is where two stone walls meet in an acute angle at a.
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