Mysterious Ditches along the Mulpus - prehistoric or not?

Look how the river, for one bend, runs parallel to the ditches. Since this is very flat, I think the "Stupid Sheet" might apply [link to the right] and, if this was prehistoric, would suggest a preoccupation with the 260 degree lunar standstill. Of course the ditches could be historic but I am having a hard time imagining a "practical" reason to straighten out a brook.

Glancing at the Fort Devens stone wall map [link to the right] I see plenty of walls running at that angle - parallel with a stretch of the Mulpus. Why is a brook parallel with a stone wall? Come to notice it, what the heck is up with that map coordinate line? 

Its a mystery! They could do a TV show.   

Update: I guess there was a lot of ditching in colonial times and, if I take into account that the Devens map has true north as vertical, then this is a true east-west direction. Hard to tell what the coords are for the satellite view.

Coming up

I have more to blog about than time to do it. Found 2 sites in Shirley, and 2 others in Upton. 
Shirley:

Upton:

(Yes there were some similarities).
Also Upton:

Lucky to find one like that on a weekend. More later.

Mention here and perhaps not again: This is on a height of land, placed similarly to the now destroyed piles on Pratt Hill. That is just one hill away from here. Ultimately the test of Mavor and Dix's idea (that Pratt Hill mounds were horizon markers for the Upton underground chamber) is that other sites either have a similar architecture or do not. For example if no stone chamber is found associated to the piles near the one in the photo above, that suggests the Pratt hill connection was a coincidence. I always believed M&D's claims needed some other examples to be considered valid. I don't know any. 

Stonewall Visions at Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust (Woodbury CT)

"While observing the numerous stonewalls found all around us here in New England have your eyes ever been drawn to what looks like a pattern? Perhaps the stones are arranged in such a way to look like a serpent or a turtle? 

Join independent researcher Tim MacSweeney who will share his insight on “repeated patterns” found in stone walls and his theory that instead of being random that they might likely have been created, maintained and used ceremonially by the Indigenous People who occupied the area hundreds of years ago.

 He will give an interesting introductory PowerPoint presentation on the indigenous stone features found in stone walls which will then be followed by a walk around the nature center in search of concrete examples to analyze and admire."

Date/Time: Saturday, September 24, 2016 / 10AM

Location: Flanders Nature Center Studio

Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust

596 Flanders Road

Woodbury CT 06798

Cost: $10 members; $15/ non-members

Click Here to: Register

If you are not a member and would like to become one and take advantage of member prices click here!  Be sure to come back and register for this program!

                                   More Flanders Events: http://fnc.newogind.com/currentcalendar/

Mount Mineral Petroglyph

As we were discussing it, I came across this picture in Ancient Stone Sites of New England and the Debate Over Early European Exploration. By David Goudsward.

Tamra, The Island

Korean TV

Mound with hollow, Shirley

Took one interesting walk last weekend but my path brought me right up in the face of some private property. As you can see from the map, this site is between a lawn and a marsh called "Spruce Swamp".

I was headed for the eastern and southern portions of the swamp's verge, thinking that is the most likely place to find things, where you can look outward towards an open space. Sure enough, parting the bushes and stepping through:

The ferns help you see there is a hole in the middle.

This looked like it might have been another:

I wanted to walk all the way around the pond, looking for other examples, but you can see why I could not go any further in this direction.
For reference, the edges of the marsh also had what looked like old stone wall - between these "mounds" and the water:

The presence of short linear stretches of wall -  adjacent to mounds with hollows - is very typical. The intuition to go where the view outward is to the west is just that - an intuition. But I believe when an intuition is firmly established, that it should be possible to confirm statistically.

Going through old photos - mortars on the Hill next to Rt 3 in Billerica Town Forest

An unusual thing to see in New England

A traverse and tour of Blood Hill, Ashby/Ashburnham

Starting at "a", I cut across towards the west end of Whitney Rd at "c".  In that one traverse of the hill, I found two clusters of rock piles. One at "b" near above a small wetland, and another at "c" where the hill had a very even but steep slope [I want to say "flat" but not meaning horizontal.]
I think the conclusion is that these sites are quite common and easy to find. But they are also easy to miss, so you have to look.

I blogged about this hill before [click here or here or here]. There are rock piles in several places. So much so, that I payed little attention to a small 'altar' I found somewhere between the main hill and the southernmost point of the above blue path, or to a third cluster when I was heading north at the end of the walk - these were adjacent to the main gully, so not really a new site.

I was having a conversation with Curt Hoffman and we discussed a principal question: why is a site located where it is? There are at least two kinds of answer: a site is located where there is some aspect of the natural landscape that is functionally useful to the site - for example a wetland, or a flat slope, as described above. Another possibility is that sites occur where it is convenient - for example along a road. We have discussed this before and I recall Larry Harrop saying his sites are usually a long way from roads and in the middle of nowhere. 

Nevertheless, the sites I find north of Fitchburg are usually near a road or navigable brook. Some of the best ones are where a road crosses a brook. So, I propose that sites are located at the intersection of landscape and convenience.

For example, where should we look for rock piles here?

Back at Blood Hill I want to mention one stone wall that fits the "ravine culture" idea I was promoting earlier. This wall came up the hill, hooked around, and ended a few feet later, with a piece of quartz. Perhaps you can make it out in the photo, it is a little bit like the large "J" in the main gully of the hill.

The site at "b" was quite beaten down. It consisted of about 10 small decrepit piles. Some on support, some on the ground. Offhand, I would say this is the same kind of site as at "c" and at the place called "B" in the link about about "a slow climb". Here are some of the piles at this "b":

 A hint of a vertical side.

Hard to say if there was any layout present. I took a few pictures then continued across the hill.

When I got to the west end of Whitney Rd I was a bit confused with the intersection of another old road there ("Breed Rd"?), and was heading north and east on it and stopped, thinking: nah there is nothing in that direction but a slow slope. I paused, unsure, not realizing I could go even more easterly. So I abandoned the slow slope in favor of turning west and hit rock piles immediately, at "c". These were better defined than the piles at "b". I want to say: teardrop shaped from above, with a piece of quartz, or burnt rock in them. Here is the scene:

And some of the piles:

 closeup

closeup

Some of these are getting rather big.

I take care to document these examples of piles with a corner or "point"; and with piece of quartz at the point. It happens exactly in this way at Patch Hill in Boxboro (have a look).
And here is one with a flat slab above a burnt rock:

 closeup

And that is it. 

Help needed at the Wissatinnewag Circle Gardens!

From the Nolumbeka Project:

 

Please join Brent Pitcher, caretaker of the Wissatinnewag gardens, on Saturday, September 10th and Saturday, September 17^th,  9am-1pm both days. Tasks may include: preparing the Sweet grass garden for planting and planting the sweet grass, watering, well-digging. Brent can be reached at brent@crocker.com

            The three sisters and ceremonial tobacco gardens are well underway. Unfortunately, the sweet grass died off. To restore this garden (picture attached), topsoil must be spread, the soil fertilized and then the plants put in. Meanwhile, significant improvements at Wissatinnewag have been made in the last month thanks to generous benefactors,  The driveway was widened, gravel spread and a gravel road now leads to the gardens. Previously, it was all sand and there was always the risk of cars getting stuck. You will see in the background of the picture of the garden requiring attention, the new shed being erected just a few days ago.

A Boulder Split into Four Quarters (Woodbury CT)

   The long version here includes some

"Rows of Stones on a Talus or Scree covered Slope, sometimes connected to boulders or tors:"
http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-boulder-split-into-four-quarters.html
    Re Peter's comment: There isn't much that appears to be "retained," a build up of debris, but it's not like there is an upper terrace level. I didn't climb up to that one, but did at the first I encountered (#17 of 24) to check out the other side:

...and we're back

Coming up:

Artifacts

      The last several weeks have been very hot and very, very dry. Without rain, there has been little reason to brave the heat and go out in search of stone tools. It has been a long time since I have found anything.
      Our current drought has brought water levels way down at local lakes and ponds. In some places, falling water levels must be exposing prehistoric sites that are normally under water. Movement of the water washes the rocks and exposes stone tools. Somewhere out there are places where loads of arrowheads are just waiting to be picked up. If only I could find those places...
      My friend Dave and I went to a lake last night in southeastern Massachusetts. The drought had exposed several feet of sandy rocky beach. I searched diligently but didn't find any chips or flakes to indicate that this might have been a place where people lived long ago. We left there and went to a tiny area of exposed dirt not far away, where Dave found some broken arrowheads in the past. The two of us can search this little dirt patch in about 5 minutes. I had never found anything there but I did have some luck last night. I spotted this:

     It is the midsection of a stemmed point made of felsite. The break at the base is ancient. The break in the blade is not.

     I also found this.

     This is half of a ground slate bannerstone. I found a similar broken bannerstone in 2014. I was very surprised to find this. These are not common objects. A local archaeologist told me that these are virtually always broken when found in this area, even when excavated from undisturbed contexts. Many archaeologists believe these were used as counterweights for atl-atl dart throwers. Many were very carefully made and polished and were artistic in form, leading some to speculate these may have had some ritual or ceremonial significance. In truth, I'm not sure it can really be said that anyone knows for a fact what bannerstones were for. In my years of collecting stone tools I have found two halves of bannerstones as well as two small fragments that I believe were pieces of bannerstones. I am surprised to have found so many. Here is the one from last night, cleaned up.

     Here, at the break in the center, was the hole that was drilled through the stone, presumably for inserting the atl-atl. You can see that this piece was thicker on one side, than the other. It is also clear from looking at the broken cross section, especially here on the left side of this picture, that this piece was not shaped like a regular crescent, it must have had a distinct notch on the bottom edge where the hole was drilled.

      Here it is together with the other bannerstone I found a couple of years ago. Both of these ground slate bannerstones were found in Massachusetts.

     Lastly, a photo of the best of what very little I did manage to find in this hot, dry summer. A large but broken stemmed point with strong basal grinding, and a little triangle that clearly shows ancient rework/resharpening before being discarded. Both are quartz, typical southeastern Massachusetts arrowhead finds.

     Fall is my favorite season and also a good time to look for arrowheads.

Interesting Feature seen in aerial view

In Littleton between Harvard Rd and Bennetts Brook: