A mound in the "distance"

Great, when you turn aside and peak into the woods and see something through the bushes. (This is Franklin State Forest.)

Ames Long Pond (eastern side) - Stoughton Memorial Conservation Land

To be honest, it is not worth showing pictures from here - it was bright sunlight dappled shadows on top of old, broken-down, 'ground' piles.

First find in a long time

From the Concord corn fields:

This is a fine material, called hornfels, or "hornstone". I never found a complete item made from it before. Some other shots.

I believe it is a little knife. An unusual shape but undamaged.

SCOTLAND’S LONGEST NEOLITHIC CAIRN

Destroyed by Fowl Watchers

A photograph of the conceal construction erected at Carn Glas cairn. (Picture: NOSAS)

 Read more at: https://epeak.info/2018/06/27/scotlands-longest-neolithic-cairn-destroyed-by-fowl-watchers/

Coming up

From Michael Hoye:

I found this portion of a stonewall to be interesting in Holland, Ma. Does anyone see anything here?

Doug Harris leads a field trip to the Upton Chamber - July 14

(via Peter Anick)

Greetings,

Thanks to all who came to hear Doug Harris speak about indigenous ceremonial stone landscapes of New England during his recent Massachusetts tour. We at the Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Trust (NITHPT) are excited to connect with anyone interested in learning to recognize, appreciate, and protect ceremonial stone landscapes. 

To that end, starting in June and continuing through October of this year, we will be leading monthly field trips in Upton to show people the Upton Chamber and companion features on top of Pratt Hill in Upton. The trips will be on the second Saturday of each month. The next field trip is slated for July 14^th. 

Although there is no charge for the field trip, NITHPT is a not-for-profit 501C(3), and charitable donations are welcome to support our mission to protect and preserve ceremonial stone landscapes. 

*****************************************************************************************************

What:                   Field trip to the Upton Chamber and associated ceremonial stone landscape features atop nearby Pratt Hill

When:                  Saturday July 14^th from 1PM to 4PM 

Where:                 Meet at the American Legion parking lot at 15 Milford St, Upton, MA 01568

·         From there we will carpool to the Upton Chamber at Heritage Park, and then to the base of Pratt Hill

·         We will park at the base of Pratt Hill and walk to the NITHPT land at the top of the hill to see the stone features there

·         For elders and handicapped we will can transportation you up the hill if given advanced notice

RSVP:  Please send email to nithpt.csl@gmail.com  (we can accommodate up to 20 people)

YouTube "Ancient Civilization" search

Cliff dwelling In Arkansas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AahCCSqtOl4

Not sure where:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z7cjaL5_Mo

Added:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJQ_AuZ5xE

Mounds with hollows - headwaters of the Susquehanna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7zr_L2lJL4&t=8s

Headwaters of Canoe River - northernmost Foxborough

This the landform west of King Philips Rock, between Little Canoe River and Canoe River:

You can get there from East Str, where there is a brook croosing just below the dam of that pond in the middle of the map fragment.
At first I went more or less directly east and found a few low ground pile (upper blue outline):

Kind of a dull, dark, flat place under yearling pines.

I continued north and east, wanting to get up to whatever high points were available. Somewhere back in those hinterlands (and back down low near the water, that maybe now is "east" Canoe River) was a small site with three or four  items:

Otherwise it was dull in there. 

My main intention was to explore along the Canoe River and I am sorry I did not stick to that plan and explore along the river to the north. 

I eventually circled back to the lower end of the pond and went south along the edge of the high ground following a stone wall. This was a familiar configuration (I was reminded of Howard Rd in Shirley) of wall on bluff over brook - so I continued along southward, trying to keep an eye out for structures on either side of the wall. Not at all surprised to come to a mound. Some views:

At the end of the ridge was a collection of satellite piles that were more or less evenly spaced. A configuration of marker piles next to mound is familiar. Here we are looking back towards the mound which is to the not quite visible to the left in the background:

A little further downstream was another mound. 

This one had only one satellite.

Oley Hills - Twenty Years After

(From Norman Muller):
I retured to the Oley Hills site nearly twenty years have left it.  It is owned by a new family, and the terrain around the bottom of the hill has changed.  Attached is a photo of one of the cairns, how in an open field; before it was in a low growth of shrubs. It is built on a low, flat boulder and must be close to six feet high.

The other photo is of a donation cairn on the ridge top in view of the large platform cairn. Sorry the slide is so dark.  Attached is a photo of the platform cairn taken years ago.  I wasn't  that aware of the connection until today, approaching it from a different direction.

Rock Stacking in the News

This showed up in Google News the AM:

https://www.backpacker.com/skills/rock-stacking-leave-no-trace

A rainy day

I had the day off, I left my house in the morning to go try to find some arrowheads. I went to a place on the coast, where I have found many quartz artifacts. What's this?

It's the base of what turned out to be a pretty large arrowhead. I believe this shape is known as Squibnocket Stemmed. The tip is missing, but it's nice to find something this size that is even this much intact. I found a couple of broken quartz arrowhead fragments also.

I left that place and went to go meet my friend Dave. Some years ago, Dave identified a spot near where he lives, that has yielded some nice artifacts for us over the years. In the last couple of years, I haven't found much there, beyond little fragments. This was a good day. I was excited to spot this. It was almost the exact same color as the soil.

This is a Stark point. The material is, I believe, argillite. It is an indescribable feeling to pull something like this from the ground. I was elated.

Dave spotted this broken blade lying in plain sight, just waiting to be picked up for the first time in thousands of years.

It is a shame that it is broken. Big, nice flaking, made of an unfamiliar material- a type of felsite, I imagine.

I was looking very carefully and picking up every little flake and chip. A tiny broken edge sticking out of the soil turned out to be this great arrowhead. I could not believe my luck. I don't have a lot of points like this. I think this would probably be called a Neville Variant type. The material is felsite. These big stemmed points are generally older than the smaller quartz arrowheads I usually find. There is some damage to one of the shoulders.

Here are all of our finds from that site, that afternoon. Days like that are unfortunately few and far between.

My finds for the day, back at home. It will probably be a long time before I find artifacts like these again.

By a pond

At the edge of a pond there is a pretty forest path.

 I go there sometimes to take pictures. Kids on dirt bikes use the path, too. Their tires churn up the soil, use of the path causes erosion. Looking down, I noticed a thin, sharp flake of broken quartz. This is a clue. I took a closer look. Along a short stretch of this path, about 15 feet of it, the dark soil was flecked with occasional flakes and chips of quartz. The larger chunks suggest that people were breaking down quartz cobbles to make tools. The small thin flakes appeared to me to be the result of tool sharpening. I think people lived right here, on the edge of the pond.

What's this on the path?

It's a worn out and broken Squibnocket Triangle projectile point made of a crystal quartz material. It's really beat up but is a nice material and it took a lot of skill to make this.

I think it is incredible that in 2018 it is possible to readily discern the traces left behind by people who lived in this exact place thousands of years ago. I think it is fascinating and I would like to think that others would also find it interesting to know that early man lived here at the edge of this little pond where they like to swim and fish. I think it would be great if there was some kind of sign or marker to inform people about this. I fear that it is more likely that some day machines will come and grade this trail, or put a house or building here. I imagine that many who might know of a site like this, are worried about looters coming with shovels to take the artifacts (and I am sure there are more and better arrowheads here). I imagine this place will remain completely intact, right up until the day it is completely destroyed.

More along "south" Justice Brook

That's what I am calling the brook I walked up to A along. After that I headed south-ish and got lost again even with sunlight. It is a big hill is my only excuse.

Anyway, in a random traverse I found two different sites. One near the old road, the other near the pipeline. Not sure where. It gives you an idea how common these sites must be. At least in certain areas.

So what was interesting is that the two sites were completely different from each other, even though both had essentially the same nth stage, knocked-down, ground piles. At the first site we are looking at triangular piles made from mid sized stones and others made from lines of large stones. At the second site we are looking at circular ground piles made from smaller stones. They look quite different but I am afraid the pictures may not show it.

The first site:

A triangular pile like the ones from nearby (8th and 9th pictures here)

And several unintelligible piles, and some ones made of lines of larger stones:

From the second site a low circular pile made of small stones [sorry it is so invisible]:

I think this is a different one:

What can you make of this in the dappled light? 

I may be wrong and both sites come from a similar period. But it truly seems the second site is older. A different time, a different place, a different thought. Then check out this video from a fifty yards uphill:

More spring arrowheads

I went for a drive on a pleasant evening after getting out of work early. I wanted to swing by some favorite spots, where I have found prehistoric stone artifacts. There didn't appear to be many areas with a fresh surface to explore. But one slope near the water looked from the car like it had some good exposure. I got out of the car and took ten steps. Ten seconds in.

The corner is damaged but it is a nicely made triangular quartz arrowhead. I have had a few good days that start by finding something almost immediately. A nice feeling. I spotted this at the bottom of the slope.

Closer... It's very small. It has been resharpened from something bigger. I believe this is a Squibnocket Triangle.

I spotted a couple of Small Stemmed or Squibnocket Stemmed bases sticking out of the ground. It's always tantalizing to spot them like this, you hope so much that they are whole but they usually aren't. These were both broken.

This was a great afternoon. I have been on a roll lately and it feels great. The little white glass button is a relic of a more recent man. I have a few jars full of these, from picking them up over the years.