A look at the Rt 290 site in Shrewsbury, MA

I snuck in from an adjacent street and quickly got to the type of wetland that I remembered from passing in the car. As I approached, I got my first look at the pile that was visible from the highway:
A litttle disappointed, I had thought it was more cleanly rectangular. But it is a carefully built pile anyway and it is fair to say its placement at a point where water is coming out of the ground is deliberate:After taking a good look, I headed downhill to see if there were more piles. In the end their were four or five more, ending with the large curved one I featured a couple of posts ago [click here].

At first there was a propped rock slab next to a remnant rock pile:Here is the view back towards the first pile (you can see cars on the highway beyond) :
Continuing:
Note the size of the rocks in the pile. It is not really a pile so much as an arrangement of rocks. The site is facing more or less north.

Here is the last of the piles, with the large curved one in back.
From slightly further away there are other hints of structure in the way the rocks lie about.
To the left of this last picture, just across from the curved pile, was a pile facing it and built into the stone wall:A viewing platform?

Finally on the downhill side from the curved pile, looking back at it, again there is a sense of structure in the placement of the rocks in the scene:
If you take another look at that curved pile (click here), take a moment to wonder how this site might have been in the past.

A Look At Fences

by JimP

In light of recent posts, I thought this little collection of photos from around the 'net was appropriate.This last one is not a fence, just a darned nice stone mound from Canada:Finally, here's a very nice article about colonial fences, although without the illustrations: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-20979636.html

Near Aiken's Marsh - NY

by theseventhgeneration
This is a little site I found along a DEC road near Aiken's Marsh. I didn't have time for further exploring beyond what is roadside. To best describe this entire site, I would say you can make out 13 rock piles in all, with the first few linked by a low stone row. As you go further down, away from the road, the piles are not linked and are less distinct, with the last one being nothing but smear. I was surprised to find that the largest pile in the row had "rail holes" in it.Looking over the one pile that had "holes", up toward the road (the top hole is visible in the bottom of the photo here):Looking down the row, away from the road:So, I am focusing on the one well stacked pile, because it is the only one here with holes. It is smaller than the ones in Arctic China SF. That is a half meter stick in the photo.This photo shows there is no rock pile with holes that corresponds to the 3 holes in the large pile. Although the adjacent pile has probably collapsed, I still question the lack of a base hole that should still be visible, and also question the nature of the row. The piles get smaller and smaller as you move away from the large pile, so does that negate the possibility that the piles are there as fence rail holders?And on the side opposite the 3 holes, there was one hole with wood in it:Looking inside the 3 holes, mainly for wood, I was surprised to see this:Yes, those are beer bottles. The holes are large enough to slip the bottles in through them and the rock pile is somewhat hollow inside, so that they dropped down a bit and only the bottoms are visible. I thought about removing them, but didn't want to damage the pile trying to get them out.

Old Damaged Rock Piles on Top of Annursnac Hill - Concord, MA

Tim Fohl told me about this site on top of Annursnac Hill in Concord. It was found while he and Doug Harris were surveying the hilltop as part of the activity associated to an application for siting of a new cellphone tower up there. It is always a little embarrasing to hear about a rock pile site in my home town that I did not find myself. Here the excuse is that I looked carefully up there for a patch of woods and all I saw was private houses. Who knew there was a small access road from the south up to the water tower on the summit - all hidden behind the private houses? This is not the first time I failed to locate a site in Concord (see Punkatasett Hill) and the reason is clear: I explored all of Concord long before I had developed any skill at it and missed plenty. I should really re-explore the town. Anyway, here is another new site on Annursnac Hill which I am publicizing under my guidelines, as follows: the site is in plain view, on publicly owned land, very badly damaged already, and (in my opinion) not related to burials.

There is not much to see today except rock pile "smears" - piles that have achieved a near terminal state of being spread out. The only characteristic I noticed was the presence of black rocks and burnt rocks in the piles. This is consistent with memorials or fire related activities on the hilltop. Beyond that there is no guessing. Several of the piles had been cleaned off by Tim, Doug, and others.Here are the piles I thought were the nicest:Note the black rock(s) visible in each pile - perhaps just a coincidence but still noticeable. There were between 10 and 20 piles up there and, although it looks like a southerly view on the map, actually the view on the hilltop was a bit west of south.

Fred Meli tells me that he was on the original excursion with Fohl and Harris.

Correction: Fred comments that he went out separately not with Fohl and Harris.

A curved rock pile in a break out zone - Shrewsbury, MA

Tracking down the spot I drove past last weekend, this large pile was at the edge of a break -out zone where a brook is forming.Here is a little video. I was wrong about there being more rock piles further on. The site did not continue down hill from this big pile. It stretched back uphill to a point that was maybe only 20 yards from the highway.

I was wrestling with whether this pile was from field clearing. The careful construction of the facing and the pile's placement at the edge of water are the deciding factor for me.

Quartz Dalton-Hardaway Points from Concord, MA

Side 1 view:Side 2 view:
The smaller of these points is 7/8 inches long and the larger is 9/8 inches long. These are late "paleo-Indian" points from 8-9K BC. The one on the right is broken at the base, the one on the left suffered similar damage but less so. They are not as old as those big fluted Clovis points but you can see the vestige of the flute in the slight hollowing up from the base of the point on the left and the concavity of the base of the point on the right. Can't tell you where these are from or someone might show up and start looking there. This morning my son and I had the field to ourselves and I got lucky twice.

Update:
Check out here from the Central States Archeological Societies (CSAS)

Roadside attraction - Rt 290

This was a pretty good "spotting":

North End of Arctic China SF, NY - Part 2

by theseventhgeneration
The rock piles in the row going up the hill get smaller and smaller near the top. This one is near letter N from the map that is in the part 1 post:It is wet up there, too, even though the elevation is above 1900 feet, water runs out of the ground.
Swinging around to the north and right at the border of state and private land is this view. You might have to click on the photo to see a standing stone to the far left. The stone wall is at the border, which is O on the map. Then there is another standing stone at the back end of the stone wall:Here is a close up of the standing stone at the back of the stone wall; P on the map:Rounding back down the hill and at H on the map, the stone row that touches one run in branch to the swamp is barely visible here. This view is looking off in the direction to where this stone row meets the rock piles.Back at the head of the swamp, there is a split wedge in the rocky area, within view of the rock pile at K. Although the photo doesn't show it, my notes are that there are 2 rocks or wedges inside this split:
Then, these three "rocks on boulders". I apologize, they are not marked on the map, but they are roughly southwest of the trail, across from J. This first one is lower in elevation, near the trail:
The two in this photo are high up above the trail, overlooking the swamp, not far from the top of the mountain that is 2097 feet in elevation on the map. If you click on the image, you can see the 2nd pile just up the hill.

Two Rock Piles 200 Miles Apart

by JimP
First is a pile taken by theseventhgeneration from Arctic-China State Forest in New York. Note the niche built into the base at center with a manitou stone propped next to it on the left.Now here is a similar rock pile on the Miner Farm taken by Larry Harrop. Note the niche built into the base at center with a manitou stone propped next to it on the left.Just a lucky coincidence? I've seen more of these.

Nipsachuck Hill and Swamp area, North Smithfield, Rhode Island: a battlefield Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow©

From Fred Meli:

The discovery of stone rows and stone mounds in the woods of North Smithfield RI fueled speculation that the area holds the remains of Native American Warriors, as well as numerous burial mounds that may date as far back as the Late Archaic Period.
The local conservation commission and town historian believe that the site has a potential tie to the King Philips Wars of 1675-76. I was called in to investigate the locale in March of 2007. I carried out four pedestrian surveys and a full three phase archaeological survey over the summer and fall of 2007. In that period we found substantial evidence to warrant a halt to all development in the area. The arcaheological work we have been involved in has caused a firestorm of controversy and much litigation.

The area has both cultural as well as historical significance attached to it. It was the site of three military engagements during the King Phillips War, which involved native peoples of the Wampanoag, Pocasset, and Narragansett tribes and colonial militia. The area also has a long historic association with the Nipmuc. In my presentation at NEARA, I discussed the findings of the survey and the ongoing legal and ethical problems that have become part and parcel of the Nipsachuck Hill and Swamp Area.

Animals Head:

Quartz in Pile:

North end of Arctic China SF, NY

by theseventhgeneration
This is from a short hike I took at the northernmost end of Arctic China State Forest, NY. The map shows a very old road and markers J through M are rock piles that are in this post.The first line of rock piles run along the north-northeastern side of the road in the vicinity of J. Most piles are not well formed, or damaged. Here is a picture of one of the nicer piles. See that stone to the left of what might be a niche?Between J and K on the map is an old stone foundation. The next photo was taken in the vicinity of K on the map. There is a long row of rock piles running east/west along the trail, up the hill. At the swamp, the row turns in something like a U shape with a short branch of indistinct rock piles and then a stone row that touches a run in branch to the swamp, and ends there. For now, I am posting photos of the rock piles in the east/west row along the trail.This picture is of the rock pile to the right in the photo above, and was taken facing southeast, in the general direction of the rock pile at J. Notice that stone in the front? It doesn't appear that it fell off the rock pile, it looks to me like it was placed there. If you compare it to the stone in the first photo, the similarity is uncanny.The next rock pile picture is L on the map. This one clearly shows 3 "holes" in it, which could have been used as fence rail holders by someone, or at least that's the argument.Then, this pile, a little further up, but not marked on the map, clearly shows the wood at the bottom of what might be a fence rail holder, or what might be a niche.On an aside, I didn't find any adjacent rock piles with "rail holes" facing each other. Most of the piles here are damaged, or, arguably vertical faced. The number of piles in the row, including the piles that were more like rubble, I would estimate at around 30.
This last photo is M on the map and it shows that the piles are getting smaller and smaller at the top of the hill.There is more at this site. I'll continue with some of the other features in another post.

Atop Annursnac Hill in Concord, MA

Stone walls rise up from either side of the hill one from the northwest and one from the southeast. They don't meet on top but are offset from each other and the space between them is filled in with rocks to form a huge parallelogram rock pile. Maybe it is from field clearing but it is worth notice:
This is somewhat on the eastern side of the hill. There is a smaller pile of a similar sort, built into stone walls, on the more western side of the hilltop.

A quick summary of Fred Meli's talk at the NEARA Spring 2008 Conference

The talk was entitled "Nispachuck Hill and Swamp: A Battlefield Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow". Fred began by Introducing his wife, a Narragansett Indian, and his team. He showed a first picture of a rock pile and it was a stunning pile with a head and symmetry.

Fred went on to describe how many of the piles had a single large piece of quartz in the middle, and that some were elongated with tail-like extensions (I am paraphrashing). The team surveyed an area of 186,000 square feet and found 240 rock piles equally distributed throughout the area (at least judging from their map which was done with GPS positions for the pile locations). On average there were 75+ component rocks per pile. They metal detected and found no metal.

They applied a cluster analysis technique to evaluate piles by size, orientation, unusual rocks, etc, and on that basis decided to dig in certain spots. What they found excavating around rock piles was surprising, including large amounts of amethyst, some greenstone, and some soapstone effigy pendants. They also found redware and large amounts of phosphorus. They found seashells, trade beads, and marbles. They found metates ("nutting stones") and a Merrimack point.

In Summary, Dr. Meli said the site set a precedent and demonstrated that these rock pile sites are imporant. He also mentioned that there was no Native American involvement in his dig. The Seaconke Wampanoag who, earlier, had been an important part of the Nipsachuck story are apparently out of the picture now.

Rock piles and agave cultivation in the southwest US

This may be a bit like the rock piles I saw in Arizona [Click here]

More from Ottawa

Geophile, for Bruce from Ottawa

I walked another section of the Stony Swamp Conservation Area after work today.
For the most part, the reserve is a normal climax forest with the occasional stone poking above ground in a natural way. But the region has numerous natural escarpments and ancient shorelines, dating to the retreat of the ice 10-15 thousands of years ago and in some cases from long before that. Elsewhere in this same area is a marvelous display of 450-million-year-old beach ripples! The region has had a varied geological history.
Below these escarpments is the normal rockfall material: blocks that have broken off the rock faces and rolled a bit before stopping. No surprise there. But I'm noticing that on top of these little escarpments are frequently found small rock piles, a few feet back of the edge.
I'm seeing this consistently here. I don't see a natural causation for this. Neither do I see how these piles could be field clearances, as their positioning doesn't make sense as a field clearing pile, at least in my opinion.
Also, these piles are not places where soil erosion has revealed buried glacial stones - the stones are above-grade.
I started viewing the Rock Piles Blog a while back and didn't think it possible that the phenomenon came this far north. While I don't say the piles I'm seeing here are great examples, I do now believe the as-found landscape here has been "customized" for some purpose by past inhabitants of the land. (The proliferation of beer bottles on the ground indicates a new customization for somewhat less noble purposes!)
/bruce/ He also thanked everyone on the blog for their work in this area.
While I'm on here, if anyone knows anywhere near Springfield, Massachusetts where there are accessible rock piles or other stone features, I would be grateful if you would tell me. I'll be going there soon and I would love to see a site or two. Thanks!