Rhyolite Chopper - Runnins River, Seekonk

  

A quiet and forlorn place.

Rock Piles and Effgies - Lake Luzerne, NY

[Via reader Kevin O.]

This rock pile seems to be at a center location, which is fairly level, amongst many other rockpiles.  Potash Mountain (Senongewok), down a valley area, sits, very visible at one time, prominently west of the rock piles.

A rock pile with my dog, gives a sense of size of several of the rock piles.

A photo of a rock pile, as the terrain begins to slope downward.

Sample photo of effigies, that are scattered throughout the rock pile site.

New Year's Day Arrowhead

 

Tennessee "Bigfoot" Genre

 Amazing Burial Mounds and Tridents!

Stemmed Quartz Arrowhead - variations on a Wading River theme

 

Unusual carved rocks

This is so weird. I thought it my interest you, although not rock pile related:

Who Created These Mysterious Rock Carvings?

Lower Wildcat Wash - Moapa Nevada

I thought I already described this place but I cannot find any posts about it. Luckily I still have the photos. So here goes:

If you walk south from NV 168 along Wildcat Wash, leading in towards Arrow Canyon, you are following a well travelled path (note the prominent Yucca, left of center - looking back towards the road):

To either side, is a dense pavement of broken rock, bunt rock, and lithic debris. Here, someone broke apart a nice cream-colored block of chert, with pieces scattered around for several yards. Otherwise, they are still sitting where someone left them - too big to be moved around much by erosion.

And then, what-do-ya-know, you come across a rock pile. You think: this does not look very old. But then think: Yeah but those lithic fragments did not look too old either. So, who knows?

You notice a propped slab. This is more likely to be recent. This pair of Yuccas appear as a single plant in the earlier photo. The propped slab does not look like it could be very ancient. 

To the left, at the edge of the gully is another rock pile.

(You can still see the phone lines along NV 168 in the background.)

I wonder what someone might be up to out here. Perhaps I can ask the Moapa Indians.

Photos from Lake Luzerne NY

[Reader Kevin O. writes:] Here are a couple more pics.

One is my attempt at a primitive map of where stone piles have been located.

One pic is a profile of the location of three stone piles.   example of layout

One pic is a photo of Potash Mt...not a view from where we are.  We could have that view but chose 25 years ago not to cut any trees.  Mohawk name of Potash Mt is   Senongewok. The stones face west toward Potash Mountain

One photo is of Red Hawk.  Red Hawk was from Swanton Vt and I believe his mother was Abenki, and father, of European descent.  Not 100% sure. Definitely of Abeneki lineage

Red Hawk was an interpreter for Fort Ticonderoga, and the photo is from the State of NY

Concave Base Arrowhead from Marshfield

I found this in a place where I look and look and never find more than a smidgen of a broken quartz base. It is one of those late paleo "Snappit" or "Hardaway-Dalton" types that I tend to find inland. This is as close as I have come to finding an arrowhead in this place.

A single-shouldered quartz arrowhead

Wading River or Squibnocket.

Native Americans and the Revolution, Thursday, 12/5

[From the Friends of PineHawk]

Thank you for signing up for "Native Americans in Southern New England and the Revolution" with Daniel Mandell, this Thursday, Dec. 5, from 7-8:30 p.m. in Room 204 of Acton Town Hall, 472 Main St. The program is jointly sponsored by The Friends of Pine Hawk and the Acton 250 Committee.

Note: The program will not be live-streamed. It will be recorded and available later on Acton TV, https://actontv.org/.

Littleton Conservation Trust Facebook acknowledges Nashoba Indians

Dear Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians,

 

The Littleton Conservation Trust has posted in support of the Nashobah Praying Indians for Indigenous History Month!

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/pKeEmhJDn8VPR3fr/

 

:)

 

Best wishes!

 

Dan Boudillion

Secretary

Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians

"Burying the trowel"

Here are some videos from the Friends of Pinehawk, in Acton. The first (at the moment) is the Zoom meeting with Kitty O'Riordan about changing views of the cultural landscape.

Videos – Friends of Pine Hawk

Use this passcode, when asked: 8i#Up+.p

Good news - rain a comin

 

If you are gardening, or hunting for arrowheads in recently plowed dirt, the end of a drought is a good thing. This one has been pretty bad.

Update: Not enough rain fell. I took a long drive to examine dirt that was still opaque.

Iridescent Quartz

Interesting but not Rock Pile related:

Finding RARE IRIDESCENT QUARTZ at Sweet Surrender Crystal Mine in Arkansas | Digging Guide Episode 8

Prehistoric Fields - Las Cruces NM

 Prehistoric Fields - East Mesa of Las Cruces, NM

"...where every rock looks like a face..."

A late paleo arrowhead

I had a bit of luck yesterday. You might say a small bit of luck:

I think this is a transitional style like a "Dalton-Hardaway" but perhaps a little later.

Update: The fields are in awful shape. The tractors have beaten the surface and the corn stalks are lying, shredded, on the ground. Where they have re-conditioned the fields with harrowing, there has been no rain and all the surface is dusty, the same color as the dirt. I spent all day with my son, looking at the ground in MA and RI and we found almost nothing. So let's wait for a good rain before spending more time examining dust.

Celtic Ogham writing in the Southwestern US

Perhaps you have seen the Ogham (or Oggam) alphabet? Supposedly it was designed for messages written on a notched stick. Like this from Ancient Origins:

So, as far as I can tell, this writing system is common in the Southwest, because I keep seeing examples of it in videos. Like this one from "Trek Planner", who goes out in the desert near the 4-corners area and makes Go-Pro videos as he hikes and explores. Here is an example:

Now, I don't know how to read this, nor pretend that this form of the writing is identical to any I can find in Google image searches. But for my money, this is Ogham in Utah. I guess this makes me a UFO-ologist or a SASQUATCH-ologist. 

When things are said to have originated in Europe and only arisen in the US because of pre-historic voyaging, I routinely wonder if the flow might have been in the other direction: from the US to Europe. In this case, you wonder if anyone studies the history of Ogham, its variations and evolutions. Such a person might be asked to look at the above.

For reference, here is one version of the alphabet:

The "Fresh Water Fishing Place" (Woodbury CT)

 With a great deal of sadness, I have to report that the Diagonal Stone Fish Weir by the site of the Nonnewaug Wigwams is now very much gone.

 Almost all of the remnants of the weir were destroyed by a 2024 flood on the 69th anniversary of the Great Flood of August 18-19 in 1955: https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-one-in-thousand-flood-nonnewaugct.html

See also: 

https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2024/10/last-of-stone-fish-weir-at-nonnewaug.html

https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2024/10/more-of-final-days-of-nonnewaug-fish.html

The Friends of Pine 2024 Fall Program is well underway with more to come.

The Friends of Pine 2024 Fall Program is well underway with more to come.

But first, a reminder that tonight, Friday, October 18, the Littleton Lyceum is presenting :

Littleton’s Hidden Sacred-Shamanic Landscape: Sacred Stones, Vision Quest, and the Nashobah Praying Indians with Sagamore of the Nashobah Praying Indians, Strong Bear Medicine, and Littleton historian Daniel V. Boudillion at 7:30 PM.

 

Upcoming Pine Hawk Programs

Full descriptions of these programs are on our website https://www.pinehawk.org/2024-fall-programs/.

All Pine Hawk events are free but require registration at tinyurl.com/pinehawk-2024.

Burying the Trowel: A History of Controversy and Innovation in New England’s Cultural Stone Features Debate 

Tuesday, October 22, 7-8:30 PM in person at the Acton Memorial Library and via Zoom

Cultural anthropologist Kitty O’Riordan will make sense of contributions, clashes, and collaborations between avocational researchers and professional archaeologists in pursuit of understanding the unusual stone features that dot the woodlands and hillsides of New England.

 

Changes in the Land Book Discussion 

Tuesday, October 29, 7-8:30 PM in person at the Acton Memorial Library

All are invited to this in-person group discussion of William Cronon’s landmark environmental history of pre- and post-contact New England.

 

Community Service Day

Sunday, November 10, 1-3 PM in person

Assist with trail and site maintenance on the Nashoba Brook Conservation Land’s Trail Through Time, a multicultural heritage trail in North Acton. There will be an optional brunch beforehand at 11:30 am. Limited to 25, ages 13 and up. Details will be emailed to registrants a few days in advance.

 

Adult Archaeology Walk

Saturday, November 9, 10AM–noon, in person only. (Note new date)

Ian Bergmann, Land Stewardship Coordinator for the Town of Acton, will lead this hike along the Nashoba Brook Trail, with stops at the stone chamber and Native American ceremonial sites. Trail conditions can be rocky, uneven, and often wet, and thus participation is limited. Registrants will receive a detailed email several days before the walk. Limited to 20, ages 17 and up. (Previously scheduled for Oct. 19.)

 

A Day in the Life of a Local Archaeologist

Wednesday, November 20, 7 PM, in person at the Acton Memorial Library and via Zoom

Westford archaeologist David Gutbrod will share experiences and discoveries encountered in his professional life, from remote sensing projects in the South to an extensive report on a significant site in North Acton.

 

Native Americans and the Revolution: The Times are Exceedingly Altered

Thursday, December 5, 7 pm, at Acton Town Hall and via Zoom

Historian Daniel Mandell, author of Tribe, Race, History: Native Americans in Southern New England, 1780-1880, will present how the thousands of Native people in southern New England were involved in and impacted by the Revolution, and how they sought to secure their rights in different ways. Cosponsored with Acton 250.

 

For full descriptions of these free programs and to register, visit the Pine Hawk website at https://www.pinehawk.org/

The Friends of Pine Hawk 2024 Programs are presented with support from Acton Memorial Library and Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area.