College Rock In the Snow Pt. 2- Ancient "Serpent" Wall
Niche spot on a boulder ledge, one of the ends of the wall. Was this a drain, to run down the ledge, or an offering niche?-
Close-up of the niche. Note how the stone slab is knapped/ worked-out, and perfectly placed to fit over the gap between the boulders. This has been thoughtfully and specially placed indicting this wall's ancient origins. No farmer is going to spend the better half of a day splitting stones to artfully and perfectly place them on top of boulder arrangements on a ledge. This is not conducive with farm field clearing. Further, the bedrock ledge this stone wall meanders through would have been considered as wasteland to a colonial or later farmer and according to local historians these types of areas were not used as farm land, although there is plenty of farm-land nearby. Early 18th century farmers in the area, such as John Hero, reported "Indian graves" on their property (probably referring to cairns/ stone mounds), and depending on the type of person, did not destroy them due to superstition and/or respect as well as, probably, a minute "invisible" Indian presence. State archaeologist Curt Hoffman's data sheet, listing inventory of stone structure sites, has a 1/3 distribution of stone sites in "wasteland" (ledges, etc.), 1/3 on agricultural land, and 1/3 in and around wet-land (edge of a swamp, etc.):
Meandering through the ledge-
Long spiral through the ledgy terrain-
Possible turtle effigy, aka Algonquin "god" stone, sticking out of the stone wall-
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