Comparing A "Signature" Stone Stacking Element Incorporated In Native Stone Walls

Comparing A "Signature" Stone Stacking Element Incorporated In Native Stone Walls

Both of these sites are from the same area of woods, perhaps almost a mile apart, nearby to the headwaters of Echo Lake in MA.

Notice the unique stack-work, both within a larger stone-wall complex (also both w/ nearby cairns.)  Notice the shell-shaped stone placed on both stacks.  Picture 1 has two stones resting on top the shell stone, while Picture 2 has the shell-shaped stone stacked on top of 2 stones (as if equal opposites are being expressed).  

It is obvious that these sites are related, and that stacking stones in this way, we can see a glimpse of a "signature" technique stone-work at play- the same elements and motiffs/ ideas were used/ expressed in creating both stacks of stone, incorporated in pre-colonial stone walls.  Since these stacks of stone are both nearby to swamps/ wet-land and incorporate shell-shaped stones, I am going to guess they have something to do with the spiritual energy, also habitat, of the turtle, an important totem:      

Native Stone Wall Sections Pt 4

Native Stone Wall Sections Pt 4

Last part of this 4-part series showing off the highlights of the remains of a pre-colonial stone wall (I have extensively addressed this issue elsewhere on this blog- do your research, folks).  This is all one wall but I broke it down into sections, or sites, as it covers much ground.

First of all, this is not a colonial or later stone-stacking technique that was used by colonists.  Also this is not located in what colonists or later people considered farm-land, this would have been considered "wasteland" to the whites.  These stone-walls and stone-works are located on bedrock ledges/ outcrops, also over-looking swamps, wet-lands and brooks.  It is also important to point out that a fault-line runs through this area.  These stone-works are pre-colonial, Native American.  Statitically speaking, from a late 1800's survey, it is impossible for the colonists to have constructed the thlousands+ of miles of stone walls found in the New England region in just 200 years (statistically speaking the stone walls have enough volume to stretch around the circumference of the Earth something like 10 times over).  Again, the pictures below are not even colonial stone-stacking techniques whites would have used.  Some of these walls are thousands of years old: 

Running into a ledge:

Other side of the bedrock, close-up:

An interesting stone stack in the wall.  I have seen this before, incorporated into another stone-wall not too far away from this site (see my posts from Dec. 2014).  This tells us this is a "signature" stone-stack technique.  This means something:

Nearby rock-on rock, possibly an old animal effigy:

Back up on the ledges:

Standing by the stone-wall, which over-looks this valley with a brook running through it.  Due to modern damming and water supply resource, these water tables are lower than they really should be.  This brook is probably dried up during the summer:

Back up on the ledge, the stone wall over-looking the wet-land valley:

Native Stone Wall Sections Pt 3

Native Stone Wall Sections Pt 3

Up on a bedrock ledge over-looking wet-land:

Panning out:

Section of stone-wall that crawls up the bedrock ledge, connecting the site from last post's third to last picture to this one (and now I realize the last 2 pics from the last post, which are not far away, paralells this same spot as if in symmetry, like two ends or wings of a site- sometime I need to draw a aerial pic of this site or draw over a topo map):

Back up on the ledge.  Cairn in background:

Interesting:

Cairn #1.  Look at the markings in the stone:

Cairn #1 View B:

Cairn #2.  Possible turtle or animal, head-stone on left.  In the background is a perched boulder:

Native Stone Wall Sections Pt 2

Native Stone Wall Sections Pt 2

This is a beautiful classic.  A stone stack between two boulders.  The boulder on the left has been worked-out (modified) and is no doubt the head-stone of a serpent/ turtle:

Another turtle/ stone-stack effigy incorporated in the stone-wall nearby (a young, happy turtle):

Shell-shaped stones and unusual stacked stones along the corner of this boulder, creating an enclosure:

The other side of the boulder, again with the shell-shaped stone, also an unusually-shaped crescent stone:

This stone row on top of this boulder was part part of the greater stone wall site:

Notice the wall runs into the boulder, continuing on top the boulder (linking rock- to rock):

Coming up to a ledge:

These stones look split/ worked-out (nothing modern about it, though).  Another possible turtle-head on the right:

Native Stone-Wall Sections Pt 1

Native Stone-Wall Sections Pt 1

Interesting section of stone wall looping around a bedrock ledge.  This has zero colonial era/ farming function.  In all likely-hood this is a far more ancient wall.  This whole area wouldn't have been used by colonists or later people to begin with.  It would have been a great area for pre-colonial people in the distant past, however:

Meandering away from the bedrock ledge a bit:

I need to come back to this spot to check up if the boulder on the bottom left is a serpent/ turtle head-stone when viewed face-one:

Looping back around the bedrock ledge.  Possible tipped over Standing Stone boulder/ Marker:

Nova Scotia- StoneWorks, Somewhere On 5 Islands (Boulder Alignments, Stone Rows, Etc.)

Nova Scotia- StoneWorks, Somewhere On 5 Islands (Boulder Alignments, Stone Rows, Etc.)

Below I am providing 2 links I found to videos about stone-works in Nova Scotia.  The uploader of the video, Jack MacNab, is on one of the 5 islands of that region.  He looks at boulder alignments in the first video, one of which is thought to be a representation of Glooscap- it is at least obviously a human (or human-like) profile, similar to some boulders I have seen in southern New England (some of which are already up on older posts of this blog).  He looks at other stone-works in the second video as well.  Here are the links to the YouTube videos:

1)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNzr13nNzQ (under 3 mins)

 2)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nBB7hYs82M  (under 2 mins)

Below is a still image of the profile "Glooscap" boulder from Jack MacNab's video.  My impression- these stones are extremely old and weathered, and must have been propped up and worked-out a very long time ago:

Below is a pic I took of a propped boulder elevated on a high point of a hill in my area (MA.)  I believe this to be another profile deity stone, looking skywards to the south-east.  The chin in this one is more prominent compared to the above picture from Nova Scotia, although the other features are more subtle.  When viewers watch the first video, they will see more of a similarity between the two boulders when the first boulder (Nova Scotia) is seen from the other angle:   

Pics of A Cairn Field Pt 4 of 4

Pics of A Cairn Field Pt 4 of 4

In the lower right, notice how the boulder itself has been notched out in this stone-work/ cairn:

Cairn from the above pic is in the background:

The boulder in back of this cairn looks like the remains of a profile of a turtle/ fish/ snake effigy gazing skywards:

Another cairn/ stone-work stacked up against a boulder.  In ancient times I am sure that the parameter of this cairn field must have been some kind of meandering enclosure: 

Rock-on rock, possible bird effigy (browse my older posts for better examples of such stoneworks):

Back along the trailside- these cairns are either a new addition along the trailside or were played around with in more recent times.  Examples of pre-colonial cairns like this do exist in the region, but are not quite the same:

Note how the front stone is notched out (triangular tip) in this cairn.  Looks like a side-view angle of a bird effigy.  Notice the eye slit.  Could possibly be a dual bird effigy/ sun-dial- for instance this cairn could (and I am just theorizing, although my theories are based from findings of other cairn site functions in the area) symbolize planting or harvesting season (or a number of other functions) when the light of the sun along the hillside hits the tip of the bird effigy, casting a shadow, at a certain time of year:

On the side of the trail again.  It is possible the bottom rock of this cairn was on top of the boulder in ancient times (rock-on rock), with a modern person getting creative with these cairn remains along the trailside:

Stone mound:

Propped boulder, at least to one side, with stacked stones.  Possibly an offering stone in older times.  Possible animal effigy worked into the boulder on the left (bear, bobcat/panther face profile.):

More cairns: