Sunday, May 31, 2015

Book- "Unruly Places" by Alastair Bonnett


Book- "Unruly Places" by Alastair Bonnett

I picked up a book from the library called "Unruly Places" by English author Alastair Bonnett.  He explores many places on Earth that are unique such as islands that have risen and sunk, such as off the coast of India/ Bangledesh, and places that have gone through many changes such as the Islamic state of Mecca, European cities before and after World War 2, you name it.

The great thing about this book is that the author expresses a broad sense and perspective of what defones space/ place.  Bonnett writes, 

"In ancient and medeival thought place was often center stage, the ground and context for everything else."  And that "most modern intellectuals and scientists have hardly any interest in place... place was demoted and displaced..."

He also goes on to write: 
"As many cities are still learning, sweeping away the past deprives the world of more than just rare and beautiful landscapes.  Planners and developers also remove the memories, stories, and connections that hold people together, socially as well as individually.  Turning complex, diverse places into shallow, simple ones creates a culturally more vulnerable population, an unrooted mass whose only linking thread lies in the ideology that is fed to them from above.
This process was well understood by those communist regimes that undertook similar mass demolitions in the past.... for Mao, molding the people to his will demanded the death of the old city [Beijing]...
and in describing the city of modern day Mecca, "Today what little remains of this complex past survives by luck or because it is just too prominent to pull down."

To me, here in North America, it always seemed that developers and planners who blow up whole ledges (sometimes containing stone-works) and level a place flat to put in a condo complex, where all the units look identical and are all the same, seems very monotonous and communist, as well as un-American.  Just a thought on that one.  As one friend once put it, "we are living in the Twilight Zone."

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Serpent Ledge + Stone Block Ruins Of A Structure


Serpent Ledge + Stone Block Ruins Of A Structure

This site is around what I call the Greater Echo Lake area (alot of sites on this blog so far are) but for now that is as specific as I will get.

On a high point with a nice over-look (although the modern tree line is a bit in the way) is a large boulder ledge that appears to be propped up and modified.  The boulder is smoothed and "slender" and appears to be placed into position on top of other stones.  There is an obvious eye-slit worked into the stone and the features clearly depict a serpent.  Have a look.

The Great Serpent:










The view from the over-look.  With-out the tree line this would have been a very magnificent spot:



Some examples of collapsed Standing Stones around the foot of the Serpent (the base of this Standing Stone is to the right, the tip to the left):



Also at the foot of the ledge are these blocks of stone strewn about.  There are no quarry markings on them indicating their possible great age.  These blocks were worked and shaped out without colonial or later technology it looks like.  In context with the sheer amount of pre-colonial stone-works in this area this is not surprising.  The remains of a stone structure at the foot of a Serpent Ledge:






Nearby at the foot of the large ledge all this is located around is this stone ring petroform/ altar that I featured in this blog "petroform examples" back in September 2014:


Friday, May 29, 2015

Wrapping It Up In Lynn, MA.- More Boulder-Works


Wrapping It Up In Lynn, MA.- More Boulder-Works

Last three pics from Ledge #2 over by Phaeton Rock + some boulders in Lynn Forest.

What a spectacular view.  A modern campfire and a prehistoric boulder placement-


End of the line.  Well, sort of.  Although I could see more boulder placements on ledges in the far distance, these power-lines + development ended my walk-about of ledge #2 around Phaeton:



Now to site #3 basically, in the Lynn Forest.  Boulder Placements on ledges:



Twin boulders on a ledge-



Amazing Propped Boulder View A-


B-


C-


Circular enclosure of boulders-


A walk-way through the boulders in the circular enclosure-


Monday, May 25, 2015

Lynn MA. Boulder Arrangements/ Dolmens Pt. 2 - the Next Ledge Over From Phaeton Rock


Lynn MA. Boulder Arrangements/ Dolmens Pt. 2 - the Next Ledge Over From Phaeton Rock 

High up on the ledges of Lynn, Massachusetts exist enigmatic and spectacular arrangements of placed and propped boulders over-looking the land and sea.  Also, some of the pics in this post have boulders that resemble human or human-like faces and profile features to them.  Some even appear to be smiling.  See if you can notice these special stones thru-out the post.   

Circular arrangement of boulders.  Stone Boulder Circle #1, View A.  Note the "God-Stone"-


View B-


View C-


Propped ledge stone placement. ("table dolmen")-



Boulder Circle #2, View A-


View B-


View C-


Propped Boulder w/ nice wedge/ pedestal stone underneath-


Same as last pic but panning out-


A view from the ledge-


Another boulder placed on a high ledge-


Destruction on the ledges.  Irreversable damage to what should be considered as National Wonders-


Another ledge stone propped up-


Arrangement of boulders on the ledge View A.  Note the window or "gaps" between the stones-


View B-


View C.  The stone on the right was at the end/ beginning of this boulder/ stone row and looks serpent-like-


Sunday, May 24, 2015

Lynn Boulders & Dolmens Pt. 1 - Phaeton Rock + More From Same Ledge


Lynn Boulders & Dolmens Pt. 1 - Phaeton Rock + More From Same Ledge

Lynn is located in the Massachusetts North Shore.  The high ledges in Lynn give a good over-look of the coastal in-let.  Probably the most researched boulder in Lynn through the years has been Phaeton Rock which is a stunning dolmen on a ledge.  Sadly, there has been nearby blasting and construction on the surrounding ledges which prompted the neighborhood residents and the town of Lynn to put up cement and wooden supports around the dolmen for fear of safety.  Unfortuneatly this ruins the ambience of the dolmen.  The town of Lynn should never have let developers destroy any of these ledges.  Phaeton Rock, as we will see in this series of posts from Lynn is not a stand-alone structure.  There are many boulder alignments, arrangements and dolmens all over the place running through the whole series of ledges, and a great deal has apparently been irreversibly destroyed. 

I will first present what the dolmen Phaeton Rock used to look like from pics I found around the net-



These are now my pictures from 2015-


Cement poured around the pedastal stones-


Phaeton Rock at a distance-


Located around the same ledge as Phaeton Rock is this boulder over-hang on a ledge.  I believe this boulder to be placed by the work of man as well- it even resembles it's neighbor Phaeton Rock although it is not a dolmen.  View A-


View B (there is a small enclosure spot at the foot of this ledge)-


Some more boulder placements and alignments around the same ledge as Phaeton Rock & the Ledge Over-hang-



In the distance, on the next adjacent ledge from this boulder placement is where the construction was happening- you can see the water-tower in the distance.  This adjacent ledge is what will be covered in pt. 2 of this series and the remaining boulder structures on that ledge were still jaw-dropping.  I was more impressed by this second ledge than by the Phaeton Rock ledge.  So stay tuned.