Stone Sculpture

A rounded  boulder with a deep split near one end. The split had long ago been filled with a series of smaller rocks, carefully placed and resembling the plates on the back  of a turtle.   Three of the rocks on the right have been recently disturbed and I couldn't be sure where the "head" was originally facing. 

1/2 Circle

A stone wall,  3 feet high and  6 feet long, when first viewed from the far side,  turned out to be a curved wall in the shape of the letter J.   A strange way to clear a field!

Was the space in the middle a  deeper at one point?

Evidence of Post Contact Settlement: Update July 19, 2016: Just returned from a trip to the UK: In the highlands of Scotland I spotted  similar structures and learned that they are evidence of habitation of men who raised sheep, and were used to catch one or two particular sheep from a flock.The small flock would be driven along the wall by a Sheep Dog, and held there in a tight little group. The man would be able to grab one at a time, for shearing. So was this construct  a late 8th century when the area was first settled?  Has anyone seen something similar? 

Cummington, MA

Out for a drive today: Spotted an interesting ledge:

Stone wall on top of a Cummington MA Ledge. A  historic Hunting Blind?

Rock Pile

I decided to stay out of the woods today, and  walk instead  along a 3/4  mile  private drive which
had been cut through a heavily wooded area from the "main" gravel road,  about 50 years ago .
 It provides access to a single lake-side cottage.
Half way along, off to my right,  200 feet into the woods I spotted
this interesting pile of rocks.  It is located on a knoll between two  rocky, spring fed brooks.
In the immediate area there were two other rock piles made up of a single flat boulder with several smaller rocks
placed on top.

The Logger is Back for another Season

Today I  headed out  to walk along  a 1/2 mile section  of the Old Indian Path which is  lined with effigy shapes and rock piles on both sides.  It was a jolt to discover  The "Forrester" has downed dozens of Ash and Oak trees. He doesn't want the Hemlocks but cuts the ones that are in his way.
Currently these downed trees  are lying across The Path.  He will drag the logs out with his heavy equipment, which crushes and destroys. Everything. The Path. The Rock Piles.    I have marked most with pink tape.  Their survival is now  out of my hands.

Rock-arrangement petroglyph.

I try to imagine myself placing this  arrangement; the heart shaped rock on the left, then four
smaller rocks of equal size and shape to the right. The correct view would  be  from the  right  side.
This is located on a  wooded hill side,  hundreds of yards away from any path or trail. Nearby is a large erratic that has been "decorated" with round  basketball size stones, starting with  a single row  along it's top, and ending at the south end with a cluster.

Looking down upon a foot high, flat topped Boulder, about 4 feet across.

• Effigy: A large boulder with several smaller rocks arranged on it.  Often these rock arrangements seem to form a symbol or animal shape.  These are interpretative as to what they might be representing, but there is no doubt that they exist, and by the hundreds.  They appear to be rock-arrangement petroglyphs. For more information on Effigies (and rock piles in general) see Peter Waksman's Indian Rock Piles website.

Cache in a Large Split Boulder

A unusual arrangement of small rocks on top of a large split boulder

While on a  walk in the  Woods, following the remnants of an
old deer track, I came upon a large split boulder. An unusual collection of various size rocks on the top of the boulder caught my eye; not stacked to create a wall, but placed, sort of a "door" in front of a space or shelf.

 Reaching  into  an open space  at the left side, created by some of the  placed rocks tumbling down,  I felt a pile of smaller, irregular shaped rocks. I pulled out some. They were colored by the soil in which they were nested.

It was a collection, not unlike the small pile building outside my own door; pretty shaped things brought home from my walks.

I placed them  back as close as possible to how I found them.

Reaching around into the crevice  behind the arrangement of rocks:
I retrieved an assortment of  perhaps a dozen smaller rocks gathered together into a pile.
They were colored by the soil in which they were placed. 

With my back to the boulder,  I looked north.
I have to remind myself that there may be snakes hiding in crevices.