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[Jim Warren]

Archaeological subjects welcome?

Anyone have sites near to where they frequent? A few miles away from where I live is a hidden treasure that has gone woefully understudied. The property has been in the hands of the same family farm for half a century. The owners don't keep people out, as a matter of fact the majority of their farm is pick your own low bush wild blueberries and of course allow you in to pick but only for the roughly month long blueberry season. (which is about a week away hehe)They just don't promote the "site" for trampling during the rest of the year citing liability issues and pretty much require written permission to get on their property during the off months. Anyway here's a pic:



It's a standing stone circle, a dolmen. The stones are estimated to weigh somewhere around a half ton.
All told, 21 stones, have been jammed into the bedrock on the 1,855-foot high knoll in the state's wild northwest corner. It is a in a very singular geophysical location with a nearly perfect 360 horizon. It is most definitely an astronomical observatory, predates native American cultures.
Who built and used them remains uncertain.

An interesting aside, in 1920 H.P. Lovecraft moved to the town where they are located and used the stones to set the opening scene for his story “The Dunwitch Horror”.

[Jed Dilligan]

1. Cool

I had no idea there were standing-stone monuments in New England (?).

I'm not sure how it could "predate Native American cultures," though. Is it older than 20,000 years!? The standing-stone structures in Europe are at most 10,000 years old, well into the era of Paleoindians. I don't think a society without agriculture could build one.

[Jim Warren]

2. I might have mis-spoken

When I was posting this I was recollecting some work on the site I had read that noted the historical native cultures indigenous to the area used not stone but wood in their astro calculations.

Let me do some digging and see if I can find more.

[Jim Warren]

3. A bit more

Stating they predate NA cultures was of course erroneous on my part.

Earliest written record of the site's known existence can be traced to settlers logs and diaries from 1700.
Fur traders and other adventurers were wandering through the area for a century, before the first colonial farmers settled here in the 1750s.

The old records hint that long before the settlers arrived, the hill was periodically burned by the Indian tribes that lived here to keep it clear for wild blueberries and to encourage deer to gather on the grasslands.

Still, it is very much an open question if the tribes erected the stones.
The periodic burns have muddied the picture, but pollen dating, which is one of the next avenues there are plans to explore, may help provide some clues as to how long ago the stones were set in place.

Some anthropologists are skeptical about any suggestion that the stones could be Indian work.

Dena Dincauze, a retired anthropology professor at the University of Massachusetts whose specialty is the native peoples of New England, said the tribes here did not build structures around their calendars. Dincauze, who has visited the site, noted that their calendars were based on the moon, not the sun.

Elizabeth Chilton, another anthropology professor at the university has stated,
"Native people built with wood, not stone. Most such sites in New England have turned out to be a bit of Colonial whimsey. Still the stones have an enduring fascination. I started out thinking this would be a quick job and got hooked, We've learned some things, but we still have a long way to go.”

[Jed Dilligan]

4. One possibility

English landscape gardeners in the mid-18th century sometimes erected faux stone circles as a picturesque element. It's very hard to date rocks on a human-historical scale, so I would be leery of any claims of great antiquity.

[Jim Warren]

5. Great antiquity?

Perhaps not, yet of that we cannot yet be sure. As far as landscape gardners, I would doubt the first wave of colonial settlers in this area circa 1700 would be too busy with picturesque elements atop an 1850' mountain moving tons of stone. Also, historical records confirm the formation in place prior to settlement. The stone arrangements are quite extensive in addition to the signature stone circle as shown in the pix in this link:
http://www.boudillion.com/burnthill/burnthill.html

[eleny]

6. We live near Dinsoaur Ridge, west of Denver

It's a place we drive near, passed or around all the time and take much for granted. Now, I have to find some time and get up there for a visit.

http://www.dinoridge.org/