Cairn Images

A closer look at a Cairn I posted earlier in the month. This cairn is composed of a series of boulders of differing materials, aligned side by side, with rocks  tucked into the spaces between each rock. Near the "top" of this image..three "heads," looking left, or has my imagination run away with me?

A view along the length of the cairn: a ragged quartz -infused rock closest to the camera, then several boulder piled in a row.  At the "top," three stones, all "looking" left.  

Close up of one of the stones placed at the "top."
Looking left. 

Native American Cairn Hunting

Rock Shelter

Spring with lintel stone

Row of rocks under effigy shaped slab

Rock Shelter in the middle of a glacial "dump." I haven't been able to find a safe way to get closer.
Best not to go there. The huge black bear might be looking for a Den. Or, perfect habitat for rattle snakes. 

Looking for the Eye

MJ and a Bird Effigy

The Eagle

A Flash of White! An adult eagle  trying to catch a fish right in front of our house!
This is not my photo, but it represents the scene, exactly.

Not in my Backyard

Serpent Wall Massachusetts

But abut 15 miles away, in my friends backyard.   This is a magnificent "stonewall."  Gosh, everywhere I look, I'm seeing Cairns....and effigies.

Another inigma

First view: There are ledge outcroppings all over the side hill, but  this arrangement of 4 large stones,  with small fist size  stones tucked in between, invites a closer look.  Is this a Cairn?

Moving around the pile...what looked  like a natural split becomes a split that has been adapted.
A beautiful Bird effigy! 

Close up of how the "effigy" stone is fitted together.
It must have taken two strong men to lift the top stone into place. This is in the middle of a glacial dump and I cannot begin to guess it's purpose, but it's definitely not happenstance. 

Porcupine Mom and Baby

There was a well worn animal trail in the woods so I attached a trail camera to a nearby tree.
Rather fun to watch. I also left in a clip of a porcupine "call."

Cairns and Effigy in the South Area

Two new cairns today: Above: a cairn with effigy stone. The "eye" has been pecked out.
The effigy "faces" due north, towards what I've termed "the "main ceremonial" site.

Sacred Water in Southern Section

This spring is covered by a large rock. A row of stones leads us to the spot. 

Cairn and Stepping Stones

The Grinding Stone located on the top of a knoll suggests there must have been a water source nearby.  A hollow, or swale to the east  is moist, and does have  clumps of ferns , suggesting  a source existed at one point.  However, the stream bed appears to have been totally dry for many years.  Perhaps the construction of a nearby, parallel gravel road for horse and wagon caused a diversion of this source. The road is known to follow roughly the "old Indian path" heading north.

Old stream bed  in the Central Section, with row of stepping stones,  crossing from the down-hill on one side to  the up-hill," east to west.  This area of Massachusetts was settled  about 1767. At some point an early farmer constructed a raised causeway just behind where I am standing to take the photo. 

A Cairn...at the Northern end of the Historic Landscape area; four boulders lined up on their sides, with bits and pieces of various rocks, including quartz, filling the gaps, and spanning the top. 

The Enigma

Today I followed deer tracks along a stream bed, and came back upon this  Group of Rocks which I'd "flagged" last month. (To alert the Forrester that this is a special  construction and please don't relocate it, as he has done with some boulders he didn't want to maneuver around. )

An unusual grouping  of stones in the southern section, beside a brook at the South end of Historic Landscape,  with effigy stone on right. 

The effigy overlooks rocks placed in the crevices. The stones tucked into the  rear space are very dense and weight a great deal more than one might expect for their size.It appears that they came from a single larger stone, shaped like a Gouda cheese round, then sliced into several pie shaped pieces, and of A pudding stone composition.  

In the Central Area,  a Standing Stone on a knoll between two dry stream beds, on the east side of  what I've termed the  "ceremonial" area.  One of the  stream beds still carries the spring run-off, but is not spring-fed. 

Foot Traffic: A video from a couple of weeks ago.

The twin fawns no longer have their spots.
I have moved the camera  further east, trying to stay ahead of The Forrester.
The deer have done likewise.

Autumnal Equinox

This evening I walked  the "long trail" which runs the length of the plateau.  The trail's beginning and ending are far beyond this particular plateau.  Portions of it, lying both to the north and to the south, have already been obliterated by time, development and logging,  and after hundred's of years of foot traffic, this portion will soon suffer the same fate.  Daily, The  Forrester cuts closer and closer to the top of this hill.  It is, of course, the terrain and it's features which will be forever damaged by his modern, heavy logging equipment.

Traveling north along the "long trail." 

On the north end of the plateau the sun struck a large circular cairn which appears to have been knocked about many years ago. 

In the central area of the plateau, the sun struck most directly a cairn situated in the grove where my trail camera has been located for 4 years.  Curiously it is the one that many of the animals stood upon to survey the surrounding area.
 Click HERE:

A Walk in the Woods

Effigy

This "effigy" cairn is located on the north end of the plateau,  facing west towards The Lake, about 1/3 of a mile from  what appears to have been the main Native American ceremonial site.  What is noticeable is that the cairn clusters here do not have additional bits and bobs of "donation" rocks,  as appear to have been added over time to those in the southern end of this location. 

Large "Corn Grinding"  Boulder

This boulder is about 3 1/2 feet tall and about 5 feet in diameter. It is located on the highest spot at the northern end of  the "long trail" which  can be seen behind the boulder.  The animals  (Moose, Deer, Bear, Fox, CoyDogs) use  the trail  regularly.  From the trail, one can see the remnant of a small spring in the   swale below. 

Is this a perched boulder or a balanced rock?  A curiosity which faces west towards The Lake. There is evidence
of some pecking. A lot of rocks around the base are studded with garnets and there is a large split boulder loaded with quartz and lots of other shiny bits nearby. 

Almost overlooked; this is a small "v" shaped bit of quartz about 8 inches long set carefully into a slanted pile. It's the small cairns like this that will be  destroyed  by the brutal logging equipment. 

Small cairn

Winterberries

Up through the depths of woodland debris...

Circle of Stones with Quartz in Center

Marked Cairns

I've marked about 18 cairns and effigies so that the logger can spot and hopefully avoid them with the heavy equipment. 

Lakeside Cairn

A large  boulder with quartz seams. The boulder is split, and filled with smaller bits and "offerings..."  There is even a tiny bit of quartz balanced with another tiny pebble,  on a small  rock just to the left of the "nose"....about 11:30 of the clock.
 

Cairn discovered on Friday

East view of cairnThis is an interesting cairn. Is this also an effigy?  It is in the deep woods, alongside a spring fed stream...

It consists of 8 large boulders leaning upon one another...a small quartz rock is tucked in-between a gap on the south side; there is a two piece slab,  placed on the north side. The gaps are "chinked" with small pieces of slate.

Close up of "effigy" 

Rear view of cairn showing slabs of rock leaning upon one another. 

Bit of white quartz (partially hidden by leaves) tucked in a space between leaning boulders.

June Fawn on September 1.

Quartz Boulder, Flaked

On the forest floor..a large boulder, dripping wet while the rest of woods is dry. Leaning closer, I saw that one side of it had   been chipped away. (pecked?) ..bits at a time..The woodland debris surrounding the boulder is a foot deep. I pulled some away from the cut face. 

Massachusetts Cairns

A couple more Cairns from the woods...outside, over there....

Article:

Effigy

A small collection of rocks. about 12x12x12,  arranged into an effigy.....almost overlooked as a "cairn."
I haven't been able to find it again; it's probably under piles of brush left by the Logger. 

Very Large Cairn

Giant Glacial Boulder serves as the base for this Cairn. This could not be a "field clearing" cairn because the builder had to climb down a steep rock strewn slope,  bordering a vernal brook, to place the stone.  

A cairn in the path of the forrester

The Two Does

There were two does that had fawns in the nearby woods  this year. One was older, had a lot of scars and injuries, including the loss of vision in one eye.  Date and time stamps indicate that they are traveling together.

Massachusetts Cairns 4 & the Perseid Meteorite Shower

The 2015 Perseid meteor shower peaked on August 11, 12 and 13. 

August 13th: The Green Corn Festival.

Coincidentally, it was on August 14th, on an evening walk through the woodland trail near my home, that the angle of the setting sun illuminated the stone piles and cairns in a most curious way. 

(From D. Harris, 2008: The Great Falls 2008). 
"Celestial observations made by tribal members, tribal representatives, scientific analysts, and field researchers in August 2007 revealed that the observation point marked by the stone features was aligned with the setting sun during the HEIGHT OF THE PERSEID METEORITE SHOWER. 
The passage of the meteorite shower from northeast to southwest during this astronomical event is of great importance in the cosmology of Eastern tribes. (Scope of Work 2008: The great Falls 2008). (Turners Falls Ceremonial Hill Site.) "

Bird Effigy on Cairn view from the west. The "body" of this cairn has many "offering" stone. 

Close up of the Bird Effigy, above, straight on; note how the position of the head is supported with bits of rock and quartz. 

Effigy on boulder

Side view of a "seat." 

Turtle effigy.: nose facing left; .and 1/4 of the entire body"

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