Hi Stephen, This clarification is excellent and timely. I find all of your videos and educational walks so helpful and informative. Before I met you, I never recognized the stone walls I run across in the woods as Native American, even though I knew they were out there and thought I was looking for them. Now, I cannot unsee the Stone Rows as anything but Native structures and cannot believe how common, widespread, and important these monuments are. Your work is so valuable and comprehendible. Thank you.
I’ve got one coming up that will really swizzle one’s mind. The row has no clear native features, runs along a road and property lines, and would clearly be viewed as a property marker, but…
Thanks for the excellent vid! I've been fascinated by stone structures ever since I read about them in Mysteries Of New England, decades ago. To the best of my recollection, when the natives were asked about the walls, they said they'd always been there. When I wander the woods along the Colebrook reservoir at the MA/CT line, you can find newly formed walls that run along the waterway. these walls are formed when the res is high in winter and the ice flow literally bulldozes them into being. Any conversation about the origin of stone walls should include the effects of ice and glaciers.
@@SERFINUSA all of these structures post date the glaciers. The glaciers came through this area and would have ground out anything that was here. That being said, it also gives us some proof that structures were not made by glaciers, as they often rest in some level of the soil, and there was no soil left by the glaciers, just sand, rock and a dense clay like material.
Very interesting. Here in Maine and in NH I've followed literal hundreds of miles of stone walls over the years. To my knowledge, everything I've ever seen is colonist built. Most likely for the 1810 and kater sheep craze.... But there are definitely local farms that were cattle for the most part.
Nice video ... I myself live on a site & also have stone rows they left behind ... Keep your eye out for rocks similar in size and of same type of stone and you will find totems to put back together...
Wow, thank you for this. I hike the woods of Rhode Island quite often. Our forests are loaded with stone walls/rows. Now, I will be able to tell the difference.
There are many stone walls in the East Bay area of California. (Contra Costa County). Most can probably be explained (and have been explained) as simply property boundaries, cattle barriers etc. However I have encountered them on steep ridge backs only a few yards long and running perpendicular to the ridge line and over boulders as you explain here. One just ended on the edge of a steep slope stacked on top of a sandstone outcropping. Some sre only a foot high. Very intriguing.
@@blakebufford6239 native traditions occasionally span wide areas, and sometimes are very localized. Don’t can vary. That being said, I am of the mind that here in New England, a fair amount of boundary walls were “adopted” as they were already there and it’s a lot easier to use them than move a few tons of rock yourself. I will have a video out shortly that shows a wall that most would think was a boundary wall, but….
I came across an obvious serpent effigy a few years ago next to a swamp. 30-40’ long with a beautiful serpent head stone (4x3x2’) at one end of the winding row of stones. I couldn’t generate much interest though, it’s an hour long hike or a 45 minute bushwhack from the other direction. My question is, how rare are these things? Especially one so well preserved with such a perfectly diamond/serpent head shaped stone at one end.
@@robbcairl3728 that’s an interesting question. I think in the Algonquian lands they seemed to be somewhat common, although that is difficult to tell, as most of the land has been developed. My guess is that they were used quite often for ritual purpose, such as a winter solstice event. I came across one in Wampatuck state forest (Hingham, ma) mountain biking there one day, so either I have some tremendous luck finding them, or they are more common than expected.
@@Stones_and_Stories thanks for your reply. I showed this serpent effigy to a friend who regularly hikes with Native American historians and she was impressed but hasn’t convinced her friends to visit the site. There is orange/red flagging near it and my friend said that’s the color a local Native American uses for his discoveries so it has obviously been recognized by experts. I very much liked this video and subscribed, looking forward to watching more.
Depends on the area as far as rectangular extensions off continuous walls. Many land owners built foundation confines for either sheds or livestock work areas. This was particularly true in the mid to 1800’s. Frequently, if one waves these areas with a metal detector, one finds old tools or fasteners dating back to these times.
@@cutlets2118 thanks for the comment. It is timely. Unfortunately, we are prohibited from metal detecting in these forests. However, I have found the ruins of a 1700-1800’s farmstead recently and will do an episode on it to show what those old foundations look like today.
@@Stones_and_Stories what forests are these that you cannot metal detect? I live on land that goes back to the early 1800’s. In N.E. I scan here all the time. Am l not supposed to?
Interesting. Ancient stone walls are everywhere here in Massachusetts. I was only aware of two types, namely pasture walls and field walls, made by early settlers. But I thought #5 was kind of speculative. Not sure about that one.
Robert Thorson, considered the expert on New England’s stone walls, refuses to acknowledge that these Native American structures exist! It’s only recently that some archaeologists are considering it. This despite the fact that several early colonists wrote about existing walls and wondered about them! So I’m curious as to how you came to be a believer. Have you ever checked out the Trail Through Time in Acton, MA? That town has consulted with Native Americans, and the ceremonial stone piles and rows are clearly marked and explained.
@ I have not been up to acton, but will make the trip at some point. It’s a well studied area. I too grew up in New England and thought all walls we settler made. It’s been my time in this single forest that made me dig into the stone structures that were left my ancient natives. I’ve been here for 15 years now and started researching and documenting years ago. I’m amazed at how much is here, but how little people know about it, and how few care. The more I explore I learn, and then consume a great deal of documented research to ground my observations.
@@gaspipe7548 the natives were asked about the walls, they said they'd always been there. the fact that several early colonists wrote about existing walls and wondered about them ...
Those serpent mounds were made by the Hopi - original settlers of the American continent, to mark their passing, on their planned exploratory migration.
Yes, thank you. I included the Ohio Serpent mound as foundation for the existence of Native effigies of this sort. While there is some literature on the New England use, the Ohio mound is without any meaningful challenge to the nature of its origin, or its existence. I did not mean to imply any further relationship, such as purpose, to the ones in New England.
We have ancient walls on our property. Some are colonialist built, some we don’t know why there are there. One lonely huge boulder in the woods has about 10 larger rocks (where they were carried there) on top of it. I keep thinking it’s native. We have found native tools (skinning tool and axe head) in our yard and near some rock walls. Would really love to know what that lonely rock - with rocks on top, meant.
Ok, let’s dig into that a bit. I’ll post some info in the community section over the next day or so. Want to do a bit more research, but what you likely have is what Mary and James Gage refer to as an “On stone cairn” or a cairn that has a base boulder. That comes from their expanded first edition “A Handbook of Stone Structures in Northeastern United States.” More to come.
This is a link to a general write up on cairns. It states that the meaning of only a few types of structures have been passed down or are understood. But there is a section on cairns on base stones with some examples of just a few stones comprising the cairn. www.stonestructures.org/html/cairns.html
"One lonely huge boulder in the woods has about 10 larger rocks (where they were carried there) on top of it." Check old maps or property records to see if it's a corner or boundary marker from the colonial era. Picking a large, immovable object like a boulder was convenient in an era where surveyors were scarce.
@ excellent point. Checking old property boundaries is always a good idea. I have found standing stones, clearly placed there, with a ring of smaller stones around them that have been on boundary lines. I have not found erratics as boundary markers here, but I think it is a good practice to check property boundaries when attempting to decode stone structures, like walls, standing stones and stone piles.
While this video makes assertions (for brevity) my other long form videos rely on and cite published research. For other videos that cite external research, see ua-cam.com/video/SIL5DC7wwfI/v-deo.htmlsi=ytoI9vGQ3BZcQprk ua-cam.com/video/3_HQMHc1Fec/v-deo.htmlsi=GnTingu7tMJrdfAB And ua-cam.com/video/bLddDLQVQTg/v-deo.htmlsi=p-MIZBVj_1jvpQK2
@Stones_and_Stories I live in the Blue ridge mountains, Timber rattlers and copperheads are everywhere. Copperheads tend to favor damp areas, but both love cover. You will only see the movement. P. S never had a rattle snake rattle at me. All of them were deadly still. My record is about 6 foot long and 15 rattles about the size of your upper arm ✌️❤️😂
Why are the native stone rows not classified as stone walls, but the colonist farmers’ masonries are? At 0:23 it seems he refers to them as Native American built stone walls, which contradicts the title. Seems like “Stone Wall or Native Stone Row” is the wrong question to ask if all native stone rows are a subset of stone walls.
It also goes to the purpose. A wall is generally meant to divide property, clear fields, or pen animals. A row has spiritual meaning, not utilitarian meaning.
I should also mention the the DCR archeologists did a tour this summer and while they were at Gilbert hills they displayed artifacts that included arrowheads from a dog they did years ago. They dated the site to 7000 years ago. That is not published info, but they did mention it in person.
In every shot the spots you were on were heavily farmed and tilled, and soil altered by animals over time. You can learn to read the forest like this too if you dont already do it. But i have trouble believing those were not settler made because the ground UNDER all your walls is tilled and farmed to the max... All this based on a glance at the woods you're in.
That is incorrect. In the first scene it is a rock field on both sides of the wall, the second scene is a 600 curved wall in the shape of a c. The last scene is wetlands on the far side and a rock quarry (literally) on the near side.
@@Chuck-he1jd that’s certainly an interesting proposition. I hadn’t heard or read that anywhere. If you read that, could you post a link here? I’d like to check it out. That being said, native sites nearby here have been dated as far back as 7k, 9k and 10k years ago. So I’d find it interesting if there is an account of walls older than that. Looking at it differently, these walls also often have native context to them. By that I mean that known native ceremonial structures are built in or very near them. I highlighted niches (a common ritual feature), manitou stones and enclosures. So the contextual features add to the analysis that they were native.
Interesting. Ancient stone walls are everywhere here in Massachusetts. I was only aware of two types, namely pasture walls and field walls, made by early settlers. But I thought #5 was kind of speculative. Not sure about that one.
Here is another. There are at least 5 in this forest alone. Short walls that serve no practical purpose, all very close to bodies of water. The serpent was an important spirit animal in this area. ua-cam.com/video/zGFyqUc8jeU/v-deo.htmlsi=Epimi5Sm7gr_V-I_
This is hilarious 😃
That’s awesome information. Thanks.
@@lynnsbomb thank you!
Hi Stephen, This clarification is excellent and timely. I find all of your videos and educational walks so helpful and informative. Before I met you, I never recognized the stone walls I run across in the woods as Native American, even though I knew they were out there and thought I was looking for them. Now, I cannot unsee the Stone Rows as anything but Native structures and cannot believe how common, widespread, and important these monuments are.
Your work is so valuable and comprehendible. Thank you.
I’ve got one coming up that will really swizzle one’s mind. The row has no clear native features, runs along a road and property lines, and would clearly be viewed as a property marker, but…
They aren’t this is complete garbage. All these walls can easily be attributable to colonial settlement
@@gaspipe7548It's great to hear from a primary source. You might be the only internet troll over 200 yrs old! Very cool.
Congratulations man. This is practically viral.
@@FacesintheStoneShorts for this genre, it definitely took off. Thanks!
On our property in Maine, we had a wall in the forest made out of tree roots.
I loved this. I wasn't aware that Native Americans made these. Fascinating.
They didn’t 😃
Thanks for the excellent vid! I've been fascinated by stone structures ever since I read about them in Mysteries Of New England, decades ago. To the best of my recollection, when the natives were asked about the walls, they said they'd always been there.
When I wander the woods along the Colebrook reservoir at the MA/CT line, you can find newly formed walls that run along the waterway. these walls are formed when the res is high in winter and the ice flow literally bulldozes them into being.
Any conversation about the origin of stone walls should include the effects of ice and glaciers.
@@SERFINUSA all of these structures post date the glaciers. The glaciers came through this area and would have ground out anything that was here. That being said, it also gives us some proof that structures were not made by glaciers, as they often rest in some level of the soil, and there was no soil left by the glaciers, just sand, rock and a dense clay like material.
Glaciers were here long before walls were built. Glaciers provided rocks scattered across the landscape.
the natives were asked about the walls, they said they'd always been there. YES YES YES
Great video. Thank you for these 5 techniques.
Thank you
Very interesting. Here in Maine and in NH I've followed literal hundreds of miles of stone walls over the years.
To my knowledge, everything I've ever seen is colonist built. Most likely for the 1810 and kater sheep craze.... But there are definitely local farms that were cattle for the most part.
Subscribed. Cool stuff. Thanks
@@terryatpi thank you. Hopefully you can find more interesting material on the channel. Looking forward to hearing about it.
I was waiting for this video!
Hopefully I didn’t keep you waiting too long. Anything else in this genre on your mind I could cover?
@Stones_and_Stories I'm staying subscribed, I'm sure I'll find answers to questions I didn't think to ask.
So cool! I have wondered-now I know! Thank you!
Happy to help!
This guy is complete BS. Iam sure he’ll get a you channel on Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster soon enough. Dont believe a word of this nonsense.
Nice video ... I myself live on a site & also have stone rows they left behind ... Keep your eye out for rocks similar in size and of same type of stone and you will find totems to put back together...
Will do
Wow, thank you for this. I hike the woods of Rhode Island quite often. Our forests are loaded with stone walls/rows. Now, I will be able to tell the difference.
@@goochma I’ve been encouraged by local subscribers to get out to Lincoln Woods. Planning it this winter
very interesting, thanks
Good stuff~
@@koof1776 thank you!
@@koof1776 thanks!
There are many stone walls in the East Bay area of California. (Contra Costa County). Most can probably be explained (and have been explained) as simply property boundaries, cattle barriers etc. However I have encountered them on steep ridge backs only a few yards long and running perpendicular to the ridge line and over boulders as you explain here. One just ended on the edge of a steep slope stacked on top of a sandstone outcropping. Some sre only a foot high. Very intriguing.
@@blakebufford6239 native traditions occasionally span wide areas, and sometimes are very localized. Don’t can vary. That being said, I am of the mind that here in New England, a fair amount of boundary walls were “adopted” as they were already there and it’s a lot easier to use them than move a few tons of rock yourself. I will have a video out shortly that shows a wall that most would think was a boundary wall, but….
Love the algorithm ❤ Jack Benny & then Native American details , all with morning coffee. 👍🏼 Glad to subscribe.
@@lor3999 glad to have you aboard!
I came across an obvious serpent effigy a few years ago next to a swamp. 30-40’ long with a beautiful serpent head stone (4x3x2’) at one end of the winding row of stones. I couldn’t generate much interest though, it’s an hour long hike or a 45 minute bushwhack from the other direction. My question is, how rare are these things? Especially one so well preserved with such a perfectly diamond/serpent head shaped stone at one end.
@@robbcairl3728 that’s an interesting question. I think in the Algonquian lands they seemed to be somewhat common, although that is difficult to tell, as most of the land has been developed. My guess is that they were used quite often for ritual purpose, such as a winter solstice event. I came across one in Wampatuck state forest (Hingham, ma) mountain biking there one day, so either I have some tremendous luck finding them, or they are more common than expected.
@@Stones_and_Stories thanks for your reply. I showed this serpent effigy to a friend who regularly hikes with Native American historians and she was impressed but hasn’t convinced her friends to visit the site. There is orange/red flagging near it and my friend said that’s the color a local Native American uses for his discoveries so it has obviously been recognized by experts.
I very much liked this video and subscribed, looking forward to watching more.
Good job bud!
Thanks!
Love this (fancy graphics fun). Thank you!!!
@@kathleenseb8950 the graphic part was kind of fun to put together!
Depends on the area as far as rectangular extensions off continuous walls. Many land owners built foundation confines for either sheds or livestock work areas. This was particularly true in the mid to 1800’s. Frequently, if one waves these areas with a metal detector, one finds old tools or fasteners dating back to these times.
@@cutlets2118 thanks for the comment. It is timely. Unfortunately, we are prohibited from metal detecting in these forests. However, I have found the ruins of a 1700-1800’s farmstead recently and will do an episode on it to show what those old foundations look like today.
@@Stones_and_Stories what forests are these that you cannot metal detect? I live on land that goes back to the early 1800’s.
In N.E. I scan here all the time. Am l not supposed to?
@ this forest is in Massachusetts. State and local parks metal detecting is banned.
Interesting. Ancient stone walls are everywhere here in Massachusetts. I was only aware of two types, namely pasture walls and field walls, made by early settlers. But I thought #5 was kind of speculative. Not sure about that one.
Robert Thorson, considered the expert on New England’s stone walls, refuses to acknowledge that these Native American structures exist! It’s only recently that some archaeologists are considering it. This despite the fact that several early colonists wrote about existing walls and wondered about them! So I’m curious as to how you came to be a believer. Have you ever checked out the Trail Through Time in Acton, MA? That town has consulted with Native Americans, and the ceremonial stone piles and rows are clearly marked and explained.
@ I have not been up to acton, but will make the trip at some point. It’s a well studied area. I too grew up in New England and thought all walls we settler made. It’s been my time in this single forest that made me dig into the stone structures that were left my ancient natives. I’ve been here for 15 years now and started researching and documenting years ago. I’m amazed at how much is here, but how little people know about it, and how few care. The more I explore I learn, and then consume a great deal of documented research to ground my observations.
The guy is correct this nothing but fiction.
@@gaspipe7548
the natives were asked about the walls, they said they'd always been there.
the fact that several early colonists wrote about existing walls and wondered about them ...
Those serpent mounds were made by the Hopi - original settlers of the American continent, to mark their passing, on their planned exploratory migration.
Yes, thank you. I included the Ohio Serpent mound as foundation for the existence of Native effigies of this sort. While there is some literature on the New England use, the Ohio mound is without any meaningful challenge to the nature of its origin, or its existence. I did not mean to imply any further relationship, such as purpose, to the ones in New England.
We have ancient walls on our property. Some are colonialist built, some we don’t know why there are there. One lonely huge boulder in the woods has about 10 larger rocks (where they were carried there) on top of it. I keep thinking it’s native. We have found native tools (skinning tool and axe head) in our yard and near some rock walls. Would really love to know what that lonely rock - with rocks on top, meant.
I should have also said that our home was built in 1757.
Ok, let’s dig into that a bit. I’ll post some info in the community section over the next day or so. Want to do a bit more research, but what you likely have is what Mary and James Gage refer to as an “On stone cairn” or a cairn that has a base boulder. That comes from their expanded first edition “A Handbook of Stone Structures in Northeastern United States.” More to come.
This is a link to a general write up on cairns. It states that the meaning of only a few types of structures have been passed down or are understood. But there is a section on cairns on base stones with some examples of just a few stones comprising the cairn. www.stonestructures.org/html/cairns.html
"One lonely huge boulder in the woods has about 10 larger rocks (where they were carried there) on top of it." Check old maps or property records to see if it's a corner or boundary marker from the colonial era.
Picking a large, immovable object like a boulder was convenient in an era where surveyors were scarce.
@ excellent point. Checking old property boundaries is always a good idea. I have found standing stones, clearly placed there, with a ring of smaller stones around them that have been on boundary lines. I have not found erratics as boundary markers here, but I think it is a good practice to check property boundaries when attempting to decode stone structures, like walls, standing stones and stone piles.
How do you confirm these? Is this just speculation?
While this video makes assertions (for brevity) my other long form videos rely on and cite published research. For other videos that cite external research, see ua-cam.com/video/SIL5DC7wwfI/v-deo.htmlsi=ytoI9vGQ3BZcQprk
ua-cam.com/video/3_HQMHc1Fec/v-deo.htmlsi=GnTingu7tMJrdfAB
And
ua-cam.com/video/bLddDLQVQTg/v-deo.htmlsi=p-MIZBVj_1jvpQK2
What is your background in archaeology?
Who cares? Only rank credentialists with their heads up their silos.
I’ll answer with an article: ua-cam.com/video/lgQypalZHMI/v-deo.htmlsi=vKSNIaJ_5crItdYJ
Sometimes a different perspective is necessary
You find a rattlesnake or Copperhead it's yours 😂
We do have an occasional rattlesnake in New England. But I’ve never seen out outside of Texas or New Mexico.
@Stones_and_Stories I live in the Blue ridge mountains, Timber rattlers and copperheads are everywhere. Copperheads tend to favor damp areas, but both love cover. You will only see the movement. P. S never had a rattle snake rattle at me. All of them were deadly still. My record is about 6 foot long and 15 rattles about the size of your upper arm ✌️❤️😂
@@Stones_and_Stories , WE DO ?! In New England ? 👀👢👢
@ not very many. But a few.
Why are the native stone rows not classified as stone walls, but the colonist farmers’ masonries are? At 0:23 it seems he refers to them as Native American built stone walls, which contradicts the title. Seems like “Stone Wall or Native Stone Row” is the wrong question to ask if all native stone rows are a subset of stone walls.
@@Apophis392 it’s how natives refer to those structures.
It also goes to the purpose. A wall is generally meant to divide property, clear fields, or pen animals. A row has spiritual meaning, not utilitarian meaning.
Do think arrowheads are there to
@@johnmcelroy2120 I have seen very few. But other stone tools are more prevalent.
I should also mention the the DCR archeologists did a tour this summer and while they were at Gilbert hills they displayed artifacts that included arrowheads from a dog they did years ago. They dated the site to 7000 years ago. That is not published info, but they did mention it in person.
In every shot the spots you were on were heavily farmed and tilled, and soil altered by animals over time. You can learn to read the forest like this too if you dont already do it. But i have trouble believing those were not settler made because the ground UNDER all your walls is tilled and farmed to the max... All this based on a glance at the woods you're in.
That is incorrect. In the first scene it is a rock field on both sides of the wall, the second scene is a 600 curved wall in the shape of a c. The last scene is wetlands on the far side and a rock quarry (literally) on the near side.
this has to be a joke or this guy is nuts
@@dt-vp5wn thanks for stopping by.
we sure its Native Americans ? Many Natives say the walls have been there longer then they were
@@Chuck-he1jd that’s certainly an interesting proposition. I hadn’t heard or read that anywhere. If you read that, could you post a link here? I’d like to check it out. That being said, native sites nearby here have been dated as far back as 7k, 9k and 10k years ago. So I’d find it interesting if there is an account of walls older than that.
Looking at it differently, these walls also often have native context to them. By that I mean that known native ceremonial structures are built in or very near them. I highlighted niches (a common ritual feature), manitou stones and enclosures. So the contextual features add to the analysis that they were native.
Interesting. Ancient stone walls are everywhere here in Massachusetts. I was only aware of two types, namely pasture walls and field walls, made by early settlers. But I thought #5 was kind of speculative. Not sure about that one.
I have a few other episodes on snake effigies. ua-cam.com/video/3_HQMHc1Fec/v-deo.htmlsi=AVjFS1F7GIoTU9K_
Here is another. There are at least 5 in this forest alone. Short walls that serve no practical purpose, all very close to bodies of water. The serpent was an important spirit animal in this area. ua-cam.com/video/zGFyqUc8jeU/v-deo.htmlsi=Epimi5Sm7gr_V-I_