More from the Masonville Cairns

I also revisited the cairns in the Delaware State Forest. Now that the ferns have died off, they are easier to see. Actually, I can't believe what I missed on the Southeast end of the cairn field. There is a small knoll that protrudes out, in the middle of the cairns, and you are able to see 5 cairns from one random spot on the knoll. Additionally, if you move a bit to the Southwest, you can see the wall bulge. Another small, low cairn lies to the North-Northeast, which is not visible from the knoll. That makes 6 cairns at the Southeast end, 4 at the Northwest end (near the spring), 2 rock piles (one spread out on the ground) and a wall bulge.

One of the rock piles makes something like a pile-gap-pile structure, which includes one of the cairns. The rock pile spread out all around, on the ground, I don't know what significance it has, or if it is evidence of some destruction.

For this post, I am just putting up pictures of the rocks all around on the ground and the pile-gap-pile structure, including the cairn in the pile-gap-pile.

Here are some close up pictures of the rocks all around on the ground:





This picture tries to capture the entire view of the rocks all around the ground:



The stone wall, that the wall bulge is part of, is in the background on this photo:



You can see the large cairn, that incorporates the pile gap pile feature, in the background on this photo (the rocks all around the ground are in the foreground):



Here are some photos of the pile gap pile. The first one shows some cut pines that were disposed of on top of the rock pile:





The side of the cairn next to the pile-gap-pile has an opening in it that faces the rock pile. This includes a rock on the ground that acts almost like a doorstep to the cairn entryway. No disrespect was intended with the photo of the measuring stick in the opening. I clearly voiced this at the site. I gently place the 4 ft measuring stick to get an idea of how far back this opening went.







I think it is a pretty amazing feat of construction to have such a large cairn, with such a large, open space at the base, and not have had it collapse after all of these years.