I've been going around Google Earth, zooming down to eye level where sites are located and then switching on the "show sunlight across landscape" feature.
Here is a site I've been keeping an eye on for a while. This image is a satellite view from Google Earth. The circular things in the field are rock piles, overgrown with brush.
Here is the same satellite view, but I've added a color code:
-Red: Summer solstice sunset
-Blue: Winter solstice sunset
-Purple: Spring and fall equinox sunsets
I also put a green circle around the rock pile in the far northeastern corner. It lines up with the winter solstice line of rock piles, but it's not in any of my photos here.
I should also add that I have not yet investigated the line that juts out into the field, highlighted in purple. From a better (birds eye) view, it looks like two rock piles and then a depression, but it's safe to say that whatever is there is not tillable, hence the tree. Also, of the piles I looked at, I did not notice any stacking, but it is hard to see with all the brush.
There are better rock piles in the northeast corner of the field, in the woods. When I first found this site, I posted pictures of those rock piles and also of the stone row along the eastern end of the field at the Rock Piles blog,
link here.
This past fall, I took some photos in the field. This view is standing next to the rock pile in the satellite view that has all 3 color circles around it, red, blue and purple:
Zooming down with Google Earth, a similar angle with the June 21st sunset on the horizon:
Standing at the same rock pile in the first photo, but looking to the southwest (blue line of piles):
Eye level with Google Earth on the 12-21 sunset:
This last one is hard to see on Google Earth because the pine tree doesn't show up. I do think there is some relationship with the equinoxes here. First, the same photo as above, but with a red arrow drawn from the top rock pile to the pine tree that is at the end of the untillable row:
The Google Earth view on March 21st and September 21st (using the horizon as more of a guide than the pine tree):
So, here it is again:
While you may not agree with the way I'm presenting this (it's definitely unscientific), just looking at the evidence (photos and images) sets up a better argument for alignments rather than "coincidental field clearing piles". There are stone walls around the north and east ends of the field, so why would a farmer align rock piles in the middle of his field this way?
Then, looking in the opposite direction, it looks like the wall ends there.
But later, you can see it continuing on top of this outcrop in the distance.
Here you can see some rocks on a boulder with a portion of the stone wall in the background.
This definitely adds to the mystique of the rock shelter.
Once you walk in, there is a natural window through the rock, looking out:
A view of the outside from the opposite end of the window:
Looking through the window from the outside, into the shelter:
If you click on any of the images above, you might be able to see scratches and initials in the rock from one of the recent visitors (or vandals, as the case may be). But, what about these deeper, older scratches right at the entrance? I don't know if they man made (possibly ancient?) or natural, but they piqued my interest enough to take a close up:
Here are the same marks from another angle (looking into the shelter).
Even more exciting than this rock shelter is the stone wall above it. I'll have more about that in part 2.
Or maybe they are shim rocks. I could see why you might want the two shims on the bottom, but what's that little shim at the top doing to stop that giant slab from rocking? Incidentally, when I took that picture, I wasn't looking at the turtle, I was looking at the small amount of surface area of rock which was holding that giant slab up off my head!
Here is the same satellite view, but I've added a color code:
I should also add that I have not yet investigated the line that juts out into the field, highlighted in purple. From a better (birds eye) view, it looks like two rock piles and then a depression, but it's safe to say that whatever is there is not tillable, hence the tree. Also, of the piles I looked at, I did not notice any stacking, but it is hard to see with all the brush.
Zooming down with Google Earth, a similar angle with the June 21st sunset on the horizon:
Standing at the same rock pile in the first photo, but looking to the southwest (blue line of piles):
Eye level with Google Earth on the 12-21 sunset:
This last one is hard to see on Google Earth because the pine tree doesn't show up. I do think there is some relationship with the equinoxes here. First, the same photo as above, but with a red arrow drawn from the top rock pile to the pine tree that is at the end of the untillable row:
The Google Earth view on March 21st and September 21st (using the horizon as more of a guide than the pine tree):
So, here it is again:
While you may not agree with the way I'm presenting this (it's definitely unscientific), just looking at the evidence (photos and images) sets up a better argument for alignments rather than "coincidental field clearing piles". There are stone walls around the north and east ends of the field, so why would a farmer align rock piles in the middle of his field this way?
