Wednesday, August 14, 2013

South Watuppa Stone Row Sites Revisited

Sunday afternoon was perfect for kayaking.  Here is the northwest shore of South Watuppa pond, in Fall River, MA.  The closer shoreline is a squarish peninsula with a power line tower.  Further on is the state boat ramp and Dave's Beach.  Just beyond the peninsula is the stone row site I showed 7/29/2012.
The stone row. 
Here is the propped boulder in the end of the stone row.
Since the water is higher, here is a better view of the boulder with a grinding slick.
The shoreline of the adjoining peninsula looks like rocks were bulldozed there and dirt piled in. Sometimes I wonder if the stone row was also created by  bulldozing, but this is not likely since the grinding slick rock and others would have been in the way.
     There are more stone rows in front of houses on the Fall River side. Note the perched boulder to the left in the row below.

This looks a little like a turtle head, and is flanked by a tilted squarish stone. These  were placed here deliberately.
 Here is the stone row shown 8/22/2012, with large, rounded boulders stacked on top of smaller ones.

  This is the most elaborate stone row on the pond.
 There is also  a propped boulder at the shore end.
These stone rows were probably created by Natives clearing ground for campsites.  The stones were carefully placed, and motifs such as propped and perched stones, and effigies had  meaning. The grinding slicks give mute testimony to many years of  grinding acorns and other foods.

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