Conemaugh Gap on this Last Day of April

A little springtime beauty.

Along with a little springtime blight - Gypsy Moths...

Native American Historical Beliefs and Cultural Concepts

 Another must read from Mary Gage.
http://stonestructures.org/html/underworld.html

Humble Little Rockpile

Rockpile Site - Lower Yoder Township

This is an area that they are logging 20 acres off of Mountain Road. I tried friday to get up in there, but they were working. So I went up sunday. Thought it would be better going than it was. Lots and I mean lots of sharp as diamonds jagger bushes everywhere.

Walking in, you can see rockpiles everywhere. This picture isn't the greatest, because there is just too much under brush to get  clear views. But standing at one, you can see others in all four directions.

This is one of many of the large type that I don't find around here everyday.

I need to get one of those marking sticks to help show you the scale. This cairn is slightly taller than me and I am 5'5".

Like I said there are more of these this size and others of the smaller size here.

Turning heading left from this cairn I found another smaller and low rockpile that seems to be of the 'on the boulder' type.

Showing the other side.

Next time I go up, I will be taking a machete to clear out the brush and going when the weather is better. I knew there was a chance that a storm could be blowing in. But I thought I had it timed. Even though I didn't get wet, I was treated to a thunder and lightning show that you could almost touch and made me jump and I bolted the heck out of there. Which brings me to theory I have about this site and another across the ridge line. Could some of these rockpiles be weather related in a ceremonial kind of way? You could feel the energy of the storm here and you don't get that all the time.

Serpent Wall

This is one of a set of two walls on an old farm that used to raise hogs just off of the Mountain Road.

Mounds - Part 2

Shots of more mounds sprinkled thru out Browns Farm. To see Part 1 click here.

Bone Pile

It's not everyday you run across what's left of a rockpile with a bone in it.

Bear in the Woods

nI've talked about this Bear and cub looking rock before do-you-see-what-I-see. I keep going back because I find it more intriging everytime I see it. So monday, thought I'd shoot it from a slightly different angle. You can just see coming into view from between the trees.

This next photo is behind the stone - rather non descript.

Simple but Sweet - Rock on Rock - Cracked Arrow

I was out walking and used the end of this Stone Wall - Burnt End Stone as a starting point going in a straight path across mountain when I ran across some of these very simple but very beautiful examples.

From this classic rock on rock I looked slightly above it and saw this:

This tree is growing out of a very low to the ground rockpile and displacing some stones. Looking at it here. The triangle stone is actually anchored in what's left of the pile by a small stone kind of underneath it. Looking at it from this distance, I thought that maybe the tree cracked it.

But the closer I got - I could see that the cracked is being propped open with a couple of very small stones.

This is right below the ridge line and seems to be pointing up to the top. Following the direction of this arrow is now on my search list. I can tell I found a large amount of rockpiles about a 1/4 mile away, and I will be posting pictures of those soon.

Found a Different Type of Rockpile

Not sure what to make of this type of rockpile. I found a couple of examples along a stretch off of Decker Avenue that looks down into the valley - that is chalked full of rockpiles and a couple of very large trees.

I'm not sure if the center of the examples I have run across seem to be filled with earth. But I say that only because it looks like this visually. For all I know they could be made up of more stone. I didn't poke anything down into it to test it out.

With the next two pictures - those aren't orbs (at least I hope not). It's been snowing off and on this afternoon, which makes a major change from yesterday when it was 77 degrees and sunny.

Rock Pile and Rock Mound - Browns Farm

This first is a rather large rock mound located along the top section of the farm right along the Cambria/Westmoreland County line, just above an area called Dry Hollow.

This next shows a side view of the mound.

Headed down to a part of Browns that I've done a few walk thru's - but haven't spent quality time searching yet. As far as I can tell, this area was used as a planting field and pasture. This is where they grew the bulk of their produce when they were running a truck farm in the 1930's and 1940's.

This next rockpile was found in an area to the right of this field. This section I think could prove to be very interesting when I go thru it further.

Everyone has their own way of searching. For me, I don't use maps to mark out a potential site, I use them afterwards but not before. I go with my sense of feeling that there are structures in certain areas. Whether it's at Browns or no where in particular treking across Laurel Hill. All I can say is that it's working for me so far.

Stalagmite Reveals Carbon Footprint of Native Americans

http://www.physorg.com/news190561417.html

Some Brown Farm Mounds

These are just a few of the many mounds that are thru out the over 800 acre site.

Brain Parts Found in Ancient Human Ancestor

http://news.discovery.com/human/brain-human-ancestor-skull.html

Browns Farm - Wall 3 - Intentional Hollow - Small Mound

This small mound is a couple of feet away from the beginning of Wall 3. I understand if this might be hard to make out. It kind of blends in with the background.

This is the third of a set of walls that makes it's way up a semi-steep hillside. This wall is a low to the ground type, that has what looks like an intentional circular hollow structure built into it.

There is sort of a curcular pattern here. But still you could argue field clearing.

That is until I found this built into the wall.

Another shot of it.

I keep running into circular patterns built into walls. This is just another example. Later this week, I'll be posting pictures of this same feature I found in a wall along the top of Laurel Summit.

This just shows the end of the low to the ground wall.