Sunday, January 15, 2006

Why do we care about rock piles?

Everyone can take a stab at answering this question. There are lots of different parts to the answer. One is simply that they are beautiful - seeing them is an end in itself. Another is because rock piles are believed to have been made by Indians in the past and nearly up until the present and they are an interesting and slightly mysterious subject which enhances out experience of the woods. We care a great deal about the history of the landscape where we live. Also finding a new rock pile site is always exciting.

I have developed a group of friends who are all interested in discovering and understanding rock piles. Hunting for them, discussing them, and documenting them is a social activity. Like a club but with scientific, spiritual, and political goals as well. We all want to see rock piles sites better protected from the onslaught of modern development and I guess we all would like to see the public appreciating its rock pile resources the way people in Arizona appreciate their petroglyphs and cliff dwellings.

Is it believable that Indians are still moving about in the woods in these suburbs? How come no-one noticed all the rock piles before? All I can say is: You go take a look. These sites are nearly everywhere and -yes- no one knows what they are but they are probably Indian. Across the landscape somebody knew to build the same types of rock pile structures in the same types of places. There is only one culture that could do that.

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