Monday, February 19, 2007

Standing Stone - Prospect Hill Conservation Land Harvard, MA

Maybe in the summertime it might be possible to see something else in relation to this. As it was, this was all I could see above the snow.

3 comments :

Tim MacSweeney said...

This photo, the other snowy pictures, and the little bit of conversation about "inukshuk" was on my mind yesterday as I was driving along back roads in the Litchfield hills. The smaller stones hidden by the snow, the larger still visible, especially because the high winds kept them snow free, I found myself thinking "How different this familiar stuff looks," followed by the thought that "500 years ago plus, if I were walking somewhere to somewhere,under similar conditions when the familiar looks so different, wouldn't these landmarks (that possibly had a story attached or a known ancestor builder) let me know where I was?"

pwax said...

This is an interesting point. But if, in summer time, there are several things found which appear to be in relation to this rock, then the rock is more than a location reminder.

Tim MacSweeney said...

I don't doubt that it means more- I've heard Indian storytellers use the same story to draw different lessons from the same story. And I've asked craftpersons why they used a certain colored bead and heard more than one explaination for what that color symbolizes, with the addition of the statement that just because something means (or is) one thing doesn't preclude it meaning something else. So maybe a single stone can mean several things, and so can a rock pile, alone and connected to, as well as a subjective and personal meaning also. A zigzag wall can function as a firebreak, a hunting device, a resource zone, a tool storage place, and a ceremonial object connecting land and water and sky and, as you say, "more"...