Thursday, May 21, 2009

Headwaters of Rocky Brook - Sterling, MA

As I mentioned here there are frequently rock pile sites at the headwaters of the brooks in Sterling. I explored in there last Saturday and found one small example. At first I just saw a couple of rock-on-rocks suggesting there was something more than the random going on:Walking a few yards down towards the edge of a wetland area I saw a few more and then a distinct grouping, which I was quite taken with.A closer view:I tried to make a video clip of this and posted it the other day here. Looking along the wetland edge it is hard to ignore that the piles are lined up along the edge:Well not exactly, but they sure are clustered along the edge. Here is the view back in the other direction:Walking back up hill slightly, here is where a spring rises up and contributes to the water. Look at the split rocks:Note the rock-on-rock is shaped like an elongated triangle. A few feet away, this other rock-on-rock shaped like an elongated triangle:It looks like some kind of animal head. Two rocks in this shape near each other suggests a deliberate reason. Walking slightly further up hill a few more yards from the wetland edge and only a few feet from the road (Justice Hill Rd) were a couple of slightly larger piles:and more rock-on-rocks:Back to my car. My little fantasy is that saying a prayer or performing a ceremony for the water happened over and over again here. The piles are not layed out in any overriding architecture but follow the contours of the land and the water.

1 comment :

Tim MacSweeney said...

I wonder if you are seeing remnants of a row around the wetland - a riparian zone separated from the surrounding area, "burnt over" at different times...