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Middle of June, just a few minutes past 10am,
Shadows on a certain Stone caught my eye:
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"Qusukqaniyutôk: (‘stone row, enclosure’ Harris and Robinson, 2015:140,
‘fence that crosses back’ viz. qussuk, ‘stone,’ Nipmuc or quski, quskaca,
‘returning, crosses over,’ qaqi, ‘runs,’ pumiyotôk, ‘fence, wall,’ Mohegan,
Mohegan Nation 2004:145, 95, 129) wall (outdoor), fence, NI – pumiyotôk plural
pumiyotôkansh.)" - Nohham Rolf Cachat-Schilling
Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 77, No. 2 Fall
2016
https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1202&context=bmas
Qusukqaniyutôkansh (pl): Rows of Stacked Stones,
colloquially “stone walls” or “stone
fences,” often assumed to be post contact constructions related to property
ownership and agriculture.
Qusukqaniyutôk: “A row of stones artistically stacked
or laid using elements of Indigenous Iconography, sometimes obviously resembling
a Great Snake, often composed of smaller snake effigies as well as other effigies
both zoomorphic and anthropomorphic, sometimes appearing to shapeshift into
another effigy, possibly related to control of water or fire (sometimes both) on
Sacred Cultural Landscapes that are beginning to be recognized as Indigenous Ceremonial
Stone Landscapes.”
From a perspective of distance, the largest of the Stone Snake
Qusukqaniyutôk snake across the
landscape, crossing over others, sometimes connecting great boulders or bedrock
outcrops, sometimes along streams – and sometimes stacked over and hiding a
stream, a Musical Row of Stones - the sound of water is the Great Snake
contentedly “purring.”
Inside some enclosures, there were “gardens,” plant
resources perhaps tended by fire, perhaps protected from fire, something living
kept in balance, kept in production by someone offering tobacco to a serpent
guardian before entering, someone singing while stacking stones, picking up and
replacing her grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ stones that have fallen.
Zigzag, linear rows of stones, snaking across the landscape,
both sides of an Indian Path or Native American Trail or an Indigenous Road that’s
possibly one or two hundred or ten or twelve thousand years old…
Interested in Indigenous/Native American Ceremonial Stone Landscape
features, such as stonewall-like Qusukqaniyutôkansh (pl) - Rows of Stacked
Stones, colloquially “stone walls” or “stone fences,” often assumed to be post
contact constructions related to property ownership and agriculture? Learn more
here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4585999861
Champlains Journals, Maps, and Illustrations
"For archeologists, cultural anthropologists, and
ethnohistorians studying early historic period Native American cultures along
the Northeast coast and the interactions between these groups and Europeans,
Champlain’s text, maps, and illustrations are an information treasury… Even
farther south there was a language and ethnic shift that is described by
Champlain. He writes that the more southern group is called the
“Almouchiquois,” a people who were horticulturalists.
“They till and cultivate the land; a practice
we had not seen previously. In place of ploughs they use an instrument of very
hard wood made in the shape of a spade…We saw their grain, which is Indian
corn. This they grow in gardens, sowing three or four grains in one spot…they
heap about it a quantity of earth. Then three feet away they sow as much again;
and so on in order. Amongst this corn they plant in each hillock three or four
Brazilian beans, which come up in different colors…they keep the ground very
free from weeds. We saw there many squashes, pumpkins, and tobacco, which they
likewise cultivate (Champlain 1922:327-328).”
Based on his observations of the “fixed abodes” of the
Indians and the cultivated fields, along with nut-bearing trees, Champlain
inferred that the climate in this area was milder than that of the St. Croix
River. He reported that “the Indians remain permanently in this place, and have
a large wigwam surrounded by palisades formed by rather large trees placed one
against the other; and into which they retire when their enemies come to make
war against them” (Champlain 1922:329-330).
Mallebarre Harbor (Nauset Marsh, Eastham, Massachusetts),
July 1605
On 20 July, de Monts and his party managed to ride over the shoals and
sandbanks at the entrance to Nauset Harbor, which Champlain named Mallebarre
(“bad bar”) for these obstacles, and into the large embayment. The land around
the embayment was densely occupied. Champlain noted: “…all around it little
houses about which each owner had as much land as was necessary for his
support…There came to us from all sides, dancing, a number of Indians, both men
and women” (Champlain 1922:350).
On 21 July, de Monts, Champlain, and nine or ten companions, all armed, set off to visit the Indian settlement. The remainder of the French party stayed with their ship, guarding it and its contents. In his journals, Champlain describes a landscape with many cultivated fields, filled with the same crops he noted along Saco Bay. He noted several fields that were not cultivated, being left fallow and suggesting a multi-year strategy for cultivation by the natives..."
The first written account of the area was by Samuel de
Champlain, who sailed in on July 21, 1605, and saw a bay with wigwams bordering
it all around. He went ashore with some of the crew: “before reaching [the
Indians’] wigwams, [we] entered a field planted with Indian corn…[which] was in
flower, and some five and a half feet in height. ... We saw Brazilian beans,
many edible squashes…tobacco, and roots which they cultivate … .” He also
described the round wigwams, covered by a thatch made of reeds, and the
people’s clothing, woven from grasses, hemp, and animal skins. As the
expedition cartographer, Champlain has left us an informative map of the Nauset
Harbor area (Figure 1).
Later the same day:
This image caught my eye, got me thinking,
“On shore, Verrazzano noticed that the Narragansett’s
“fields extend for 25 to 30 leagues; they are open and free of any obstacles or
trees, and so fertile that any kind of seed would produce excellent crops.”
Apparently, the Narragansetts used controlled burns to clear the land of trees,
brush and briars, and making the land open for grazing for wildlife and for
cultivation…”
http://smallstatebighistory.com/verrazzano-visits-the-narragansett-indians-in-1524/
I’m actually posting these photos in the reverse order in which they were taken. I returned from yet another Physical Therapy appointment on yet another drizzly yesterday, drove up the driveway, pulled up to the front steps, and sighed. There’s so much to be done, and I’m so far behind, I couldn't help but think. I should be embarrassed to show you these photos, of these capstones I’m trying to keep from tumbling down, but you know there’s always just the right day to see something you missed in the last 42 years or so…
This one I thought I knew so well, even to some possible
feathers behind the eye:
