Magnificent Photos

These are from badbadpotato

{http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgobbare/}

July 2013

Just one turtle of many, I think...

Reminds Me of Stone Rows

Well, actually this reminds me of stone rows:

 from http://turtlewife.wordpress.com/

like this:

Bigger:

Bigger still:

Species Specific: Diamondback Terrapin

"The diamondback terrapin is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal
swamps of the eastern and southern United States.
 It belongs to the monotypic genus, Malaclemys." 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamondback_terrapin

On a small hill overlooking a salt marsh in Madison CT, there is a species specific example of a stone representation of a Malaclemys Terrapin, also known as the Diamondback Terrapin.

Below, the turtle seemingly basks on the top of a stone row. 

 

Ornate Group Basking

from: http://www.diamondbackterrapin.com/index/index.php/picture/turtle-setup/

http://www.chelonia.org/MtcentrataMJH1.jpg

Notice the nuchal notch in the carapace or upper shell, the large head below it...

The forelegs might possibly be a single split humanly enhanced stone. Note the black minerals in the stones that resemble the markings of the terrapin.

(This Diamondback Terrapin appears in this post:

http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2013/08/shoreline-greenway-trail-madison-ct.html)

The artistic incorporation of this species specific petroform into a stone row strongly suggests a Native American origin of this "stone concentration."

Other examples of artistic testudinate incorporation: 

http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2010/11/south-of-snake-turtles.html

Another Row! or A Little Correction

I guess you could easily critique my method of taking field notes and report them to the Authorities. There's a great number of violations you could find although I suppose that would involve actually writing them down first or taking a map (or even a compass) with me as I wander some open space lands or State Park (or trespass onto other people's property). Pictured above is actually the "map" I actually intended to take with me during my third visit to what may or may not actually be Signal Hill in Madison CT (where the trail is being officially opened as I write this), but actually is the "map" I recorded a second stone row extending into the Salt Marsh by Tom's Creek - and recorded in my photo's as "2nd Visit," when actually it was my 3rd visit...

My third visit to the spot involved taking the "Bob Cat Trail," the trail left by that little machine that I was pretty certain was borrowing stones from somewhere...

The hunch proved to be true (I had actually landed on this trail a week ago but needed to confirm this too); there were remnants of a row of stones running alongside the present CT Route 1, also known as the Boston Post Road...

 (I have no idea if these stones will still be there when I get the chance to return again...)

I even crossed the highway that early morning, right where the trail ends abruptly. I looked for a place to sneak into the brush and briers on the west side of the big chunk of bedrock drilled and blasted to widen the Post Road, but it was really dense. I got a glimpse of this from the roadside: 

I climbed down into this gully to see what I could see:

 It turned out that what I could see was limited to a tiny section of stone row

and a huge amount of brush to get tangled up in...

The second part of the visit was to pin point the location of that stone row that extended into the Salt Marsh. The 1934 aerial photography showed two possibilities and I wanted to be sure I was pointing out the correct stone row, mostly to my friend dc, trying to impress him (and possibly the one or two possible other readers of this blog) with my detective skills.

It turns out that there is actually a second row of stones, if a person actually looks for it, buried mostly under all kinds of vegetation that reminds me that one more reason Native Americans maintained the landscape they preferred and created was by burning to keep Stone Rows Extending into Salt Marshes free and clear of tangled brush and salt marsh hay (as well as for all the possible reasons a person or persons would want to get out into the salt marsh in the first place).

Above is the Stone Row extending into the Salt Marsh.

Below is the stone row that connects the two rows, perhaps in one sense a fire or fuel break.

 (The row was also partially hidden by what looked to be what was left of a platform made of pressure treated yellow pine. It could have been purposely placed here or it could have washed in on high tide or during a storm (or during a storm at high tide). 

 Looking sort of south toward the shore and the other Stone Row: 

Above, trying to capture a photo of that row in the salt marsh was as difficult as trying to capture an image of the same row in this spot below, maybe 150 feet away:

(Looks like a thunder storm is approaching Madison CT, just as the Grand Opening is happening. This may or may not be a coincidence, considering that the Sacred Landscape has been altered...)

Shoreline Greenway Trail 4

Salt Marsh Stone Row

Tom's Creek at Hammonassett SB

Madison CT

(2012 above and 1934 below.)

Above: Gravel Trailbed, Intersection of Trail and Salt Marsh Row in the distance.

Below: SGT Trail "breech," possibly an older breech of a less formal older trail and remnant stones of the original row.

Walking out toward Tom's Creek: 

And walking back to "shore:"

Edge of a Breech:

That "vee" shaped notch caught my attention...

And as I stepped closer I saw something familiar...

That Right (Possible) Foreleg greatly resembles a Left Front (Possible) Foreleg - at home.

And I mean along a zigzag row in my yard at my home:

http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2006/07/waking-up-in-july-06.html

And:  "Wait! I see another one!"