Straits Senior Site (Watertown CT again)

Lidar images of Indigenous Rows of Stone

      In places disturbed, all of the images above that are most often interpreted as stone walls are more likely the remnants of an Indigenous Ceremonial Stone Landscape. Unmaintained for hundreds of years, tumbled down in spots and heaped with refuse in places, these rows of stones, Qusukqaniyutôk in the Nipmuc language, Pumiyotkansh in Mohegan, these enclosures functioned as fuel breaks for selective burning at the edge of a bit of wetland where smaller stones are placed on boulders, perhaps “Honoring Stones” or Wâunonaqussukquanash.

(Paired Black and White Stones) 

     Rather than being the “tossed stones” of field clearing, stacked in a random manner, some of the purposeful stacking of the stones may recall to the careful observer that there is Native American Iconography intended to be seen in these enclosures. These rows of stones are spiritual stones as well, Great Serpents that are protective spirits against Thunder Beings who caused wild fires with the bolts of lightning that came from their eyes. The sound of thunder that follows lightning flashes was said to be the angry voice of the Great Serpent, the sound of trickling water the Being’s contented “purring.”

Following the path from the parking lot north, noting the Serpent Stacking:

      

To build a stone wall in the shape of a Great Serpent imparts the power of the Great Serpent to that stone wall. This is true of a simple low wall as well as the taller walls that may have been added to over time, each new course also a serpent, other Icons also present, sometimes purposeful multiple images that appear in changing light and weather conditions...

(Snake, Human or Spirit, and Turtle eyes added to photo:) 

Turtle...

But also a Great Serpent (imaginary horns added):

The white quartz Turtle head also is the Ulun'suti, comparable to the jewel in the head of the Tsalagi or Cherokee Spirit Being known as the Uktena, a Horned Serpent...

More white quartz: 

 (The Indigenous Language names come from various places; language restoration projects, archaeological journals and on-line sources such as http://oso-ah.org/custom.html etc.)

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

    Wawanaquassik honoring stone place 

              also: wâunona-qussuk and plural wâunonaqussukquanash honoring stones.