Mythology of the Lenape: Guide and Texts
By John Bierhorst
Saturday, March 07, 2020
Thursday, March 05, 2020
Tûnuppasuonk Káhtôquwukanash
also
Tûnuppasuonk Kodtonquag(kash)
- turtle effigies in stone
(Nipmeuw).
Káhtôquwuk (Narragansett), allegorically,
a 'stone
prayer.'
Tûnuppasuonk Kodtonquag(kash) - turtle effigies in stone
(Nipmeuw):
Turtle in Mohegan Pequot
NA – toyupáhs plural
toyupáhsak
toyupáhsuk: on
the turtle
Awáyáhsak yok. Noy’hc, toyupáhs, skôks, wôpsuq, tá muks: “These are animals. Deer, turtle,
skunk, eagle, and wolf.”
Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Shoreline Qusukqaniyutôk and Single Horn Snake Effigies
(Not so clear with LiDar:)
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.)
Friday, February 28, 2020
An Emerging Serpent (RI)
Skuguisu káhtqwk (káhtôquwuk)
"The
explanation of Moore and Weiss' Figure 3 (2016:51), which shows a ring of
carefully stacked cobbles outlining part of a boulder and trailing behind it,
forming an emerging serpent form, reports a claim by Ives that it "allows
for a large quantity of stones to be stored within a small
footprint." Objectively assessed,
the form claimed by Ives to be an efficiency device is not at all efficient; it
holds very few stones for its area on actual count. Ives' cited conjecture
fails upon real-life testing and practical farm economics, and fails to explain
the "stone corral" shown, being built partly on and partly off an
immovable boulder, and being empty of actual "stored stones." No
explanation is offered as to why stone "corrals" are usually empty at
sites across the Northeast, or why stones on immovable boulders, which do not
move on their own, need to be "corralled."
Evaluations
of máunumúetash* by parties who do not
test their hypotheses against Northeast Algonquian cosmology and rituals are
doing, at best, only half an investigation..."
Nohham Rolf
Cachat-Shilling
Bulletin
of Society for Connecticut Archaeology (2018)
*Máunumúet(ash) - place(s) of ceremonial
gathering (ehenda mawewink, Lënapeuw,
mawighunk, Mahhekanneuw). Themes
of connectedness, reciprocity, prayerfulness and continuity are expressed
through máunumúetash.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Ives' Eyes
Observations of an Indigenous pattern of placing stones in a "stone wall" in such a way as to suggest the row of stones that is possibly a larger stone Snake Effigy is made up of smaller stone effigies, often smaller snakes, sometimes effigies of other sorts - and perhaps most often and most easily recognizable Turtles Effigies (even in a YouTube video):
A brief glimpse:
A moment of recognition, observing a shell and a head stone:
Suggestion of a Specific Species:
The light catches some other effigies:
Making the effigies come alive by overlaying human eyes:
“Ives remains
skeptical of ceremonial stone landscape theory, noting that it was
independently developed by Euro-American antiquarians prior to its endorsement
by Native American tribal authorities, and has expressed concern regarding the
broader social costs of ceremonial stone landscape preservation campaigns,
citing their record of mobilizing white guilt, the psychosocial phenomenon described
by race relations scholar Shelby Steele, to gain political support and subvert
criticism…”
Some Images from: Ives, Timothy H., "Stone Heaping
Practices of Nineteenth-Century Farmers: New Insights from Archival
Sources", An invited presentation for the Annual Meeting of the Barrington
Preservation Society, January 26, 2020. https://youtu.be/uGWoMRPRxDI
Search results for that third distinguishing characteristic of a nuchal notch that even a Professional Archaeologist can be trained to identify:
https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/search?q=nuchal
Search results for that third distinguishing characteristic of a nuchal notch that even a Professional Archaeologist can be trained to identify:
https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/search?q=nuchal
Friday, February 21, 2020
Further On Up the Road
At the Preacher's Preserve
Back to that photo from 2016, I observed that this gently undulating row of stones could be said to have been stacked in courses that could be said to resemble smaller stone snakes -rather than stones randomly stacked during field clearing or removal from the road I was walking along or a "formal wall" made using batter boards or strings typical of English stone fence constructions that are more brick or block-like:
What I did not notice until just yesterday was that there may be another snake effigy segment of this row of stones which was in the shadows that day and is just out of the photo:
(2016)
Above: A segment of stonework, an assumed "stone fence" or an "Estate Wall" associated with the first Puritan Minister in the former "North Woodbury Purchase," in the Nonnewaug Cluster, CT Cluster #3 in Stone Prayers by Curtiss Hoffman (2018). It's "further on up the road" from an interesting gateway that has one of the finest examples of a row of stones that may be a Snake Effigy:
Overlaying a snake's eye isn't necessary to emphasize the observation:
Adding eyes and horns makes it come alive, so to speak:
Collection of other similar observations of the repeated pattern here:
Back to that photo from 2016, I observed that this gently undulating row of stones could be said to have been stacked in courses that could be said to resemble smaller stone snakes -rather than stones randomly stacked during field clearing or removal from the road I was walking along or a "formal wall" made using batter boards or strings typical of English stone fence constructions that are more brick or block-like:
Collection of Serpent Stacking photos and overlays:
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Anthropomorphic Effigy faces (Maryland)
Sherry R. writes, “I read your blog about the little face
found in Lisbon (CT):
"All we know is they
were found by the owner of a farm. Coastal farmland. Items were glued to this
board between 1920-30 by the land owner. They are still attached so I don't
know what's on the backs. The display board is ugly so I wanted to detach them.
I was considering detaching them until I saw the story about a similar face
that was said to be rare. This board was one that the farmer's Grandson did not
want because he said he was keeping the best ones. I'll attach some side views
of the faces…"
"This is a piece of pottery shard on the board and stone
beads:"
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