Handbook of Stone Structures

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BOOKS BY THE AUTHORS

Handbook of Stone Structures

America’s Stonehenge Deciphered

Guide to America’s Stonehenge

America’s Stonehenge DVD

Stories Carved in Stone

The Art of Splitting Stone

Guide to New England Stone Structures

Documentation Forms are now available for download on Documentation - Resource Page

A Handbook of Stones Structures
in Northeastern United States

By Mary E. Gage & James E. Gage

This handbook is the first comprehensive field guide to both agricultural and Native American stone structures found throughout northeastern United States. These stone structures include stone cairns, chambers, standing stones, niches, enclosures, stone walls, foundations, wells, pedestal boulders, Manitou stones, and other structures. The handbook provides the means to identify, document, analyze, and interpret these structures.

Trade Paperback, 298 pp. 242 Illustrations
ISBN 978-098161410-6
Price $15.00

Available from the Publisher Powwow River Books

Available from Amazon.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – Stone Rows & Stone Walls
Chapter 2 – Enclosures
Chapter 3 – Foundations
Chapter 4 – Wells, Well Caps, & Cisterns
Chapter 5 – Grooved Stones
Chapter 6 – Root Cellars
Chapter 7 – Chambers
Chapter 8 – Niches
Chapter 9 – Perched, Supported & Pedestal Stones
Chapter 10 – Standing Stones
Chapter 11 – Special Stones
Chapter 12 – Split Stones (Non-Cairn)
Chapter 13 – Cairns and Stone Piles
Chapter 14 – Pattern Recognition
Chapter 15 – Full Site Evaluation
Chapter 16 – Historic Ceremonial Sites
Chapter 17 – Spirit Recognition
Chapter 18 – Natural Features
Chapter 19 – Documentation
Appendix A – Quarried Stone
Bibliography

FROM THE PUBLISHER

“In 1934 during the heart of the Great Depression, Roger Tory Peterson published his first field guide to birds. Peterson’s publisher was skeptical of the marketability of a “field guide” and printed a modest 2,000 copies. The first print run sold out in a mere two weeks and created the modern “field guide” phenomenon.

Following in these hallowed footsteps, the authors of A Handbook of Stone Structures in Northeastern United States have taken the “field guide” concept into the 21st century. Not only have they written and illustrated the first comprehensive field guide to the great diversity of stone structures found in northeastern United States, they have given the reader the means to identify, document, and analyze the stone structures they find in their own neighborhoods and local conservation lands.

The handbook covers both the well known agricultural farm stone structures like foundations, stone walls, wells, and root cellars as well as Native American ceremonial stone structures like chambers, cairns, standings stones, and pedestal boulders. It provides the means to distinguish between the two different types of structures.

The subject of Native American ceremonial stone structures is highly controversial. The conservative archaeological and academic communities in New England have staunchly maintained that the Native Americans never built these structures. The Native Americans have stated these structures were built by their ancestors to hold ceremonies and that these places continue to be sacred to their cultures.

The debate over the origins of many of these stone structures has largely defied explanation and analysis through traditional archaeological excavation methods due to the general absence of cultural artifacts. The Handbook offers a distinctly new approach using the basic principles of archaeology: It treats the stone structures themselves as the “cultural features” and “artifacts.” The methods of analyzing the spatial distribution and relationship between artifacts in a traditional excavation unit are perfectly applicable to the structures themselves.

Rather than taking sides in this controversy, the authors have sought a balanced scientific approach to the questions involved. They have taken the first steps towards defining some basic characteristics for distinguishing the two types of structures. They have offered a promising new methodology for researching these structures and in doing so have raised the scientific standards of evidence in this debate to the next level. By giving the reader the basic tools to identify and understand these archaeological sites, the book effectively serves to educate the public, foster respect and local stewardship of these sites, and ultimately encourages the preservation of these archaeological sites for future generations.”