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<< Our Photo Pages >> Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape - Standing Stones in United States in Mid Atlantic

Submitted by Aluta on Wednesday, 25 April 2007  Page Views: 11652

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Country: United States Region: Mid Atlantic Type: Standing Stones
Nearest Town: Doylestown, PA
Latitude: 40.310110N  Longitude: 75.12989W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
1

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Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape submitted by Aluta : Propped, perched, and pedestaled rocks are among the most common features of these ceremonial stone landscapes. Look carefully at the shadow on this picture, and you can see the stone propping this boulder up. For those who hike in the eastern U.S., it is always worth scouting around at a lookout on the side or top of a mountain. Such sites frequently boast small propped boulders, sometimes eve... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Structures in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The ceremonial stone landscapes may have served as markers for the many places from which water flowed toward the Delaware, the great river of the area. The presence of large and intriguingly-shaped boulders may also have influenced this site’s placement.

Elements seen here: Short walls accenting unusual or eyecatching boulders, stone groupings on boulders, numerous stone piles, several perched boulders, at least one of them propped, a serpentine wall near a spring and small stream. I did not see a classic split-wedged boulder such as we might expect to see at a site of this many differing features, but I did not have time to cover the whole area, so there may be one or more.

This site is wooded and heavily covered with years of fallen leaves, making it difficult at first to notice all but the most obvious features. The elements are spread over fairly large section of woods, and spending more time there would probably yield more finds. Still, on this first visit, we saw at least three perched or propped boulders, several short walls near unusual features, a serpentine (wiggly) wall, and probably close to forty cairns or rock piles. The rock piles were just that, piles, not formed cairns such as are seen in Monroe County, and nothing like the exquisitely formed cairns at Oley Hills. It is possible these once were formed but collapsed at some point or were knocked down when the area was logged.

The serpentine wall runs up (or down!) a slope. I didn’t clear off leaves and so did not see whether one end sported a tipped up triangular rock, usually thought to be the snake’s head, such as we have seen at other sites.

As at many of these sites, there are many springs and brooks or rills, as well as a swamp at the lowest point. Like many cultures around the world, the builders seem to have revered springs and stone work is often found in connection with them. The stone landscapes may have served as markers for the many places from which water flowed toward the Delaware, the great river of the area. The presence of large and intriguingly-shaped boulders may also have influenced this site’s placement.

This is one of many such sites once spread across this area. How many there once were and how many remain are both impossible to say. Undeveloped areas are for the most part privately owned, usually by people who know nothing about these ceremonial stone landscapes, leaving them unknown and prone to destruction. Fortunately, the owners of this property intend to preserve it. Unfortunately, to keep the site from damage by both ill-intentioned and well-meaning people, we cannot reveal its exact location.

Note: Here is another example of a ceremonial stone landscape of the type specified by the United Southern and Eastern Tribes's recent resolution.
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Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape submitted by Aluta : The site also included this nice stone row. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape submitted by Aluta : Rock piles covered with leaves are not exciting viewing, but here's one picture as a sample. This site probably had close to forty piles. Whether or not piles like this were burials is controversial. There is no doubt that indigenous people sometimes marked burials with cairns, but there are a number of other theories about what large cairn fields like this represent. Some say they are often marke... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape submitted by Aluta : A perched rather than propped boulder, at least I didn't notice any small rocks beneath it. This was at the start and I wasn't in full site mode yet, remembering to look for that kind of thing. Behind the perched boulder, on the base boulder was a collection of smaller rocks, what those who pursue these sites more avidly and with more knowledge than I would call rock-on-rock. They are not a flashy... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape submitted by Aluta : The short arced wall marks this boulder. It may be difficult to see here, but the outside of the boulder is marked in cracked patterns that resemble dried earth. Whether its position very near the edge of the swamp made those markings seem more significant is one of those matters we can only speculate about. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape
Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape submitted by Aluta : Here's an example of how walls are often used to lead people to or mark unusual natural (I think this is natural?) features. This unusual split rock would thus be incorporated into the ceremonial landscape. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 27.9km N 1° Ringing Rocks* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 32.6km NNE 29° Quakertown Bedrock Mortar Museum
 38.4km NW 305° Vera Cruz Quarry Pits* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 40.4km S 187° Penn Museum* Museum
 42.9km N 351° Lenape Nation Cultural Center and Trading Post Museum
 43.1km NW 311° Museum of Indian Culture* Museum
 48.9km WNW 295° Oley Hills* Cairn
 55.1km NNW 345° Jacobsburg Stone Skull* Rock Art
 65.6km NNE 23° Hackettstown Ceremonial Stone Landscape* Cairn
 68.9km N 355° Columcille Megalith Park* Modern Stone Circle etc
 84.0km N 349° Scotrun* Round Cairn
 95.1km NE 41° Tripod Rock* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 104.0km ENE 65° National Museum of the American Indian* Museum
 108.0km W 262° Bring Rocks Manheim* Modern Stone Circle etc
 110.8km ENE 61° American Museum of Natural History (New York)* Museum
 111.4km ENE 62° New York Cleopatra's Needle* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 111.5km ENE 62° Metropolitan Museum of Art* Museum
 112.8km ENE 63° Noguchi Humming Stone (Summstein) Modern Stone Circle etc
 115.1km WSW 246° Safe Harbor Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 120.9km WNW 283° Boxcar Rocks* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 140.2km NE 50° Glacial Erratic, Rockefeller State Park Preserve* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 172.6km NE 41° Forest ct Stones* Modern Stone Circle etc
 173.7km NE 48° North Salem Dolmen* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 176.9km NE 40° Stormville Structure* Modern Stone Circle etc
 180.5km NE 42° Ludingtonville stones* Modern Stone Circle etc
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"Bucks County PA Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Bucks County Pennsylvania Sacred Ceremon by Aluta on Friday, 27 April 2007
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For anyone interested in more about the ceremonial stone landscapes, the Rock Piles blog is an ongoing discussion among interested and informed people. You will find links there to other related sites.
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Re: Bucks County Pennsylvania Sacred Ceremon by Condros on Tuesday, 24 April 2007
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KUDOS ALUTA !! It's great to see sites that are still extant in old Bucks County, I thought with the overdevelopement, that they had all disappeared, Few people back in the 80's showed much of an interest in these sites, but the trekkers I knew marveled at them.
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    Re: Bucks County Pennsylvania Sacred Ceremon by Aluta on Tuesday, 24 April 2007
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    Condros, I wish you were still here to show us some of your old haunts!

    Among the Lenape descendants I knew, Bucks County was considered a special place. The roadsides there are certainly full of those sacred cedars like nowhere else I've ever been! I wish I could go back and see what it was like 400 years ago when the great forests still stood, the Carolina parakeet and the passenger pigeons still flew, the wood bison roamed, and the People knew every inch of every hill, stream, and swamp.
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