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North Salem Dolmen
[750 x 485 jpg]

Submitted byDocRock
AddedOct 20 2010
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Description Close up view of the pegs or feet upon which the cover stone sits.

Posted Comments:

aluta
(2010-10-21)
Thank you for posting this. Some people persist in calling this a glacial erratic, but the similar shape, size and colour of the supports argue against it. Most people don't realise, too, that propped rocks are common at certain sites, some with other stone features, in eastern North America.
sem
(2010-10-22)
This link was sent to me by James Gage whilst investigating the Penwyllt area Wales). Perched and pedestal boulders are common there.
http://www.stonestructures.org/html/pedestal_boulders.html
DocRock
(2010-10-22)
Aluta, There is no doubt that the huge pink granite roof stone is a glacial erratic from Maine or New Hampshire; however, the fact that it sits on legs/pegs/orthostats of crystalline limestone speaks volumes about the fact that the complex was constructed/erected by human hands. Now whether it is/was a "dolmen" would be argued by French archaeologists/scholars such as Roger Joussaume that to be a dolmen, it would have to have covered a burial. North Salem is at least a "perched stone." Excavation might show whether or not it may have at some time covered a burial. Doc
Sunny100
(2010-10-23)
There are similar big stones, like this, at Norber in northern England. Those perch on limestone pegs or little stilts, but they are erratics from the Lake District. Very interesting site this Doc, thanks for sharing.
DocRock
(2010-10-24)
One might compare this perched rock with the Kilclooney Dolmen in Donegal ( http://pixdaus.com/pics/1264344770tmjz3tN.jpg ) or the Hunebedde Noordlaren ( http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5339495 ).
Martin L
(2010-10-25)
I doubt there is any similarity between these site and G1 Noordlaren. The hunebed in Noordlaren has a rectangular groundplan, with flat sides of the erratics towards the inside of the chamber. Furthermore the orthostats have 60-75% of the capstones size. As a result there is a real geometric chamber with a height of 1,4m - 1,8m.
Martin L
(2010-10-25)
A more instructive photo of G1 Noorldaren:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=19315
Martin L
(2010-10-25)
Kilclooney II is built of slabs:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=59537

DocRock
(2010-11-15)
Sorry, my comment about comparing was unclear--first of all anything can be compared, but my thrust was to emphasize that the feet upon which the boulder perched were in some way analogous to the feet upon which the compared items perched and that one might support the inference, by this comparison, that the glacial erratic in North Salem most probably didn't just happen to be left perched on those feet by the receding Wisconsin glacial ice sheet, but, rather were placed upon those feet by the effort of man.

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