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The archaeological community continued to insist on proof of antiquity before moving to preserve sites, no matter how large or anomalous, defying the logic that would call for preserving them until research could be done to help us understand them.
Ah, same attitude as over there then....
Werkheiser has done so much and tried so hard to bring these sites to public awareness, it's a national disgrace if they will be destroyed for commercial greed.
When he saw the large quartz rocks incorporated in some of the stone rows and other features, he remarked that they could not have come from the ridge site itself, which consisted wholly of granitic gneiss, but must have been gathered somewhere in the Hardyston Formation in the valley below, a mile or more away (Buckwalter 1957).
The quartz pieces that have been found in many of the features represented in Fig. 1 are very much alike, in that all seem to have two flat, parallel faces, and vary from 3-6" thick (Fig. 2). One slab on top of the North Row measured 14" x 10" x 4"! And another in a short row between the South Row and the Terrace was 18" across; most, however, were 6-8" in diameter. Given the fact that all share the same general physical characteristics, it would appear that they all came from the same location, which was perhaps a large exposed seam of quartz where pieces could be easily pried out. The early settlers hardly would have bothered to gather quartz from a distant location to incorporate it in a wall, when their purpose for building walls was to rid their fields of stone. Quartz, however, had a symbolic and religious importance to Native Americans, not only because of its light, translucent color, which could have represented the brightness of the sun and moon, but also for its piezoelectric properties. With the discovery that the quartz came from the valley, the colonial hypothesis became a dead issue.
'nuff said, this is an ancient place and should be preserved.
Rune
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