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Alternate Perceptions Magazine, August 2015


Stone Walls & Stone Chambers Constructed by Ancient Native Americans:
America’s Stonehenge is a Mysterious Hill

by: Dr. Greg Little



YouTube video

A recent visit to numerous stone chambers and walls in New England have led me to conclude that not all of New England’s stonewalls and stone lined underground chambers are of colonial construction as most academic archaeologists would have us believe. While many—if not most—of the walls and chambers in New England were definitely made by European settlers, the archaeologists’ assertion that all of them were made by White Europeans is far fetched, baseless, and seemingly a bit racist. It is demeaning to the Native American tribes who are apparently deemed to have been too primitive to have built such structures. The truth is that many, many Native American tribes that were active during the Eastern mound-building eras (circa 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1500) made stone walls and underground chambers identical to many in New England.


America’s Stonehenge—A Mysterious Hill

America’s Stonehenge came by that name after newspaper articles suggested it in the 1980’s after numerous astronomical alignments were discovered at the site. The alignments to the sun and stars are made from a central point at the highest part of the central hill where the main chambers and walls are found. There are also possible alignments to lunar points. From this central point in the complex there are sight lines established to the horizon over standing stones placed at key spots. Prior to the 1980s, the site was called Mystery Hill and the standing stones were not discovered until the late 1960s.

There are 14 stone chambers found at the site along with a surrounding complex of stonewalls. Most of the chambers have massive capstones forming the roofs. Some of them weigh more than 9 tons. The majority of academic archaeologists who appear as “talking heads” on documentaries about America’s Stonehenge assert that it was built in colonial times, but none of them have made a genuine study of the site, and virtually all of them ignore or dismiss the many radiocarbon dates from the site. My take on their attitude is that the majority of them are still fighting the idea that ancient Celts might have built the site. At the same time, they also dismiss the suggestion that Native American tribes might have built the stone formations. But thousands of Native American artifacts have been found there indicating that Native American Indians were quarrying stone there, making pottery, and living in a village area. There are solid carbon dates showing that the site was occupied by a series of cultures starting as long ago as 7,000 years. The evidence of Native American involvement at America’s Stonehenge is overwhelming and it is somewhat inexplicable that academics and skeptics are so hostile to any interpretations other than their own. Perhaps it is the name “Stonehenge” and the link between the term to Celts or Europeans? Perhaps it is because archaeologists didn’t discover it? Maybe it is because archaeologists want to hang on to their “truth.”

While there are a lot of photos and films about the site, the film made as part of the “Forgotten History Series” (shown and linked above) shows some of the overall key features of the site. In essence, it is quite similar to a lot of sites found in Europe and in virtually any other part of the world where ancient people built with stone. However, one argument that is stated time and again by skeptics is that Native American tribes did not build such structures.


Stone Chambers & Walls in Mounds

In the film above there are a few photos shown of several chambers and walls excavated at a variety of Native American mound sites that have an uncanny resemblance to America’s Stonehenge. I published a few photos of them in the book Path of Souls.

In Missouri, for example, a large complex of mounds was excavated by the Smithsonian in 1906-7. Inside many of the mounds large, well-made stone chambers were found located at the base. Their construction appears nearly identical to the walls and chambers found not only at America’s Stonehenge but also at other New England sites. In the 1930’s, the TVA had several mound sites in Tennessee excavated prior to the construction of dams. Inside many mound areas were lines of standing stones, stone tomb chambers, and large circular piles of rocks looking like many cairns found in the northeast.
LINK
While conducting a literature search and gathering photos of similar constructions in mounds, earlier this year we visited the largely forgotten “Lost City” of Kentucky, known in archaeological circles as the Page Site.” The University of Kentucky and a later archaeologist conducted extensive excavations on the more than 60 mounds in the 1930s through the 40s. A long stonewall identical to many found in the Northeast was uncovered during the excavation as were about a dozen stone chambers formed by stone blocks placed with a dry masonry technique. These also appear identical to those found at America’s Stonehenge. These are just a few of the Native American mound sites that were found to have the same style of stone construction found in places in New England such as America’s Stonehenge.

In essence, it is clear that archaeologists’ assertion that Native American tribes in the Eastern half of America lacked the construction skills or desire to erect stone structures is not only false, but it is utterly demeaning. It is a type of White-male dominated professional elitism that rules academic archaeology and has long denigrated Native Americans, their traditions, and history. The argument is not being made here that there is definitive evidence that Native Americans constructed the site of America’s Stonehenge, just that they certainly had the ability and they were there at the same time period radiocarbon dating shows that the site was constructed. In sum, it is known and accepted that during ancient, prehistoric times, there were natives living in the area, quarrying stones at the site, and making pottery there. The evidence exists and is simply ignored or dismissed by the naysayers.


Thursday, March 28, 2024