Figure 4 - uploaded by Mark J. Carlotto
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
Evidence supporting the existence of a solar observatory on Sunset Hill, also known as Poles Hill or Pole Hill, in Gloucester Massachusetts, is presented. Sitting atop a kame overlooking two tidal rivers, the Annisquam and Mill River, the site was important to Native Americans. Archaeological data indicate they occupied nearby Riverview seasonally...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... and researching Sunset Hill, I found it bisected by one north--south aligned trail with bedrock and boulders rising sharply on either side. Figure 3) . The trail represents the central axis of the site. I returned a few times as the season changed to provide better visibility, and I found a landscape strewn with unusual boulders and possible features and sightlines. The hill is less than 40 meters in elevation, but in winter and early spring it affords a 360--degree view of the entire area. The panoramics of the place would have constituted an optimal false horizon for all sorts of astronomical observations. Figure 4 shows a schematic of the solar calendar and the site geometry ultimately discovered on Sunset Hill. Based on the work of early ethnologists, such as Frank Speck, modern anthropologists, such as Kathleen Bragdon, archaeologists such as Ed Ballard, astronomers such as Ken Leonard, and others, we aim to understand the site as an Algonquian ceremonial calendar as well. (Feder 2011). In sources too numerous to mention, wedged split boulders and effigy stones made by Algonquians have been attributed to glaciers, Vikings, Celts, or colonists, for example (not to mention aliens). Third, the Massachusetts Department of Recreation and Conservation attributes all stone structures in New England to European settlers and claims to be "debunking the myths" about Native Americans building "walls, piles, or chambers", including solar alignments (Provencher and Mahlstedt 2007). The state historical commission does not include above--ground "prehistoric" sites in their inventories and keeps secret the archaeological reports of excavations of below--ground sites, ostensibly to prevent looting. Tribal councils often deny the existence of such sites too, not out of disbelief but for fear of looting or desecration. On the other side are optimistic claims for the native agency of most rock piles, or for their spiritual symbolisms as religious architecture (Gage 2013). Overly positive claims can strain credibility no less than negative ones. The fifth reason is the sad compromising of valid scientific inquiry through fanciful interpretations and the writings and practices of New Age enthusiasts and spiritualists, who appropriate Native American concepts, customs, regalia, and places for fringe religions based on mysticism. Because of its subject matter, valid academic disciplines like archaeoastronomy attract those looking for something other than science. Given these problems, I resolved to assess the archaeological integrity and scientific validity of Sunset Hill. I also realized the site would need to be evaluated by others with backgrounds and skills in mapping, astronomy, and geology. ...
Similar publications
Composed of two main forest formations, Ombrophilous Forest and Seasonal Forest, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome is constituted currently by a mosaic of forest remnants and secondary vegetation. Representatives of the Ponerinae ant genus Neoponera are observed mainly in both wet and seasonally dry forests. The aim of this study was to approach...
Citations
... Glacial erratics of various shapes and sizes are distributed atop Poles Hill in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The arrangement of three boulders relative to a central sighting stone appear to be aligned in the directions of the summer solstice sunrise and sunset, and winter solstice sunrise (Lepionka and Carlotto 2015). A previous paper explored the possibility that the central sighting stone and two other stone features matched the pattern of three stars, Rastaban, Etamin, and Thuban in Draco (Carlotto 2016). ...
... With the naked eye, it is much more difficult to accurately transfer measured distances and angles between stars in the sky to locations on the ground than it is to align objects in the direction of specific astronomical events on the horizon. In examining the alignment of small, widely-spaced ground features, angular errors less than 0.1° were measured using Google Earth along solstice sunrise/sunset directions at Poles Hill (Lepionka and Carlotto 2015). Clearly, the alignment errors evident in Figure 10 are significantly greater. ...
... In a previous aerial archaeological study using Google Earth (Lepionka & Carlotto, 2015), heading measurement errors were found to be as small as 0.1° between widely spaced, well-de ned, point-like features. Measurement errors at some of the sites considered here could be somewhat higher, particularly for ruined structures that lack a wellde ned edge and for smaller structures with short edges. ...
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sites of archaeological importance throughout the world. In this study, the alignments of more than two hundred ancient sites were measured and analyzed. Sites are organized into eight geographic regions: South America, Mesoamerica, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. Google Earth imagery and measurement tools were used to estimate the alignment of linear and rectilinear structures at these sites with respect to true (geographic) north. In considering standard celestial and geographic reasons for the alignments, many were found to be oriented to the cardinal directions, in the directions of solstices and other solar events, to lunar standstills, and to certain stars. A number of sites in China and Thailand were likely aligned to magnetic north at the time of construction using a compass. Some sites appear to have been aligned to "sacred directions" that include Islamic qibla and Quechua ceques. Site-alignment statistics reveal similarities and differences between geographical regions in terms of how sites within regions are aligned. Perhaps the most unexpected finding is that the alignment of about half of the sites could not be explained in terms of any of the explanations considered.
... In a previous aerial archaeological study using Google Earth (Lepionka & Carlotto, 2015), heading measurement errors were found to be as small as 0.1° between widely spaced, well-de ned, point-like features. Measurement errors at some of the sites considered here could be somewhat higher, particularly for ruined structures that lack a wellde ned edge and for smaller structures with short edges. ...
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of sites of archaeological importance throughout the world. In this study the alignments of over twohundred ancient sites were measured and analyzed. Sites are organized into eight geographic regions: South America, Mesoamerica, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Google Earth imagery and measurement tools were used to estimate the alignment of linear and rectilinear structures at these sites with respect to true (geographic) north. In considering standard celestial and geographic reasons for the alignments, many were found to be oriented to the cardinal directions, in the directions of solstices and other solar events, to lunar standstills, and certain stars. A number of sites in China and Thailand were likely aligned to magnetic north at the time of construction using a compass. Some sites appear to have been aligned to “sacred directions” that include Islamic qibla and Quechua ceques. Site alignment statistics reveal similarities and differences between geographical regions in terms of how sites within regions are aligned. Perhaps the most unexpected finding is that the alignment of about half of the sites could not be explained in terms of any of the reasons considered.
... Most is not being conducted by THPOs either. Since the Benfield Parcel "A" property's tribally endorsed CSL valuation, avocational researchers fully aware of the political climate change (Guthrie 2006) have published widely about stone structures, presuming that Native Americans built them for ceremony (e.g., Ballard 2006;Clifford 2008;DiMarzo 2015;Fohl 2010;Fohl and Leonard 2006;Gage and Gage 2011, 2015a, 2015bGage et al. 2012;Gilbert 2006;Helmer 2013Helmer , 2014Holstein 2012;Leonard 2010;Lepinoka and Carlotto 2015;Muller 2008Muller , 2009Saltzman 2008;Taylor 2008;Waksman 2012) and debated how to align their research agendas to the 2007 USET resolution and against "archaeologists of our region" (see comments following Gage 2009). By editorial discretion (see Hoffman 2013;Lavin 2015), the Independently of tribal authority, they present a flood of public information on seemingly enigmatic stone structures, assuming that they are Native American ceremonial constructions. ...
This article examines and historicizes the relationship between ceremonial stone landscape (CSL) activism and professional archaeology in New England from a perspective grounded in critical race theory. Using documentary sources, CSL activism's rise is traced from the articulation of its theory by avocational stone structure researchers in 1989 to its current stature as a cause endorsed by federally recognized tribes. Engaging professional archaeology as statecraft, CSL activism pragmatically censures and recontextualizes information to support its identity politics. Ultimately, CSL activism compels White citizenry, stigmatized by their association with settler colonialism and racism, to choose between reclaiming their moral authority, by signaling support, or renewing their moral bankruptcy in a narrative about Native American cultural survival. Against this backdrop, professional archaeology's legitimacy stands contested from within and without.
NORTHEAST ANTHROPOLOGY 85/86: 47-72.
... Archaeoastronomical dating of the summer solstice alignments (A-B and A-C in Figure 5b) revealed that the solar observatory on Poles Hill was constructed 2000-4000 years ago (Lepionka and Carlotto 2015). At that time Thuban, a star in the constellation Draco, would have served as the pole star. ...
... Archaeological finds at nearby Riverview (Lepionka 2013) indicate the area was occupied by native people over a considerable period of time from the middle Archaic to some time after the English settlement was established in Gloucester in the 1630s. Solar dating of the site on Poles Hill showed the summer alignments A-B and A-C are older than the winter alignment A-D (Lepionka and Carlotto 2015). The gnomon and summer markers (A-C) appear to be the first elements of the site, moved into place 2000-4000 years ago during the time native people visited Cape Ann in the summer. ...
A collection of altered glacial erratics on Poles Hill in Gloucester Massachusetts that function as a solar observatory for viewing solstice events is shown to fit into a broader celestial context. The locations of these and a number of other erratics that also appear to have been altered are correlated with bright stars in several northern constellations including Draco and Hercules. We describe a method for mapping the sky to the ground using stars in the serpent constellation, Draco, as tie points. One star, Thuban, the former pole star, is associated with the central marker in the observatory; another, Rastaban, the "eye" of the serpent, is associated with a large boulder that resembles a snake's head and faces west. A result of this mapping is that the line of site (the “gaze” of Rastaban) is directed toward a collection of boulders that appear correlated with a group of bright stars in the constellation Hercules (the “keystone” asterism). The snake head sits atop a section of serpentine bedrock that looks like a coiled snake when viewed from above. An adjacent semi-circular “U”-shaped bedrock formation correlates with another star, Etamin, in Draco. The line of sight from this observation point passes through the same boulder that serves as the summer solstice sunset marker in the solar observatory. The continuation of the line passes in between the ground projected constellation Ophiuchus (“the serpent bearer”) and Serpens Caput (“the serpent’s head”). We show that this pattern on the ground lines up with the actual constellations in the sky at sunset on the autumnal equinox about 4000 years ago.
... I!used!KML$Map!to!navigate!to!possible!solstice!markers!as!part!of!an!archaeological!investigation!at! Sunset!Hill! [3].!The!lead!investigator!had!identified!a!central!marker!-!the!"gnomon",!and!the!summer! solstice!sunset!rock.!Wondering!if!a!corresponding!sunrise!marker!existed,!on!my!desktop!computer! ...
