yesterday as I was driving along the ocean we came upon MANY piles of balanced stones. I have been searching every where I can think of to find out what these are called and what they mean. They are soo neat the way they can get these stones to balance one on top of another. Do any of you know what they care called and history of these amazing creations?
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balancing stones?
Started by DeanaG73, 18-Jun-2000 19:41
2 replies to this topic
#2
Gunnar Creutz
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Posted 19 June 2000 - 00:00
I have no knowledge of Californian archaeology, so I have no idea what sort of monuments there is. But from your description it is fully possible that you are referring to some kind of natural rocks.
Various processes of erosion can form the rocks in very strange shapes, and it is fully possible that these natural processes of erosion may leave a standing pillar of stones. Of course a natural rock has no originally intended meaning, but it can have been ascribed a lot of different meanings by humans during the time. Even if the origin is fully natural it is also fully possible that those natural rock formations later have been slightly altered my humans.
The question of the meaning of a manbuild ancient monument is in most cases almost impossible to answer. One of my professors of archaeology once got the question of the meaning of the rock carvings from a tourist. The professor then gave the absolutely true answer: We don't know.
Gunnar
[Edited by Gunnar Creutz (19-06-2000 at 10:26).]
Various processes of erosion can form the rocks in very strange shapes, and it is fully possible that these natural processes of erosion may leave a standing pillar of stones. Of course a natural rock has no originally intended meaning, but it can have been ascribed a lot of different meanings by humans during the time. Even if the origin is fully natural it is also fully possible that those natural rock formations later have been slightly altered my humans.
The question of the meaning of a manbuild ancient monument is in most cases almost impossible to answer. One of my professors of archaeology once got the question of the meaning of the rock carvings from a tourist. The professor then gave the absolutely true answer: We don't know.
Gunnar
[Edited by Gunnar Creutz (19-06-2000 at 10:26).]
#3
DeanaG73
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- Location:Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Posted 20 June 2000 - 05:03
Thank you for your time and response to my question. The items I am referring to are man made. Someone has brought stones to the cliffs and set them up one on top of another balancing without supports. I have been told that these are Cairns or Caitns, though I still havn't been able to find out much about them. They were used to mark paths and memorial sites is what I have been told. If you have any information or knowledge of these please let me know.. Thanks. I took photos of them and will have them developed this week some time if you would like to see them. THey are NEAT.
Thanks Again
Deana
Thanks Again
Deana
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