History Found In the Field

[OntarioHunter]

I stumbled onto this lonesome tombstone while chasing after a cape buffalo bull in South Africa. Out in the middle of nowhere. Name was no longer legible. I'm guessing mid 19th century.
The stones stacked on this ridge have a better known story. The Boers were preparing to make a stand against British troops advancing to relieve the seige of Kimberly. An experienced general arrived and wisely directed the Boers to finish the battlements only to abandon them and take up positions in trenches in the valley below. As he anticipated, Brits arrived and as usual bombarded the empty fortifications with artillery from a safe distance for two days then sent the infantry in to assault the ridge in the dark before dawn. The Boers had strung wire with cans attached in the thick brush and ambushed the British troops from trenches as they moved forward in close formation. It was a slaughter. I actually chased the same bull buffalo around in acacia thickets where the trenches were located.
This long abandoned house hidden away on another property was used by the Boers as a field hospital.

 

[Brute]

A rock from SE Oregon

 

[tarheel]

Yes old electric pole cross arm would be my guess also. Still have them in use on the line that runs through our farm. Green glass insulators have very course threading mounded into them to screw onto the wooden spikes

I recall a neighbor from Nebraska telling me that the crossarms were mostly made of cedar because of their tendency to resist rot.

 

[NearerTheBone]

this thread is awesome.

Didn't see it myself but it's worth mentioning.. my neighbor told me a story of a time he was hunting on a high ridge in SW MT a few decades ago. He came across a small clearing, in which was a ring of boulders standing on end - about 8ft high, 20ft in diameter (like a mini-Stonehedge). There was space between two of the boulders that he could squeeze through and in the center, he found a bighorn ram skull. He never found that place again.

The story stuck with me. I hope to get on that ridge someday to see if I can find the place.

 

[Stocker]

Carvings in a limestone face about 500 yards north of my house. They are from 1902-1930. Some from my family, some I don’t recognize. 200 yards from it is a 4’ limestone rock wall that German POW’s built while working for my great grandfather. Most people in the area were German immigrants and many still spoke German so the POWs enjoyed working out in the country. After the war quite a few of them stayed.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Corps of Discovery

 

[Straight Arrow]

Chief Plenty Coups' spring of life.

 

[Eric Albus]

Like others, I have found lots big and small artifacts. The past fall I found a teepee circle (I choose to believe ) on the high

Like others, I have found lots big and small artifacts. The past fall I found a teepee circle (I choose to believe ) on the high Montana prairie.
View attachment 129215

The people’s who made these circles are not known. Modern Native Americans say they have no recollections or history of who made the stone circles(presumably to hold down a lodge). Natives used wooden pegs to hold down their lodges.
If anyone can enlighten further please do so.

 

[Straight Arrow]

The people’s who made these circles are not known. Modern Native Americans say they have no recollections or history of who made the stone circles(presumably to hold down a lodge). Natives used wooden pegs to hold down their lodges.
If anyone can enlighten further please do so.

Photo below is of Gallatin Gateway School sixth graders during Expedition Yellowstone, when they spent a week hiking, exploring, and learning about Yellowstone. This was an area near the Escape Creek Trail, looking (left / north) across a plateau toward Gardiner and the river. They are standing around a circular rock strewn teepee ring listening to a class from the park ranger and learning about the area. There were also obsidian flakes around the site, indicating that arrow heads and tools were fashioned there from the obsidian rock found south of there in YNP at the obsidian cliffs. There were the typical teepee hold-down rocks which secured the teepee from the constant wind in this area. 'Don't know who the "Modern Native Americans" are to whom you refer, but across western Montana the Plains Indians moved seasonally to hunt and survive the elements. The use of rocks to secure the teepees is evident everywhere and is undisputed, as widely described by historical accounts of Crow, Sioux, Blackfeet and other tribes.

 

[westbranch]

Found this after a quick search:

All of the rings are pre-horse and prehistoric. Once Euroamericans introduced tools like axes, historic tribes used wooden pegs instead of stones to keep skirts of their hide tipis anchored to the ground. According to Crow studies scholar Timothy McCleary, the word for prehistory in the Crow language means, literally, the time “when we used stones to weigh down our lodges.”

Archeology (U.S. National Park Service)

Uncover what archeology is, and what archeologists do across the National Park Service. Discover people, places, and things from the past. Find education material for teachers and kids. Plan a visit or volunteer, intern, or find a job.

www.nps.gov

 

[antlerradar]

Found this after a quick search:

Archeology (U.S. National Park Service)

Uncover what archeology is, and what archeologists do across the National Park Service. Discover people, places, and things from the past. Find education material for teachers and kids. Plan a visit or volunteer, intern, or find a job.

www.nps.gov

A now gone Cheyenne elder once told me that if you find a stone tepee ring it was left by the Crow's.

 

[ILbowhntr]

This is some kind of engine used to haul ore and supplies to/from an old silver mine way up on the side of a mountain in a wilderness in NW Montana. There used to be a set of narrow gauge rails running up there.
View attachment 129201
View attachment 129202

Air compressor.

 

[MTTW]

Having pitched a wall tent on open Prarie in sub zero Temps I am guessing anyone who relied on wooden stakes froze to death. I read that there are over 1300 documented stone teepee rings in Grasslands Park in Canada.

 

[MTTW]

Googled to refresh my memory and the number was 12,000 rings.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Found this on a recent trip to Canyonlands NP. I spotted it from the car as we were creeping along a rocky road. I assume it's real, but who knows. Hard to imagine it was sitting right next to a 2-track where probably thousands of people pass right by it each year. My kids were pissed when I made them leave it, haha.

 

[Letthemgrow]

My kids were pissed when I made them leave it, haha.

lol . . .

 

[220yotekiller]

I was hiking in to scout for elk and I found a old 25-35 case from a long time ago. My brother and I found a old mountian lion trap, it has PROPERTY OF US GOVT. on it, It must have been a government trappers set.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Found this on a recent trip to Canyonlands NP. I spotted it from the car as we were creeping along a rocky road. I assume it's real, but who knows. Hard to imagine it was sitting right next to a 2-track where probably thousands of people pass right by it each year. My kids were pissed when I made them leave it, haha.View attachment 216123

That is a beauty, I would have it in a shadow box.
If were your kids I would have punched you in the trunks!

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

That is a beauty, I would have it in a shadow box.
If were your kids I would have punched you in the trunks!

They pretty much tried, although my oldest was game for leaving it. Honestly I had to sit down and contemplate keeping it. I figured it was a good teaching moment to leave it though. Not sure if they learned anything.

 

[ovis2]

The people’s who made these circles are not known. Modern Native Americans say they have no recollections or history of who made the stone circles(presumably to hold down a lodge). Natives used wooden pegs to hold down their lodges.
If anyone can enlighten further please do so.

I was always told such circles where "teepee circles", but Eric's comments gave me pause. I did spend probably too much time this evening on Google Scholar (just as I often do for my "day job" as a college engineering professor), and I found several research papers discussing the archaeology of teepee rings across the western US and Canada. Some supported Eric's statement above, but many also supported (including written historical observations) the use of stones as boundary weights, and some further speculations about things such as burial circles and maybe spiritual circles. Anyway, one good compilation reference of historical observations, although admittedly a bit dated, is T.F. Kehoe (1960) STONE TIPI RINGS IN NORTH-CENTRAL MONTANA AND THE ADJACENT PORTION OF ALBERTA, CANADA: THEIR HISTORICAL, ETHNOLOGICAL, AND ARCHEOLOGICAL ASPECTS.

I'll be up in that portion of Big Sky country this summer, so maybe I'll swing back by and take a little more careful look.