form vs function: a classification system for rock features
TRANSCRIPT
A Classification System for Rock Features
Stephen Todd JankowskiUSDA Forest Service
Malheur National Forest
According to existing literature, rock features are…..?
Fire hearths or fire pitsHunting blinds
Game drives Rock walls
Trail markersResource area markers
Historic fencing cribs/rock jacksProperty boundary markers
CachesBurials
GeoglyphsHouse rings
Mining claimsFake people/stone boys/petroforms
Ceremonial-Ritual markersVisual topographic landmarks
Rock Features are ubiquitous & receive casual treatment
during site assessments / recordation
Created a basic framework of characteristics or attributes
Helpful to determine function
Secondary attributes (cracked rock, lithics, botanical remains, ) or association can further classify for a typology
White (1980)
White’s Data Form (Plan View)
Expansion of rock feature morphological attributes
Described 6-7 types of rock features
Mostly ceremonial types or those associated with ritual activities
Potential to determine ages from outer surfaces characteristics and associated artifacts
Chartkoff (1983)
Chartkoff (1983)
artko
Chartkoff (1983)
Demonstrates rock feature types with more examples after Chartkoff and
White. There are similarities.
Broken down into four generalized categories and then subcategorized
Also recorded their class size as a feature and total amount of stones creating the feature
Measured distances to trails, other sites, watershed, and distances to known lithic scatters, etc.
Searched for unknown patterns in order to further identify and classify features in order to categorize them.
Know your landform!
Winthrop (1995)
Winthrop et al (1995)
Winthrop et al (1995)
Winthrop et al 1995
Winthrop continued;
Green (1987)
Green continued;
Tomlin (2010) & Jankowski (2012) -measuring alignments to distant
landmarks
Never previously demonstrated except larger monuments ( such as Pyramids-Egypt/Maya, American Southwest, Stonehenge, et cet)
Walls, rock stacks, & Tsektekls (prayers seats) have alignments in Chartkoff’s research.
Ethnographic and Traditional knowledge of Living Indigenous peoples describe intentional alignments or placement of rocks as a practice that continues today (Klamath, Paiute, Yakima)
Independent conclusions of both Tomlin & Jankowski greater than expected
Central Washington University-REM Graduate Research
Plan View
Questions?
Photo by Author 2009