Re: Brunton staff and tripod


"Jo Schaper" <jonot34schaperat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:13mp1kac8c0d65b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Edward Hennessey wrote:

We never did hear your report back on the session with the woman who
thought
she found the Missouri Mecca of mystical rocks. By the by, what part of
the state
are you in? I may have some fossil locality lead for you if you are
willing to move a bit
of rock.

Edward,

Well, the mystical rock lady does landscaping (lots of rock gardens)
for a living, so she's familiar with stone in a professional, even if
non-scientific sort of way. She was very sincere, and had done some pretty
impressive compass and tape amateur survey work -- compiled a looseleaf
notebook of plan view layouts of the sites with regard to elevations and
compass points. I got to see her photos of the sites and the rocks.
Several of the shadow stones (two or three slab standing stones, very
closely spaced (a couple of inches apart) made impressions like
old-fashioned paper cut silhouettes. One or two of these "stone leaved
books" looked like they might have been selected for their outlines, or
shaped at one time (they are sandstone), but any obvious cut marks are no
longer present. One set casts a shadow which resembles some raptor, and
another, the head and humped back of a buffalo. Most of the other photos
she showed me still look like random jumbles of stones which might have
been something once, or might not.

JS:

Thanks for the literate reply. I've found initials on fossils made by random
deposition of manganese dendrites and know of a rather large rock in the
nowhere
land of a third-world place that always gets the phrase "car door" out of
the mouths
of tourists from technological societies. This reminds me of Goethe "We see
only what
we look for. We look for only what we know."


I still have not been to the site. I have been invited, and periodically
she takes a group of interested people, and when it comes up, I hope to
go. I did, however, talk with a geologist from the local survey who has,
and has also done a fair amount of regional field work. He made no claims
as to what it was, only to say that it seems to be 'something'
and he knows of a couple other such sites, also placed near the crest of
hills, or near cave entrances. While some people into petroforms (what
these things like Wyoming's Medicine Wheel, and the Star Man in Wisconsin
are called) attribute astronomical-religious significance to all of them,
there is also the distinct possibility that not everything is a pagan
cathedral or sacred site: they could have been the American Indian
equivalent of the fire ring (ok, fess up: who here has NEVER made a rock
fire ring, or rolled/dragged some stones into a circle to sit on in the
woods?) or might be the work of afternoons of boredom while on guard duty
for a settlement in the valley below.

In short, it is still a mystery. Although she says she's found chert
flakes on the hillside, and she's found arrowheads nearby, both are pretty
common in the Ozarks. No claims of any burnt soil, or split bones
textiles, or beads, or any wooden remains which might indicate something
beyond just someone passing through.

Well, if you do trek there, with poles or not, I'd be interested in making
you an
accomodation on some illustrative specimens of the ripple marks for the
local university if they aren't cumbersome to port. By the way, the Missouri
locality adverted
to is for trilobites that my understanding says are produced with a
reasonable
investment of sweat equity. Given a chance to hunt the literature, I could
probably
get more substantive data in a reasonable time on expression of your
interest.

It is always a pleasure to see some genuine geological discussion on the
group in preference
to the spouting and hooting advanced killfiles have now matured to mostly
block.

Seasons greetings to you and yours.

Best regards,

Edward Hennessey




.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Greatest Guitar Riffs Recap - long but interesting
    ... you can't have this list without Stones "Satisfaction" and 'Jumpin Jack Flash'. ... "Rock And Roll Hootchie Koo" by Rick Derringer ... Rod Stewart - Stay With Me (Listen to this song right before or after ... rock and roll - led zeppelin ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Stones article...Macca mention
    ... among the greatest names in rock. ... Stones roll on with classics, ... front man Jagger at age 62 has even a few more wrinkles in his ... McCartney and U2 lead the rest of the pack - whose mere appearance ...
    (rec.music.beatles)
  • Re: Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time
    ... Any best of rock song list without the Stones 'Jumpin Jack Flash' ... 27-Look Over Yonder Wall (The Paul Butterfield Blues Band) ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Speaking of Townshend being occasionally strange....
    ... company is somehow significant to the discussion while ignoring that a band ... It's only rock and roll. ... Stones history locked up as he can in favor of their latest effort at ... corporate sponsorship and playing stadium anthems, ...
    (rec.music.gdead)
  • Re: Shock! An Actual *ON-TOPIC* Concert Report (Plus Sort Of A Trip Report) From Donna!
    ... I had *REALLY* hoped to visit Las Vegas this month. ... As for the Stones, I have Mixed Emotions about them. ... the greatest rock and roll band of all time. ... However, their last truly great album for me was Exile On Main Street, ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)