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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 |
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A CONNECTICUT SOUTERRAIN?
Souterrains, such as that figured, are megalithic constructions usually considered to be exclusively of European origin. This look-alike, at Montville, CT, could indicate pre-Columbian contacts. Here are some details:
"This underground site is built into a rocky hillside in an isolated region. A 37� ft. passage of straight-sided drywall stonework is interrupted after 8� ft. by a 3� ft. collapsed section. It then continues on for 20 ft. to a little corbelled chamber whose end wall is cut into a roughly quarried and levelled ledge. On the slope around the souterrain are about 100 cairns, some carefully constructed; others appear to be the result of field clearing."
(Anonymous; "An Arm-Chair Field Trip," NEARA Journal, 26:87, Winter/Spring 1992.) NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.
Comment. The prevailing explanation of such New England lithic structures is that they were simply colonial root cellars or something of the kind. The structure figured is certainly a very ambitious root cellar!
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Reference. Our handbook Ancient Man investigates these New England chambers in some detail. For more on this book, visit: here.