Odd stone marker in the woods...with photos

We found this stone marker on my brothers' hunting lease about an hour east of Atlanta, GA. The stones are very weathered. At the one end there are more stones on edge forming a semi-circle. No one locally seems to know anything about it. Our guess at this point is a grave marker. Anybody seen anything similiar to this?








Thanks for looking and sharing your ideas.

I dont know but it wouldnt suprise me if at one time there was a body under there.

this







dig!

It probably has an important meaning to the Blair witch.

Time to get a shovel.

Civil War sniper hide?

Atlanta?? Civil War?? Dig, could be a weapons cache under there...

Very cool pics. If I had to guess I would say it is a grave.

Fire pit from a still?

But dig anyway...just watch your six.

Tell my what you're carrying out there. And your wingman?

Definitely a grave.

I'd guess Indian.

All the "dig" comments have me thinking. Archaeologists dig up thousand year old Egyptians and it is science and studying history. Dig up a grave from last week and we all agree that person is a sicko. But what about a grave from the Civil War period? ( if that is what it is ) Should that grave be off limits to those driven by curiosity?

At what point does a grave excavation cease to be "sick" and a legitimate historical study?

Also, this site is on the bank of a creek. Never considered the still fire pit idea. Interesting.

+1

I say grave. If it was me I'd call a university to have a crack at it. They break the seal, the bad karma is on them

dig and post pic's

I'd check it out with a metal detector before any digging

I would check federal law before doing any digging or metal detecting. They have gotton very strict on "historical sites" in the last several years. Out here in the west even old pit dumps from miners camps are off limits as are arrowheads and just about anything else.

I'm not saying I agree with them only to be careful. I would suggest contacting a local university's anthropology department and see about getting some help or direction from them. You could have a major find there.

In the Northwest these types of sites are often associated with Native American's storage of camas root for winter food supply.

My thought too...or a makeshift table top for an old campsite.

I'm thinking this.

And I wouldn't disturb it.

Vly:
I am looking at this and think it looks something like a crude tomb. Usually you will encounter these types of graves in areas with high water tables. I've never seen one constructed of improvised materials before. Being in the area that you are in, I don't think that the water table is an issue there. Graves are to grave yards as smoke is to fire. If there is one grave, there are probably more to be discovered. There is something here that does not look right here. While the rocks are moss covered, I suspect that this structure is relatively new since the mid twentieth century. Most rocks placed over graves are to prevent animals from digging into the grave. This is quite elaborate for using local materials. Please ask for an anthropologist and an archeoalogist. I don't think that you will find anything under those stones other than dirt. Please let us all know what this turns out to be.
Thank You

This

Some type of oven or stove.

I've seen "hermit" graves up here in the Northeast that look like that.

I'd suspect slave grave / sharecropper grave

Tag for whatever is learned

Most states have laws the prevent someone digging up a grave, so you may want to contact the county sheriff before you consider touching the site at all. If I was you, I would contact local or state university and they will be able to help you with the local laws and federal laws against disturbing a grave. For example, if it is a Civil War Era grave, you could face both state and federal laws if you begin digging without the proper permits and authorizations. The state university will be able to direct you in the correct direction so that you will not be destroying a piece of history or just some lonely grave in the middle of the woods. However, if they find some historical artifacts, they will belong to you and since they were discovered by a team of professionals, you will receive more money for them if you decide to sell them. Please let us know what you find out!!

I agree.

Have your local university/PD check it out, but that looks like a cairn/gravesite to me.

Hell Gate.

but dig anyway.

The first pic makes me think it's a fire pit. There's not much to determine scale in these pics but to me it looks to small to be a gravesite. Take these pics and the overall measurements of the thing to an college/university archaeological dept. and see what they say.

I'd respectfully dig it up and put right back the way I found it. I'd only be nervous about it if the earth starts rumbling or poltergiests start spewing out all around you.

Hell it could just be someone's dog. Then again, maybe it's Hoffa.

Spade it and post pics. Could be the thread of the year.

Want people digging up you Mom and Dad just for shits and giggles?


If I went to the local graveyard and started digging folks up, family members might get a little pissed at me. I don't know why. All I want to do is look at the corpses and maybe take some of the jewelry to remember the dead people by. Later, when I haqve enough jewelry I will sell it, and buy a new Corvette to help me remember them.




Looks more like where somebody had their still set up. It is near a creek, deep in the woods, had leel stone platfroms to hold the thump barrel and other apparatus, etc. Look under the stones to see if there is a lot of carbonized wood about an inch or two down from where they built fires. Check to see if there are any steel drums or big pots rusting in the area.

I would be intrested in finding out what the site was too! It cant hurt to call to find out the legality of digging it up and showing some photos to get an expert opinion on what may be there. After all, you are the only one who knows the exact location of it!

It's a grave. We have some just like that in a local cemetery outside of town.

If it's Native American you will have commited a Federal felony, leave it alone.

Well, first off what county in GA if you don't mind telling.

I don't think it's a fire pit/moonshine still for 2 reasons. First off, it's not really tall enough to get a decent fire going under and secondly, even if it was, it appears to be a sand-stone type of material we have around GA which is a very poor conductor of heat.

I would get a metal detector and see if you get any hits in the area.

First off, I would keep my mouth shut. If you do dig, I would keep a very low profile for said legal reasons.

Second, if you go raising a fuss about it, you could be ruining your buddies hunting grounds.

This is wise advice, and goes along with what I have been thinking. Digging is out, as I am pretty sure it is a grave site. Also Georgia has some strict laws on artifact recovery. Add to that the fact we don't own the land, only lease it for hunting, and the deer hunting is very good, so we will not be doing anything to jeopardize that situation.

It is fun to speculate on what it could be and how long it has been there.

There are a couple other routes, if you want to contact an archaeologist, other than calling a university.

Do you know anyone local that works for an environmental consulting firm? If so, see if they can hook you up with their staff archaeologist. They usually have at least one on staff to assess these sorts of things for landowners prior to developing a site. If you can get in touch with one of these guys, many of them can just look at the pictures and, based on the location information you've provided, know what it probably is.

Conversely, you could try calling your state state parks and/or wildlife department because they usually have staff archaeologists that do the same sorts of assessments on state lands. They would also be aware of all the laws pertaining to this sort of thing.

Well?

Dug up by Smithsonian = Historical
Dug up by Buford & Stumpy = Sickos

I'd use that criteria. Proceed with caution.

FB

Right on the mark. Better to let the archaelogist do the grave robbing. Then it's legitimate and in the name of science.

Don't fuck with it. Treat is as you would a tree or any other part of that environment, it's just there. Once you drag a "scholar" in to it, your land may never be the same. Just let it be unless you intend to develop the area. That's what I'd do.

I'm sorry. I would have to excavate up to 6 feet. Don't fear the reaper!

i would leave it alone, leave only foot prints.

if you dont dig...this thread will die!!!

By education I am an Archaeologist and have dug up 17 burials when I did it professionally. To me it comes down to having a respectful attitude towards the burial if it must be excavated. I have also excavated many stone features and I can't identify what you have although I could be a smoker pit for curing meat or fish.

What you have is very interesting. I would take the pictures to the state historical society or University. They may be able to tell you more about what you have.

A housing developer built a number of homes in Chatham county,NC and when they started to clear the last of the sights thy found a grave yard Marked with plain stones (sandstones?) Most of the stones fell over . they were simple field stones. Some of the graves were sunkin in.Trees grew up around them. There were aboutTwenty or more graves. Construction was halted. Research disclosed no record or clue about them.It was supposed that they were slave graves from the Civil war era. That lot had to remain as is but building continued around it. Jet71

Slave graves wouldn't have stone markers. You might want to go to the recorders' office to see who owned the land. It's probably a family plot since, in the old days, it was not unusual to bury a loved one near the family home.

So does this story have a conclusion? You dig or no!?

i would have allready had a metal detector out there.

My father was working at an old house a while back and one of the guys realized that the sidewalk was old tombstones that were face down and turned into a walkway.

Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. We have not and will not be digging. The State of Georgia has laws against disturbing/attempting to recover artifacts. The major point is we don't own the land, we lease the land for hunting. The hunting is very good and the lease is reasonable in cost, so we do not want to jeopardise that situation.

What we are doing is quietly researching who owned the land in the past and sharing the photo with people in the archeology field. We can learn more about what this marker is through research, rather than digging it up and destroying it.

As we find out more I will post it.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

...plus, any Boy Scout will tell you that sandstone can explode in high heat under certain circumstances. Probably not a fire pit if it's made of sandstone.

call the local university, show them the pics, find out the laws, becuase ya just never know...

YOU COULD BE RICH AND NOT KNOW IT!!!!!!!!

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