33-3 Native American Geologists Preceded Us

Session: Geoarcheology (Posters)

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Modern geologists follow the footsteps of indigenous predecessors.  Native American cosmology included an underworld realm inhabited by spirits.  Communication with that world was conceived of as possible through fractures, faults, and contacts between bedrock units.  Patterns in the bedrock evident from the surface were scrutinized for clues to the subterranean world.  These patterns included large-scale patterns extending miles, down to metamorphic isograds.  Eastern Connecticut features extraordinary geological formations, including Lantern Hill — a unique mylonitized quartz mountain towering above the southeastern New England coastal landscape; extensive north/south rifting; the Lyme Dome anomaly consisting of Gander terrane; and the Iapetus suture, dating to the Pangea assemblage.  

The densest concentration of Native American ceremonial stonework in the East is found in Connecticut’s eastern corridor, often in conjunction with geological features.  These constructions assume various forms, including stone serpent effigies (representing mediators between the upper- and under-worlds); stone chambers (temples); and stone walls, mounds, and cairns.  These aren’t randomly scattered across the landscape.  Geological considerations featured prominently in siting decisions.

Ancient geologists were attuned to subtle features.  Bedrock mapping of 50 or 60 years ago often gave cursory attention to structural features.  Today’s mapping standards come far closer to rediscovering attributes that were observed long ago and memorialized by placing ceremonialism in concert with natural features.   Wesleyan’s Jelle de Boer observed that the temple at Delphi was placed at the intersection of two faults.  Subsequent researchers uncovered additional Greek temples placed on faults.  Native Americans also positioned ceremonial architecture on faults and contacts.  

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2, 2026

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