Hudson Valley, NY Celtic Mystery

[Gardisten]

Has this been discussed here already?

This rock cavern offers local travelers a curious sight: so carefully crafted, it seems out of place sitting along the shoulder of a major roadway. Perhaps even more curious is the fact that there are more than 100 other rock formations, mirror images of this one, sprinkled throughout this heavily populated mid-Valley county.

Their dimensions are remarkably similar: each cavern is approximately 10 feet high and 15 feet wide, with an arched wall of granite slabs. Usually topped with boulders, moss, and logs, the structures were constructed so exactingly that no adhesive was necessary.

But the pivotal information about these caverns — when were they built, by whom, and why — remains unknown.

http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-M...story-Mystery/

[Irby]

I think that article is one written by an idiot, who has no idea of archeology, 'celtic' what the hell does that mean. Celtic is a language, not an archaeological culture. Then talking about the 'Neolithic' I wish they would make there mind up, as there is about 2,500 years between the Neolithic and the MIA, as I guess by 'celtic' they mean Hallstatt or le Tena. But in reality they have no idea what they are saying.

I could go on but I am not wasting my time on this article. is just rubbish.

[Gardisten]

There's also a book about this entitled Celtic Mysteries by Philip Imbrogno. Deals a lot with UFOs, though; apparently this region happens to be a hotbed for sightings.

[Cuchullain]

I think that article is one written by an idiot, who has no idea of archeology, 'celtic' what the hell does that mean. Celtic is a language, not an archaeological culture. Then talking about the 'Neolithic' I wish they would make there mind up, as there is about 2,500 years between the Neolithic and the MIA, as I guess by 'celtic' they mean Hallstatt or le Tena. But in reality they have no idea what they are saying.

I could go on but I am not wasting my time on this article. is just rubbish.

Haha, well said Irby.

Gardisten I have seen a lot of genuine tombs here in Ireland and in other parts of Europe but going by this photo it looks a bit too new to be genuine. If it does have any kind of connection to to Europeans it may be that some European settler decided to construct it on their land.

I have many photos of genuine Indo European burial tombs so when I get a chance I will upload some.

[Gardisten]

Haha, well said Irby.

Gardisten I have seen a lot of genuine tombs here in Ireland and in other parts of Europe but going by this photo it looks a bit too new to be genuine. If it does have any kind of connection to to Europeans it may be that some European settler decided to construct it on their land.

I have many photos of genuine Indo European burial tombs so when I get a chance I will upload some.

Here's a NY Times article from 1995:
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/16/ny...p&pagewanted=1

Stephen Williams, in his book "Fantastic Archeology" (University of Pennsylvania Press), wrote that the mid-19th century was a golden age of sorts for discoveries of exotic lost European civilizations in America, a coincidence he attributed to the growing country's search for an instant past.

The thing is, why is there a concentration in this region? Presumably this is something that would have been widespread were it the result of some sort of fad.

[Cuchullain]

From the Colonial days until the westward and urban movements of the 19th century, many farmers in the Northeast grew crops and raised dairy cows on some rather poor farmland. In much of New England and the Hudson Highlands, the land was rocky and the transportation limited. Farmers decamped en masse when the country opened up, and whole hillsides in Putnam County and northern Westchester were abandoned, leaving only the farmers' stone walls and root cellars.

I am inclined to think that this one is more realistic and it does tie in with the fact that is just doesn't look like it has been standing as long as the European equivalents.

Druids.

Also Irish monks, copper-seeking Bronze Age miners, Libyan sailors, Iberian adventurers and Celtic moon worshipers. All before Columbus, some before Christ. (Indeed, friends of Christ, if one believes the faction that says Joseph of Arimathea crossed the Atlantic.) They wrote on the stone chambers in strange alphabets like Numidian and Irish Ogham (glacial scratches to the unconvinced).

But why are there no artifacts: pottery, bones, tools, clothing fragments, burial regalia or other hard evidence that ancient civilizations would have left? Acid soil would have destroyed those things, the believers say. These were not root cellars, they maintain; they were calendars, mostly lunar, designed to catch the first rays of the winter solstice and honor the rebirth of the new year.

Of course I cannot discount this one either. It would be interesting to know for sure if it were true but with no artefacts I guess that cannot happen.

[Gardisten]

I am inclined to think that this one is more realistic and it does tie in with the fact that is just doesn't look like it has been standing as long as the European equivalents.

From the Revolutionary War perhaps?
http://www.skyweb.net/~channy/putvalcham.html

[Cuchullain]

-If, as some allege, the chambers are solar aligned for solstice and equinox, why aren't all of them aligned?

This is a very important aspect to existing structures in Ireland anyway. The fact that they are not aligned makes me think that they were not tombs. They look like they may have been some kind of emergency shelter or storage for valuable goods

[Irby]

One good way to find out if it is a real burial chamber, is to spend a few hours in one digging. If, when you go home to sleep that night, you have wild dreams about the inhabitance, (which I have had) then it is real. These place are powerful locations, and gateways between this world and the land of the sprits.

But, this is advice is not from me in an intellectual capasity!!!! Only my person experience.....

[prochronism]

If these were root cellars, would there be a simple way to test for that by examining the soil? I have family in the Catskills, and some of them own a lot of land. I've walked and hiked through many different parts of that area, and the amount of old rock walls and odd rock structures is staggering, and very, very intriguing. There are places there that make one feel as if they might be walking in an old European magical fairy forest! (If one is inclined to that sort of thing, anyway!)