Ancient Stone Mysteries Of New England: "Yankee Lore"

You know that stuff "everybody knows" - but isn't true? The cultural equivalent of this in the Northeast of what's now North America is what's called "Yankee Lore"... This is stuff "everybody" in New England "just knows" about the history of the area... but which isn't true. Or, at the very least, is often inaccurate.

From "Indians around here didn't build with stone", to the Pilgrims, the myth of the Pristine Wilderness, and more, stone site investigator Mike Luoma looks beyond Yankee Lore to get a truer picture of the past.

Mike highlights the work of Ceremonial Stone Landscape Researcher Tim MacSweeney (https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogsp...) who suggests Indigenous landscape caretakers may have used stone fire breaks - stone rows, possibly Serpent Effigy Rows - to check the flames of controlled agricultural burning.

Mike also points out how Yankee Lore seems to even be a problem for some archaeologists... especially when it come to Indigenous-built stonework in what's now New England.

Put together with video footage and photos Mike shot around New England, given the context and the subjects being covered there's also a great deal of third-party material, much Public Domain, mostly from the collections of the Library of Congress. In many of these cases, Mike cleaned up the images. Some images were also colored, to break up the monotone grayscale. Free-to-Use videos from Pexels.com were also incorporated. Full Credits follow below for all material, as available. Under each sub-heading, credits are listed in the order of appearance.

Many thanks to researcher Tim MacSweeney for the inspirations behind this video - books he's recommended, his theory on the fire breaks, and a ton of knowledge from his blog, his Facebook Group "Celebrating the Ceremonial Stone Landscapes of Turtle Island", and references he's shared. Please go to his "Waking Up On Turtle Island" (blog) to learn more.

A text version with Bonus Video can be found on the Ancient Stone Mysteries Newsletter on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/mikeluo...

The Music is by Composer and Performer Kevin MacLeod. Official Music Credits follow below.

Music Credits:

Serpentine Trek by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Mourning Song by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Rite of Passage by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Silver Flame by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Healing by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Additional Video Credits:

Aerial View of Forest by Kelly from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/video/aerial-v...

A Child Using A Pencil Writing On A Paper Inside A Classroom by Pressmaster from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/video/a-child-...

Grass Burning on the Field by Karamvir Jakhar from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/video/grass-bu...

Windy Day at The Field by Adrian Hoparda from Pexels
https://www.pexels.com/video/windy-da...


Additional Photo Credits

Mashpee Sign
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne

Dr. Barry Fell and his book America B.C.
Photo Credits: Barry Fell — The Equinox Project. America B.C. — Pocket Books.


Library of Congress
Public Domain Images

Title: English Puritans escaping to America
Engraving copyright by Johnson, Wilson, & Co., 1874, after E. Leutze.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/202...

Title: An Indian welcome on Charles River
Reproduction (half-tone) of painting by R.R. Wand.
Copyright, 1905, by John D. Morris & Company.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/202...

Title: The emigration to Connecticut
Date Created/Published: [18--]
"Designed and etched for Bancroft's History of the U. States."

Title: Samoset, the Indian visitor
The early settlers of New England showing Samoset at colonial village.
Engraving from Harpers Monthly, v. 57, 1857.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/200...

Title: The home of the Gaynor family on a farm near Fairfield, Vermont
Creator(s): Delano, Jack, 1914-1997, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1941 Aug.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/201...

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Credits Are Too Long for YouTube! Find the Credits IN FULL here: https://open.substack.com/pub/mikeluo...)