Mary Gage
Mary Gage is an independent stone structure researcher with over thirty years of experience who specializes in historic stone quarrying technology, historic utilitarian agricultural stone structures, and Native American ceremonial stone landscapes (CSL). She is part of a team actively documenting stone structures sites in New England. She is a co-author of the Stone Structures of Northeastern U.S. website – www.stonestructures.org and Mystery Hill (America's Stonehenge) website - www.mysteryhillnh.info She is the author of the Historic New England Recipes website www.newenglandrecipes.org
Research goals
1. Developing research methods to distinguish Native American stone structures from utilitarian Euro-American stone structures.
2. Applying scientific and historic research methods to the study of stone structures. Using evidence based approach.
3. Interpreting Native American ceremonial features using Native American accounts recorded by anthropologists.
4. Researching Native American ceremonial places with respect and cultural sensitivity.
5. Promoting preservation of cultural resources.
Books (Author)
A Guide to America’s Stonehenge: A Sacred Ceremonial Site (2007)
The Stones of Dogtown & Beyond: Dogtown to Poole Hill. (2012)
The Architecture of America’s Stonehenge (2021)
Books (Co-author)
Stories Carved in Stone: The Story of the Dummer Family, the Merrimac Valley Gravestone Carvers, and the Newbury Carved Stones 1636-1735. (2003)
The Art of Splitting Stone: Early Rock Quarrying Methods in Pre-Industrial New England 1630-1825. 2nd Edition (2005)
America’s Stonehenge: The History of a Sacred Placed (Documentary film, 2006, written by Mary Gage & produced by James Gage)
Milestones & Guideposts of Massachusetts and Southeastern New Hampshire. (2014)
A Handbook of Stone Structures in Northeastern United States. Expanded First Edition (2015)
A Guide to New England Stone Structures. 2nd edition (2016)
Land of a Thousand Cairns: Revival of Old-Style Ceremonies. 2nd edition (2020)
Research goals
1. Developing research methods to distinguish Native American stone structures from utilitarian Euro-American stone structures.
2. Applying scientific and historic research methods to the study of stone structures. Using evidence based approach.
3. Interpreting Native American ceremonial features using Native American accounts recorded by anthropologists.
4. Researching Native American ceremonial places with respect and cultural sensitivity.
5. Promoting preservation of cultural resources.
Books (Author)
A Guide to America’s Stonehenge: A Sacred Ceremonial Site (2007)
The Stones of Dogtown & Beyond: Dogtown to Poole Hill. (2012)
The Architecture of America’s Stonehenge (2021)
Books (Co-author)
Stories Carved in Stone: The Story of the Dummer Family, the Merrimac Valley Gravestone Carvers, and the Newbury Carved Stones 1636-1735. (2003)
The Art of Splitting Stone: Early Rock Quarrying Methods in Pre-Industrial New England 1630-1825. 2nd Edition (2005)
America’s Stonehenge: The History of a Sacred Placed (Documentary film, 2006, written by Mary Gage & produced by James Gage)
Milestones & Guideposts of Massachusetts and Southeastern New Hampshire. (2014)
A Handbook of Stone Structures in Northeastern United States. Expanded First Edition (2015)
A Guide to New England Stone Structures. 2nd edition (2016)
Land of a Thousand Cairns: Revival of Old-Style Ceremonies. 2nd edition (2020)
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Papers
A house foundation found nestled amongst a group of four stone chambers was identified in 1981 by Nancy F. Jackson and George A. Jackson as the 18th century home of Nathaniel Adams. The Jacksons published their findings in the Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut (1981). They established through their deed research that this was the second house Nathaniel Adams had built on his farm. This small but critical detail has largely been forgotten or ignored by subsequent researchers. This is due in part to the fact the site of Nathaniel’s first house with a barn and privy lies outside of the generally accepted boundaries for the Gungywamp Complex.
During his lifetime, Nathaniel Adams’ farm was divided into two halves, the “east part of the farm” and the “west part of the farm” each with its own house. The western half is dominated by rocky soils covering ridges and ravines with exposed bedrock outcrops. There are only a few acres of tillable land. It was marginal land in terms of its agricultural potential. Given the poor quality of the land, a perception has emerged of Nathaniel Adams as a poor subsistence farmer just barely eking out a living trying to support his wife and ten children. What this “story” fails to explain is Nathaniel and his family lived the first thirty years on the east part of the farm (from 1743 to at least 1772 and possibly as late as 1779.) The east part was productive farmland with an orchard, crop land and cranberry bog that allowed the Adams family to become middle-class farmers. This article explores his two houses and what they reveal.
This papers builds upon this previous research. It presents a new analysis that suggests (1) solar alignments at Stonehenge had more than a calendar function, they were integral to builder's cultural belief system; (2) that more than just bluestones were transported from Wales, cultural ideas embedded in the architectural elements of Waun Mawn stone circle were incorporated into Stonehenge; (3) there are additional previously unrecognized architectural traits in the various phases of Stonehenge that were repeated and modified over time.
The objectives of this paper are:
(1) Draw attention to the importance and range of woodworking activity in Native American cultures.
(2) Draw attention to the need for re-evaluating generally accepted ideas of how tools like axes, gouges, and adzes were utilized.
(3) Promote microscopic use-wear analysis, information from experimental archaeology, and ethnographic data for identify woodworking tools and their function(s).
This article provides examples of both trash and ritual offerings. These examples illustrated how to evaluate the artifacts to better assess their purpose.
This paper begins by re-evaluating the 1983 Mavor and Dix Freetown Massachusetts stone mound excavation. This excavation, long blacklisted, provides important evidence for the existence of Native American ceremonial stone structures in New England. Was this excavation done correctly? Can we rely on the evidence from this excavation as scientifically valid?
The Freetown Massachusetts stone mound group could easily be mistaken as field clearing yet dates to the pre-contact period. The paper explores several different approaches for distinguishing field clearing piles from Native American cairns using non-invasive methods.
A house foundation found nestled amongst a group of four stone chambers was identified in 1981 by Nancy F. Jackson and George A. Jackson as the 18th century home of Nathaniel Adams. The Jacksons published their findings in the Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut (1981). They established through their deed research that this was the second house Nathaniel Adams had built on his farm. This small but critical detail has largely been forgotten or ignored by subsequent researchers. This is due in part to the fact the site of Nathaniel’s first house with a barn and privy lies outside of the generally accepted boundaries for the Gungywamp Complex.
During his lifetime, Nathaniel Adams’ farm was divided into two halves, the “east part of the farm” and the “west part of the farm” each with its own house. The western half is dominated by rocky soils covering ridges and ravines with exposed bedrock outcrops. There are only a few acres of tillable land. It was marginal land in terms of its agricultural potential. Given the poor quality of the land, a perception has emerged of Nathaniel Adams as a poor subsistence farmer just barely eking out a living trying to support his wife and ten children. What this “story” fails to explain is Nathaniel and his family lived the first thirty years on the east part of the farm (from 1743 to at least 1772 and possibly as late as 1779.) The east part was productive farmland with an orchard, crop land and cranberry bog that allowed the Adams family to become middle-class farmers. This article explores his two houses and what they reveal.
This papers builds upon this previous research. It presents a new analysis that suggests (1) solar alignments at Stonehenge had more than a calendar function, they were integral to builder's cultural belief system; (2) that more than just bluestones were transported from Wales, cultural ideas embedded in the architectural elements of Waun Mawn stone circle were incorporated into Stonehenge; (3) there are additional previously unrecognized architectural traits in the various phases of Stonehenge that were repeated and modified over time.
The objectives of this paper are:
(1) Draw attention to the importance and range of woodworking activity in Native American cultures.
(2) Draw attention to the need for re-evaluating generally accepted ideas of how tools like axes, gouges, and adzes were utilized.
(3) Promote microscopic use-wear analysis, information from experimental archaeology, and ethnographic data for identify woodworking tools and their function(s).
This article provides examples of both trash and ritual offerings. These examples illustrated how to evaluate the artifacts to better assess their purpose.
This paper begins by re-evaluating the 1983 Mavor and Dix Freetown Massachusetts stone mound excavation. This excavation, long blacklisted, provides important evidence for the existence of Native American ceremonial stone structures in New England. Was this excavation done correctly? Can we rely on the evidence from this excavation as scientifically valid?
The Freetown Massachusetts stone mound group could easily be mistaken as field clearing yet dates to the pre-contact period. The paper explores several different approaches for distinguishing field clearing piles from Native American cairns using non-invasive methods.