Native American Church of Virginia
Sanctuary on the Trail, Inc. Independent Native American Church of Virginia
PO Box 123 Bluemont VA 20135
501(c)3 Non-Profit Church
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Ancient Sacred Sites Calling Attuned Healers into Resonance

7/31/2014

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Human-Resonance.org Analysis of a
2011 Winchester Star article
about the Paleo-Indian site found by
Chris (Comeswithclouds) White in Virginia.
The profound mystery of the advanced unified purpose of these ancient stone circle temples and ancient monument alignments is now coming to light through the research at hundreds of such sites worldwide. Popular awareness of ancient stone circles of Native American cultures is very slowly revealing itself.

The quartz crystalline content of these massive standing stones is well known for its piezoelectric properties, which enable the stones' conversion of acoustic energy into electric energy. Calcite and quartz are the two types of piezoelectric stone which have been extensively used throughout the diverse pyramid-building cultures of the world, to transduce the ambient electrical ground currents produced by solar flare activity into an internal electrical charge and an electromagnetic field that envelops the stone monuments.

These concentric stone circles represent the prime force of infrasound, the deep and all-penetrating universal 'Om' that is associated with the Creational essence and is concentrated by these standing stone monuments due to their geometric relationship with the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt.
The area including the rock circles was the location that drew Chris White in. When he was building his house, White said, he would often walk by the creek to take a break. There, "a still, small voice said, 'This land is important.' I didn't know what it meant, but I took it to heart," he said.

As White prepared to put his medicine wheel on the site, he realized that a circle of stones was there - actually, several concentric circles. "From my experience as a contractor, I knew that was not natural," he said. "I realized something was already here." -- Winchester Star Newspaper
"Ancient sacred sites are calling attuned healers into resonance, and we are responding to the call," Human Resonance.
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 Spout Run, Virginia (39.05°N 77.89°W) is 5,852 miles from Giza, or 23.5% of the Earth's mean circumference distance (of 24,892 miles). This sacred resonant distance is aligned with converging infrasound standing waves in a pattern shared by all such monuments and all other sacred temples and pyramids worldwide - with the giant Stonehenge monument sitting precisely at the 9.0% distance, while Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth sit exactly along the resonant 10.0% distance.

The most dramatic effects witnessed and prophecied by the pyramid-builders themselves include the flare-up of giant HHO plasma plumes above the Great Pyramid of Giza, in formations only recently documented by modern scientists as red sprites. The Mayan/Aztec, Apache and Hopi wisdom traditions foretell of the return of our planet to a state of high-resonance, during at time refered to as the Red Dawn, when the skies will glow red with intense auroral activity as the culmination of the dramatic astronomical events of December 22, 2012.

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PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly to feature Native American Church of VA Guardians

7/22/2014

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Bluemont VA -- Religion and Ethics Newsweekly David, Lucky, Mark and Tony filmed here today at the Sanctuary on the Trail. They interviewed Native American Church of Virginia CEO and President, Chris (Comeswithclouds) White and Rene' White (Feather) and the lead Archeologist Jack Hranicky.
     This PBS special, featuring concentric rings found around the world, is expected to air around the end of August.     
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     The Native American of Church site guardians Chris and Rene' are preserving, protecting and restoring a Paleo-Indian sacred ceremonial site they found on their property.
     For more photos of the shoot and copy of the program please follow us here at www.SanctuaryontheTrail.org.
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Paleo Site Art Class Opens Children to Creation Through Everyday Natural World

7/10/2014

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Paleo-Preservation Initiative


BLUEMONT, VA
– Local students and family from three local churches learned more about Native American culture and the Paleo-Indian concentric rings found in here through a July 9 “Art in Nature” ™ class held by the Native American Church of Virginia.
     Students and families ages 6 to 73 arrived from three corners of Northern Virginia to share in this unique physical and spiritual art experience. Eight members from the Bluemont United Methodist Church; seven members from the Emmaus Church of Berryville; and one member from the Fairview Methodist Church in Stephens City participated.
     Led by Native American of Virginia artist René White (Feather), a retired Air Force veteran, the class revolved around the letters P-R-A-I-S-E as a tool to study the Paelo-Indian concentric rings. Her husband Chris (Comewithclouds) discovered the Paleo-Indian site in 2010 while looking for a spot on their land to build a Native American medicine wheel. Last use of the Paleo-Indian rings dates to 10,740 years ago based on recent anthropology luminescence dating of an excavated artifact.
     “My goal with this Paleo-preservation class is to help build comprehension of the process of exploration and to gain an understanding and appreciation of Paleo-Indian culture and see how ancient people lived in balance with nature thousands of years ago, without cell phones and television,” René said.

P-R-A-I-S-E
“I used the letters in PRAISE to help explain the ideas of Purpose, Research, Analysis, Implement, Strategize and Evaluate in a physical, spiritual and FUN art experience outdoors,” said René who is the Native American Church of Virginia president.

P - Purpose
The class began as Chris, CEO of the Native American Church of Virginia, led the group in prayer. Sitting on red, white and blue blankets René explained the class “Purpose:” to create “Art in Nature” to leave outside for Creator God and to PRAISE & worship together.

R - Research
After a quick “go song” on the flute by René, the group began their “Research” to find natural materials to create their PRAISE art in nature piece.
     Using baskets, bowls and scissors they collected arm loads of fern, cut beautiful flowers and fragrant plants, and gathered unusual rocks as they hiked a small portion of the Blue Ridge Mountain eating raspberries along the way.

A - Analysis
The “Analysis” activity took place around a blue tarp near the sacred Paleo-Indian site and along the Spout Run creek, where students laid down their pickings and separated all the mixed up textures and colors into separate piles. One student even carried in a huge branch downed by last night’s storm.  

I - Implement
The objective was to “Implement” the art project by spreading out all the items into concentric rings, similar to what the Paleo-Indian’s left behind. René established the midpoint of the rings by placing a thin slice of black walnut shell in the center of a dried walnut trim gourd with a streamer going out in the direction of the water flowing down the creek towards the Shenandoah River.
     The students placed everything from a pile of carrots and corn to feathers and ferns into the spiral of rings. As they took turns, René reminded them that the “I” in implement also stands for good “Intent.”

S- Strategize
To “Strategize” the children advised each other on how to lay their items, determined which items to place in the gourd bowl and agreed to keep the red carpets (that Chris laid) open to the East and the rising sun.

Sitting on red, white and blue blankets René explained the class “Purpose:”
to create “Art in Nature”
to leave outside for Creator God
and to PRAISE & worship together.
     “I was glad to be part of bringing the church kids to the Paleo site,” said Bluemont resident Susan Freis Falknor.  “The Whites have made such an exciting discovery and it’s great that these local children are among the first to know about it.”
     “What sticks out in my mind about the art class was that the children were able to slow down and closely observe natural forms, like ferns, sticks, stones, dried ears of corn. Under the soft green light of the wooded mountainside, the colors of the everyday objects that they arranged on the tarp in concentric rings seemed to glow.”
     After a group photo showing the completed work, children explored in the creek and gathered lunch:  a watermelon and cantaloupe cooling in the creek. They relaxed a few minutes on a bridge eating and just enjoying nature and their new friendships before the class finished.
     “In addition to saying thanks and acknowledging elements of creation, by creating Art in Nature and leaving it here, I think this exercise teaches the principles of humility, giving of self, and non-attachment,” said Chris.
    
E - Evaluation
During the “Evaluation” phase, they climbed to a nearby ridge looking back down at their work of PRAISE. Then each participant spoke about their discoveries to the rest of the group in a brief report. Several were shy, but still took their turn to speak before the group.
     “Speaking in front of each other allows them to feel how good it is to get up and acknowledge the experience of letting a creative project bring them together,” said René. “And I think it gives them courage to want to say more next time.”
     Special thanks to Claudia DeLancey of Winchester VA for volunteering to be the official photographer for the event.
     _________________________________

     The Native American Church of Virginia is a 501(c)3 compliant non-profit located at a Sanctuary on the Trail™ near Bluemont, Virginia, and raises money to help preserve, protect and restore a Paleo-Indian site the family found on the property in Northern Virginia.
     Their mission work includes helping reduce suffering in the world, helping wounded warriors and elders by helping leaders first.
     For more about the Native American Church of Virginia, the sacred Paleo-Indian ceremonial site or Art in Nature™ find out more online at these locations:
  • Web Site
  • Church Facebook
  • Sanctuary on the Trail Facebook
  • Art in Nature Facebook  

Related Articles:
- Indigenous People of Virginia
- Meet Virginia Tribes

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Native American Flute, "Calling the Rain"

6/18/2014

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BLUEMONT, VA

"Calling the Rain"
    This music video, in the rain, is not what we had in mind when we set out to play Native American Flute during a mass release of butterflies. But sometimes, Great Spirit leads us to create what we create.

An Authentic First in a Historical Place

     Military veteran and musician Alan Stanz, now stands where another people stood 10,470 years ago. Experts have authenticated Paleo-Indians were here. They held ceremony in these symbolic concentric circles of stones. There is intelligence here. We found it. (Link)

A Spontaneous New Song

     Alan is spontaneously playing a new song. His first recording. Not from a song sheet, but from his heart. 
     Did Paleo-Indians play songs here too, within these circles? Was it eagle bone flute? Church bells? Trumpet taps? What did they pray for? How many heard it? Did they call for rain? Did they release butterflies? We have lots of questions.

Authentic and Real

     This video is as authentic and real as the place Alan stands now; a place where others stood more than 10,000 years ago.
     This is a "one-shot" music video recorded on this spot. One take. One camera. One microphone. Authentic. Real.

Giving Thanks

     We give thanks in all things. For this opportunity. For this song. For this knowledge. For this place. For the rain.

    Let us know what you think

    We keep your contact information confidential and do not share it with anyone.
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"Authentic & real as the place Alan stands now; a place where others stood more than 10,000 years ago."
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The butterflies, sponsored by different people for the music video, did not make into the video, because of another transformation that took place. Click on the butterfly photo to read about what happened.



























Story by
CEO & President Native American Church of VA Confrere Chris (Comeswithclouds) White and his wife René White (Feather).
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Stone Circles Found on Virginia Property

5/10/2014

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Washington Post via AP

BLUEMONT, Va. — Concentric stone circles near rocks weighing more than a ton — apparently aligned to mark solar events — are believed to be part of a Paleo-Indian site in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Clarke County that an expert has dated to about 10,000 B.C. (Full Story here.)

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Original story by: The Winchester Star, http://www.winchesterstar.com
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Original May 7, 2014 article by Val VanMeter Winchester Star @ www.winchesterstar.com


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Thank you Bluemont United Methodist Church

5/4/2014

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Native American Ministries Sunday
By René White (Feather), Lumbee Tribe

B
LUEMONT, VA – Today is a special Sunday for Native Americans in the United States. We know, because of a beautiful church service held in the tiny village of Bluemont, Virginia.
     Call it “providence” that our neighbor Susan Freis Falknor invited us to this little stone Bluemont United Methodist Church (built in 1851) located on top of the Blue Ridge Mountain along Snickersville Pike.
     Being of Native American decent and custodians of a Paleo-Indian site just miles away, we were asked to simply make a few brief remarks about our May 7 presentation at the Bluemont Community Center. But what we did not know is, today is Native American appreciation day, for United Methodist Churches nationwide.
      On the third Sunday after Easter, Methodist churches across the nation celebrate Native American Indian contributions to churches and society.
     Today, with a couple of dozen people in attendance, (acting) Pastor Janice Coon greeted us wearing Native American-style dream catcher earrings. During the welcome, she and others recalled a myriad of Native Americans contributions that have made this great nation great.
     The first hymnal by the Resurrection Choir was, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.” 
     Above the choir was a holy cross with a circle around its center. For us, this not only denotes the cross of Jesus Christ but also encompasses the four directions from Native American culture.
     During our introduction, we had an opportunity to speak to the small group of children in attendance. I shared the song,“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.” I asked them if they could remember the colors in the song.
     “Yes,” they sang out, along with most of the adults.
     Everyone must know, “Jesus loves all the little children, red, yellow, black and white” – the human race. We were also blessed to share that these four colors embody the four colors of the Native American medicine wheel.
     The Bluemont United Methodist Church program had this verse on its cover, from the Bible book of Matthew 22:27-29, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart … soul … and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
     What the Bluemont United Methodist Church did was recognize a people whom Jesus loves too -- Native Americans.
     We learned that our Bluemont community has been holding church services in this beautiful two-story stone building for more than 160 years.
     What we witnessed today reminds us, that as pretty as the building is, it is still just a building. The people are what make a church, a church.

      Thank you for showing love to your neighbor as yourself. We admired the devotion of your church’s people, beauty of your building and how much we are all similar to each other.
     Susan, you are truly our “Friend of Bluemont."


      Methodist churches approved this day in 1988 to observe Native American contributions. Many United Methodist Church’s use this day to partner with existing Native ministries and create programs on behalf of Native Americans. A collection supports seminary scholarships for United Methodist Native Americans.

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Bluemont United Methodist Church (built in 1851)
Surely the presence of the Lord
Lyrics are by Janice Cowan

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
I can feel God's mighty power and God's grace.
I can hear the brush of angel's wings,
I see glory on each face.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

In the midst of His children
The Lord said He would be.
It doesn't take very many
It can be just two or three.
And I feel that same sweet spirit
That I felt oft times before.
Surely I can say
I've been with My Lord

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

I can feel God's mighty power and God's grace.
I can hear the brush of angel's wings,
I see glory on each face.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

There's a holy hush around us,
As God's glory fills this place.
I've touched the hem of God's garment,
I can almost see God's face.
And my heart is over flowing
With the fullness of God's joy.
And I know, without a doubt,
That I've been with the Lord.

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
I can feel God's mighty power and God's grace.
I can hear the brush of angel's wings,
I see glory on each face.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place

Ringtone
Click here to send
"Surely the Presence of the Lord"
ringtone to your cellphone.
Words and Music by Lanny Wolfe.
“For where two or three are gathered together
in My name, I am there in the midst of them,"
 
-- Matthew 18:20.
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Rock circles linked to ancient Indian Site

11/10/2011

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By Val Van Meter
Winchester Star
(Distributed by Associated Press
Re-Printed by Native Times)


BLUEMONT, Va. (AP) – Rock circles on a spit of mountain land along Spout Run may be the oldest above-ground Paleoindian site in North America, according to Alexandria archaeologist Jack Hranicky.

He will deliver an address about the site – which he dates to 10,000 B.C. – to the Society for American Archaeology next April in Memphis, Tenn.

The site could put Clarke County “on the Paleo map,” Hranicky said.

The set of concentric circles drew the attention of landowners Chris and Rene White as they were planning to create a medicine wheel on their 20 acres south of Va. 7 on Blue Ridge Mountain.

After talks with his spiritual elder in Utah, Chris, a descendant of the Cherokee people, and his wife, from the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, decided to open their property to spiritual leaders of Native American peoples who have business in the Washington area.

The area including the rock circles was the location that drew Chris White in.

When he was building his house, White said, he would often walk by the creek to take a break.

There, “a still, small voice said, `This land is important.' I didn't know what it meant, but I took it to heart,” he said.

As White prepared to put his medicine wheel on the site, he realized that a circle of stones was there – actually, several concentric circles.

“From my experience as a contractor, I knew that was not natural,” he said. “I realized something was already here.”

Someone suggested that White contact Hranicky, who had studied five other Paleoindian sites in Virginia.

He said he saw the pattern in the rocks as soon as he arrived at the site, noting three concentric circles at the western edge, which he believes was a ceremonial area. The inner circle could outline a bonfire space, he said, while the outer ring may have been an area for participants in the ritual to sit or stand.

To the east, touching this area, is another circle that Hranicky calls the observatory.

Here, rocks on the edge of the circle align with features on Blue Ridge Mountain to the east.

From a center rock, over a boundary rock, a line would intersect the feature called Bears Den Rocks on the mountain. Standing on that center rock, looking toward Bears Den, a viewer can see the sun rise on the day of the summer solstice, Hranicky said.

To prove that point, White and his wife took pictures of the sunrise last June 21, he said.

To the right of this rock around the circle, another lines up to Eagle Rock on the Blue Ridge, and with sunrise at the fall equinox (around Sept. 22-23), he said.

Yet a third points to a saddle on the mountain where the sun makes its appearance at the winter solstice (around Dec. 21-22).

“These are true solar positions,” he said.

A dozen feet east of the summer solstice rock is a mound of boulders, piled up, which Hranicky designates as “the altar.”

Hranicky, 69, a registered professional archaeologist who taught anthropology at Northern Virginia community College and St. Johns High School College, has been working in the field of archaeology, for 40 years.

“I had to wait 70 years to find a site like this,” he said.

Dating the site took some digging.

Hranicky was convinced that it was a Paleoindian site, based on the configuration of the concentric circles, the solstice alignment and the altar he has seen at other such sites. But he wanted an artifact.

He picked a five-foot-square area to dig, carefully numbering every rock and setting it aside, to be replaced later.

The reason for that, Hranicky said, is that in the future better methods may be available for dating sites, and he wanted to disturb as little as possible.
His test pit turned up three artifacts. One was a thin blade of quartzite. The second was a small piece of jasper, a type of quartz rock and an important find, Hranicky said.

Jasper was prized by Paleoindians for making tools. It was hard and durable, but could still be worked by Stone Age methods. They traveled miles to find sites where jasper nodules protruded from native rock, and quarried the stone to make projectile points and tools.

The third artifact was the most important. It was a tiny piece of jasper, no bigger than the end of a thumb, but this rock had been worked, Hranicky said. It was a tool, a mini-scraper.

“You don't know how thrilled I was when we found that little bitty tool,” he said.

Jasper on the site ties what Hranicky believes was a ceremonial and heavenly observation site to another proven Paleoindian site just to the south of Clarke County in Warren County – the Thunderbird site.

William Gardiner of Catholic University excavated that site for several years. Indians camped on the east bank of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and quarried jasper for tool making from bluffs on the west bank.

The Thunderbird site is dated to 10,000 B.C.

Hranicky's theory postulates that Paleoindians, searching for jasper for tool-making, followed the Shenandoah River from the Atlantic coastal areas some 12,000 years ago.

This coincides with the Younger Dryas period, when the climate turned abruptly colder and drier.

Jasper, Hranicky said, can't be “knapped” as easily in cold weather, so it would make sense for Indians traveling to find the stone to do so in the summer months.

An Indian “priest” would find it an advantage to know when summer offered the best work climate, marked by the summer solstice, and when the season was drawing to a close and cold weather was on the way (the fall equinox).

A leader who noticed how points on the mountain marked these calendar moments and could predict, with a rock “clock,” these dates, would be a “genius” to his tribe, Hranicky said.

Such times would be natural days for social celebrations of some type, he added. “They visited this place for a reason, like going to church.”

The visitors would have lived on the west bank of the river, a mile away, where it would be easier to find food, he suggested.

White noted that, to Native Americans, stones are considered “grandfathers.”

“If you see all these grandfathers, that makes it a place of wisdom.”

Water, he added, is a symbol of life. Spout Run, which ends in a sizeable waterfall at the Shenandoah River, would be both eye-catching and significant, while things that emerge from the underground, such as the springs that feed Spout Run, are a sign of rebirth.

All these characteristics could make the spot of the concentric circles significant to native people, White said.

Hranicky is applying to have the Whites' stone circles added to Virginia's list of archaeological sites.

“It will be recorded,” said state archaeologist Mike Barber.

Barber said several ceremonial observatories across North America are attributed to Paleoindians.

“Jack has recorded several of these types,” he said. “The real problem is proving what these things are. We haven't arrived at that level yet.”

Barber said he has received a preliminary report on the site from Hranicky, and is trying to schedule a time to visit it.

Is the Clarke County site an ancient solar observatory for early Americans?

Barber is cautious.

“I'm not to the point where I can say that this is one of them.”



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Archaeologist Claims 12,000-Year Old Solstice Site in Clarke County

10/23/2011

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By Edward Leonard
Clarke Daily News

Bear’s Den Rock has captured the attention of travelers in the northern Shenandoah Valley since colonial times and for thousands of years before by the indigenous people who hunted and fished in the region. Now, a local archaeologist believes that the prominent outcrop just south of Virginia’s Route 7 in Clarke County is a part of a larger 12,000 year old celestial calendar used by Native Americans to mark the changing of the seasons.

 “Although archaeological sites have been discovered across the United States, there’s nothing like this above ground or this old in North America,” says Dr. Jack Hranicky about the site located just off Ebenezer Road. Hranicky, also known as “Dr. Jack” to friends and associates, is a Virginia Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) credited with authoring 32 books on North America’s prehistory and discoverer of over a half-a-dozen other Native American solstice sites.

“This preserved site has numerous properties that prove its use 12,000 years ago by Paleo-Indians and classifies it as a major ceremonial and calendar site on the Shenandoah River,” said Dr. Jack “I classify it as an ‘Horizon Observation Station’ which produced a Paleo-calendar for early Americans.”

The story behind the presumed celestial calendar’s recent discovery is, in many ways, as intriguing as its ancient origins.

According to Dr. Jack, 12,000 years ago Paleo-Indians traveled throughout the area known today as the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont Plateau. Although the Piedmont area provided the early Americans with a nearly unlimited food supply, the first Americans still ventured north and west along the Shenandoah River into areas that include modern-day Clarke County.

 “As the Paelo-Indians moved north along the river, Bear’s Den Rocks would have been a very prominent landmark for them,” says Dr. Jack. “They also would have been able to clearly see the site where we are standing right now.”

Dr. Jack is standing in the middle of several large, concentric stone rings – each ring inside a larger ring. The rings were discovered by Clarke County resident Chris White on property he purchased in 2000 located about two miles southwest of Bear’s Den on a lower bench of the Blue Ridge.

Not long after purchasing the property White began building a house on a beautiful rise overlooking his 20-acre parcel.

Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, are constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground, often following the basic pattern of a stone center surrounded by an outer ring of stones with “spokes,”or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Originally, and still today, medicine wheels are constructed by certain indigenous peoples of North America for various reasons including astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes.

As White began clearing fallen trees and brush from his hoped-for medicine wheel site, something extraordinary began to unfold. As White removed debris, pre-existing circles of concentric rocks began to be revealed.  As White continued to work, he soon noticed another circular rock pattern next to the first circle.

At first White didn’t know what to think. Could it be that the stone rings might be nothing more than a natural anomaly created by some long forgotten rock slide or other random event? But certain features of the stone rings piqued White’s curiosity. For instance, why did it appear that larger stones were positioned at cardinal points within the ring? And why were there two rings positioned adjacent to each other?

White, who himself is of Native American heritage stemming from the Cherokee Nation, decided that a professional archaeologist might be able to give him a better idea of whether the rings had been formed  naturally or were man-made.

White then got in touch with Dr. Jack.

Like any scientist, Hranicky was skeptical at first, but was none-the-less intrigued by White’s find. After some preliminary investigation Dr. Jack decided that the site deserved additional archaeological investigation. With the assistance of Chris and Rene’ White, Hranicky conducted the first scientific excavation uncovering a small five by five foot area at the Spout Run Site that so far has produced jasper tools and other supporting artifacts dating back approximately 12,000 years before present.

“Finding jasper tools here is very important,” Hranicky said. “Jasper does not occur naturally in this area so its presence on this site is very important in establishing that Paleo-indians were once here.”
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Chris and Rene' White with jasper found on their property - photo Edward Leonard.
While the small pieces of jasper may be important from a science detective’s point of view, the more extraordinary feature from a layman’s perspective is that the ancient solstice calendar appears to still accurately mark the changing of the seasons today just as it must have done more than twelve millenia ago.

According to White and Hranicky, a person standing in the center of the stone rings is able to focus their line-of-sight with one of several large stone markers placed at precise positions in the ring’s outer-most perimeter.  The stone perimeter points can then be aligned with prominent landmarks further from the circle – for example Bear’s Den Rocks nearly two miles away.

Based on the stone alignments, Hranicky says, a viewer standing in the middle of the circle will observe the Sun rise directly over Bear’s Den Rocks on the Summer Solstice – the Sun’s furthest apparent northern position.

Harnicky claims that a similar Winter Solstice alignment coincides between a stone pillar in the circle and another prominent geologic feature high above on the ridge. Not far from the stone ring is a pile of stones that Hranicky believes may have once served as an altar based on its alignment with other features of the site.

Although on a recent Autumn day Bear’s Den rocks are obscured by the thick leaves and trees, Dr. Jack says that when the stone ring and altar were built some 12,000 years ago there were no trees on the mountain thus giving the Paleo-indians a clear line of sight from the center of the circle to the stone altar and continuing further up the mountain to Bear’s Den Rocks.

According to Dr. Jack, the stone calendar site was probably built not only as a place to hold ceremonies and observe solar positions, but also as a location for jasper tool-making. However, the primary value to the ancient tribes surely would have been in its importance to their survival in predicting the changing seasons.

“The site investigation included mapping and exploring resources around the site and confirms that Paleo-indian priests carried out ceremonies here using the angle of the sun, concentric rings and a stone altar that stands about five-feet tall,” Hranicky said. Hranicky is in the process of registering the site as a state-recognized prehistoric site with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and as a National Historic Landmark with the U.S. Department of Interior.

Hranicky and the Whites have coined the name “Spout Run” for the prehistoric site after Spout Run stream that winds through the property before making its way further down the mountain and into the Shenandoah River.

Hranicky who believes that Clarke County’s Spout Run Site is the oldest above-ground Paleo-indian ceremonial site in North America, will be presenting his research on October 22 during the Annual Meeting of the West Virginia Archaeological Society in Charleston, West Virginia.

“This prehistoric site located in Northern Virginia is of unique national significance and offers a glimpse into a highly developed culture living in Virginia over 12,000 years ago,” Hranicky said. “The site has above-ground concentric rings, jasper tools, Summer/Fall focus and calendar using the summer solstice as a start for the year.

Jasper is a cryptocrystalline stone in geology known to be a preferred mineral to fashion tools by Paleo-indians during the Younger Dryers period, which occurred after the Earth returned very quickly into near glacial conditions of cold, dry and windy. Dating also corresponds to the length of time that the Paleo-indians mined for jasper at the Thunderbird (Flint Run) Paleo-indian Complex in Warren County” Hranicky remarked.

Thunderbird is a jasper quarry excavated in 1974 by Catholic University’s late William Gardner. Gardner was among the first to uncover evidence that Paleo-indians used the Shenandoah River to reach jasper quarries there.

“Our goal is to seek donations and funds to help preserve the site for future generations,” said Spout Run owner Chris White. “Anyone interested in helping preserve this sacred site can contact White at the Native American Church of Virginia at [email protected]”.

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