By Before It's News

That slight crispness to the air that signifies the change in seasons is now being backed up by the sun. Today is the second time of year that the sun rises due east and sets due west, traversing the sky directly over the equator. The axis of Mother Earth is straight rather than tilted in relation to the sun’s rays. In other words, it’s fall.

Night and day are almost the same length on this day, though not quite, as Space.com explains.

The autumnal equinox, as it’s officially named, signifies, for the most part, the end of those long, lazy, hot summer days. With this year being one of the hottest summers on record in the United States, it may be a relief to see these sweltering days pass.

This day also signifies the beginning of the harvest season, when gourds, apples and other ripe nuggets that have been nourished by Mother Earth’s soil all summer are ready to eat. That does not hold for those places south of the equator, of course. For them it’s the first day of spring.

Spout Run Site owner Chris White stands on two petroglyphs that he and local archeologist Jack Hanricky discovered on September 19, 2012. The equinox sun forms a halo over his head. (Photo: René White via Clarke Daily News)

Because of the important nature of today’s change in season, sacred sites abound built by American Indians, Canadian Aboriginals and Indigenous Peoples worldwide. A recent discovery of just such a site has been unearthed in Virginia, the 12,000-year-old Spout Run Paleoindian site in Clarke County.

The site features three concentric rings that align with the equinox sun, according to landowner Chris White. But recently he and local archeologist Jack Hranicky made another equinox-related discovery: a triangular rock formation topped by two footprint-shaped petroglyphs that appear to align with the sunrise, the Clark Daily News reported.

“When stood on, during the equinox, the sun causes a halo effect over the person standing on the prints,” Hranicky told the Clark Daily News. “This is a new major feature.”

He said its 105-degree alignment with the autumnal equinox sun as it crosses the Blue Ridge Mountains make the 12,000-year-old site’s original inhabitants “Virginia’s first engineers,” the newspaper said.

White made his discovery in 2009 after purchasing the land and starting to build on it, he told the Clark Daily News.

The ancients used the sky and the seasons’ changes as both clock and calendar, EarthSky.org points out. This year’s fall equinox comes with a bonus: It’s also the month’s first quarter-moon, EarthSky.org says. Celebrate both, and let the season begin!

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The University of Washington State has agreed to use the Thermoluminescence (TL) method to help date heat-treated jasper found during the 2011 excavation. The TL technique has a range of 1,000 to 500,000 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey web site. The team is also in the process of registering the Spout Run 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.

White said he is continuing plans to preserve the site for future generations and welcomes partners who wish to do the same. The team has been studying the PaleoIndian site for three years now.

Autumnal Equinox

On Sept. 22, during the Autumnal Equinox, the sun will be perpendicular (directly above) the equator. Viewers along the east coast will see the sun rise at a 90 degree in direct line-of-site to the east. In comparison, the site does not have direct line-of-site to the east coast because of the mountain so the sun has to rise higher and at an approximate 105 degree angle as it makes its way over the mountain to be seen at the Paleo-site here.

The Equinox is a precise moment in time which is common to all observers on Earth. Twice a year, in September and March, day and night become equal. There are only two Equinoxes only two days during the year, in September and March. The length of the day and night are approximately 12 hours a part, giving 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness at all points on the earth’s surface. The word Equinox comes from the Latin language “equi” meaning “equal” and “nox” meaning “night,” thus “equal nights.”

Most people recognize the September Equinox as the beginning of fall or autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Others believe the Fall Equinox marks the mid-point between Autumn (which begins in August and ends in October). Seasons are opposite on either side of the equator during the Equinox. Many cultures and religions celebrate holidays or observe festivals around the September Equinox.

The triangular lead stone with foot-type markings outlined in chalk.

The Fall Equinox day of transition shows up on Mayan, Judaism, Buddhist, Druid, ancient Irish, Native American Indian calendars and more. René White (White Feather) is a resident of Clarke County, Bluemont, Virginia and owns the property described above.

By René White (White Feather) is a resident of Clarke County, Virginia and owns the property described in this story

By Chris and René White
Clarke Daily News

The purpose of this letter is not to advocate for or against the preservation of the Cool Spring Battlefield.

Although, it is admirable and significant to dedicate parks, erect monuments to recognize our ancestors and preserve such treasures for future understanding; the Battle of Cool Spring was an important battle in American Civil War (fought July 17–18, 1864) and an important part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864.

But rather, we write to you as a possibility to initiate a conversation on preservation of an older Clarke County Virginia land-legacy – that of Native Americans.

There has been much debate about the cost versus value of preserving the history of a Civil War battle that took place on both sides of the river in 1864. While the Civil War is an important part of American history, the Virginia National Golf Course may hold another much older record of our national past. Native American artifacts dating back over 10,000 years have already been recovered from the Holy Cross Abbey directly across the river from the golf course.

We have a hint of artifacts at the Holy Cross Abbey. What possibly could lie unearthed directly across the river at the golf course; being that it has the natural advantage of flat vistas on each side of the river?

There are private collectors who have unearthed many artifacts in this county. Our Archaeologist reports that our Spout Run PaleoIndian site (Virginia Department of Historic Resources site # 44CK151) is the oldest, extant, above-ground site on the North American continent, dating approximately 12,000 years old. We started with rock rings, now we have a 2-mile complex with 15 above-ground features including two sets of right-hand prints and more.

Additionally, pre-historic PaleoIndian collections from the Warren County Thunderbird site are on display at our National Smithsonian Museum. How exciting this could be for Clarke County?

What a county! What a state! What a national and humanity treasure!

Let us not look at our history through the eyes of guilt for the mistakes and shortcomings that may have been made. Instead, let us view our history for the possibilities of the future we can create.

Clarke County land and legacy is richly dotted with a far more extensive history than the Civil War battle, mortar shells and metal buckles. Clarke County holds rich remains of a native people who lived here continually for thousands of years.

The land is important, the people too. By limiting land preservation efforts to 1864, are we compressing the legacy of our land to 150 years?

Our history books seem to encourage that. They seldom refer to the sophisticated Native American agricultural techniques practiced in Virginia before this state was named. Nor to the managed landscapes and river fish-weirs, where Native American hunting and fishing alternated with community and croplands arranged along waterways. History books seldom note that Native nutrition here was far superior to what was available in Europe before the colonial era. Nor that Native knowledge of astronomy informed farming calendars as well as navigation. Nor highlight Native American’s extensive societal contribution of adding natural plant medicines to the U.S. and modern-world pharmacopoeia. Nor is highlighted their relationship with Creator and life lived in harmony with creation.

Why do we avoid talking about Native peoples’ complex religious and social systems? Or how they created vast trade networks that extended thousands of miles, including up and down the Shenandoah River? Just 15-minutes outside our county border and on the Shenandoah River is one of the best-known PaleoIndian sites on the North America continent – the Thunderbird Flint-Run PaleoIndian jasper quarry.

The historical significance of our natural and cultural resources go back much further than a few hundred years. The people who lived here, the life they lived in Clarke County, was sustainable. What an intriguing culture.

Look no further than across the river from Cool Spring Battlefield to the Cool Spring House at the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Va. On display is a chronological collection of Native tools found in Clarke County dating from 9,500 years B.C. old and leading up to a few hundred years ago. These archeological finds are safely enclosed in a glass case, thanks to the late Trappist Brother James Sommers, a lay archaeologist who unearthed the treasures from the abbey’s pastures and river banks.

Look still, to the Clarke County Historical Association Museum and Archives in Berryville where a replica of the “Great Law of Peace” wampum belt is on exhibit. It serves as a reminder of Native contributions to Virginia and our nation. How different would our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights be if someone had not preserved that?

Given to the Iroquois by the “Great Peacemaker” (Creator), the “Great Law of Peace” formed the Iroquois Confederacy. between 1,000 and 1,450 AD; 326 to 776 years before the framing of the

U.S Constitution. Many Native tribes used it for peace agreements before this country was named “The United States of America.”

In fact, 40 years before the framing of the U.S. Constitution, our nation’s founding father’s (Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams) began drawing much inspiration from articles of the “Great Law of Peace” and the Iroquois Elders. Before the final draft of the Constitution was accepted, history records that the Iroquois Elders counseled the signers and drafters of the Constitution and Bill of Rights on many occasions.

History says, our founding fathers were “bewildered” at how the power of the government comes up from the people, rather than down from a ruler (thus “We the People”). It was a “foreign concept” that individual people had rights, “God given rights.” That is to say, “all people.”

If our leaders understood the depth of these words, “We the People” there would be have been no need for the women’s rights movement of the 1920’s nor civil rights movement of the 1960’s. These are God given rights “given” to “all people.” Do we understand it yet?

We know of this Constitutional contribution because community took the time to preserve the wampum belts. Native ancestors recorded the “Great Law of Peace” through oral tradition and into symbols and pictographs of wampum belts.

Right now, someone reading this may be unaware that a picture of a wampum belt in his/her pocket/wallet. It is printed on the reverse side of the 2010 U.S. one-dollar gold coins.

Remember in 2007, when the Susan B. Anthony coin was running out and Congress authorized a Sacagawea gold dollar? Since its production, the Native American series of coins reflects Native American contributions to agriculture” (2009 version) and the Great Law of Peace, the wampum belt and Native influence to “government” (2010 version).

Today, Native people are still living in Clarke County. Ask your neighbors and friends, and someone will say they can trace their roots to an existing tribe or are curious to whether they have Native ancestry.

Meanwhile, some Clarke County residents are unearthing remnants of this ancient culture. They collect and store their finds the best way they can. In rooms in their homes. In boxes. In closets. Collectively there is enough to support a large gallery.

In the military, we say a phrase for lost Americans, “We Will Never Forget.” Does this exclude Native Americans who lived here before us?

The importance of keeping the Native story alive in Clarke County enriches the history of our county. It allows residents and visitors alike to gain a deeper understanding of our past historical occurrences, both good and bad. We each have our own stories to tell, like trees with new foliage and thousands of years of root systems.

As our conversation continues and we discover a more fuller history, we can fill the silence of our Native American history to offer new perspectives on Clarke County’s past? Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?

“Who cares?” some may say.

Well someone’s children of tomorrow might! Is it being responsible to appreciate land for its collective past? Remembering a people for their contributions. Their sacrifices?

Will our unborn generations care what we leave for them? Or not leave? Could what we do now alter the historic character of our history? Of our present? Of our future? Of our land?

If we do not preserve our history, is it like destroying a book that cannot be re-written? Or hiding a story that cannot be retold?

And what a magnificent opportunity to tell a fuller story and not keep it buried. The lives that were here were sustainable. They lived. They thrived. Isn’t that marvelous?

There is much to be learned from a society that would sustain its society, culture, resources and life – without a need for our modern technology. There is much to learn from the land too. In preserving it. Even if we don’t care right now. Preserving it gives opportunities to future generations to learn from it.

Who knows …? It may be all of our elders and ancestors … yours … mine … theirs … whose courage created this opportunity. Our land. Our legacy. Now. We get to decide what we leave behind.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS.

CHRIS (Comeswithclouds) WHITE is an Elder and Roadman of Native American decent and founder of a Native American Church of Virginia. He also unearthed Clarke County history when he found the oldest, extant, above-ground site in North America literally in his own back yard, according to lead Archaeologist Jack Hranicky. Most recently Chris found petroglyphs or rock engravings on rocks within the Spout-Run complex. Hranicky confirmed the glyphs and has been briefing his findings to several archeological societies across the nation. The team started with rock rings, now they have a 2-mile complex with 15 above-ground features including two sets of right-hand prints. He is married to René White.

RENÉ WHITE (Feather) is a Native American woman and retired military veteran of 22 years serving in the U.S. Air Force. While on active duty, her military accounts covered 11 countries and included homeland defense, natural disasters, cyber, intelligence, media relations, internal information, community relations, recruiting and more. She is an artist, volunteers in the community and says she appreciates being “resourceful, grateful and humble.”

They are both residents of the historic and beautiful northern Shenandoah Valley.

By Edward Leonard
Clarke Daily News

  The site of a possible Paleo-Indian solstice site recently discovered in Clarke County, Virginia gained new interest among members and guests who attended the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia (NVCASV) during its monthly meeting in January. Lead archaeologist for the site, Jack Hranicky, announced new findings to including what Hranicky believes are stone art carvings located in rocks near the area of the initial discovery.

 “A new major feature is a shelter on the site that contains Indian rockart including A set of geometric ‘glyphs’ and two sets of right-hand prints,” Hranicky briefed the 32 NVCASV members at the Falls Church James Lee Community Center, who attended to hear his results of this three-year investigation into Northern Virginia’s archeology.

“Glyphs” or petroglyphs, are rock engravings created by removing part of a rock surface with carving, picking, incising or abrading. The human hand is one of the most common rockart elements found around the world. Petroglyphs are found worldwide, but few are found in Virginia. There are 17 known rockart sites in Virginia, all recorded by Hrankicy.

Hranicky has two other rockart sites containing concentric rings, altar and hand glyphs. Hranicky believes that the Clarke County Spout-Run complex pre-dates all of his previous discoveries.

Hranicky explained that the Spout-Run “petroglyphs” should not be confused with “pictographs” –  images drawn on rocks. “These petroglyphs were cut out of the stone” Harnicky said.

Hranicky says that further studies would be needed to reveal when, why and by whom the petroglyphs were created.

“We began with rock rings, now we have a 2-mile complex with 15 above-ground features including two sets of hand prints,” reported Hranicky. He went on to describe the early people who roamed the area approximately 12,000 years ago as “Virginia’s first Engineers.”

During his one-hour presentation Hranicky explained the Spout Run site’s defining characteristics including direct alignment with both solar solstices, alignment east-to-west with the seasonal equinoxes, the site’s lunar focus, stone concentric rings and fire hearth as well as the site’s major feature, a stone altar which also aligns with the summer solstice.

When Hranicky announced finding heat-treated jasper near the surface, excitement buzzed through the room. He also revealed finding a bolder set which appears to have stood more than 40-feet tall at one time.

Hranicky told the group that the Spout-Run site served Paleoindians in a number of ways, such as a calendar for the annual seasons and where social and spiritual ceremonies were conducted. Hranicky also said that the location also was used for flint-knapping activities as was the famous Thunderbird Paleosite in nearby Warren County, Virginia.

Spout-Run land owners Chris and René White attended Hranicky’s presentation and received recognition from NVCASV members for their contributions. When asked what he planned to do with the site Chirs White said, “Preserve it for future generations.”

At the conclusion of Hranicky’s presentation, NVCASV Chapter President John Kelsey opened the floor for questions and discussions. Topics ranged from concerns about assigning current cultural meanings to accurately explain paleo-culture; and how the degree of repatination on the rockart may also indicate relative dating.

Hranicky is scheduled to deliver his Spout-Run brief at the Mid-Atlantic Archeological Conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia on March 22-25 and then again for the Society for American Archeology’s 77th annual meeting in Memphis, Tennessee on April 20.

Hranicky plans to publish a final paper on the Spout-Run site before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Chris and René White, both Native American descendants, aim to return the site back to the way the Paleoindians left it. They and Hranicky are exploring appropriate ways to study the site, such as ground penetrating radar and advanced stone technology. The Whites are also studying the feasibility of establishing a sacred retreat that they have named “Sanctuary on the Trail”, a faith-based neighborhood and community outreach-initiative where spiritual leaders across denominations can meet to create possibilities for communities, churches and tribes on challenges and issues facing them.

Last year, White and Hranicky coined the name Spout-Run for the site after the creek that runs through it. Hranicky has since described the complex as the oldest, extent, above-ground site in North America.

Due to its location in some of the roughest terrain in Northern Virginia, Hranicky said, the Spout-Run site laid open on the ground just as the Paleoindians left it 12,000 years ago. Over the years, while trees have grown and been harvested across some of the site, there is no sign trees grew inside the concentric rings. The complex is remote, isolated and appears relatively undisturbed, other than by climate affects.

After discovering the site in 2009, landowner Chris White brought it to Hranicky’s attention in 2010. Hranicky immediately recognized it as a possible Paleoindian site and with a 5-foot x 5-foot excavation in 2011, Hranicky established the site a Paleoindian.

Later in  2011, Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources added the Spout-Run site to the state’s inventory of archaeological sites.

Hranicky, a resident of the Washington, D.C. area for 51 years, has been practicing archaeology for over 40 years in Virginia and is the director of the Virginia Rockart Survey. He has found, recorded, and published five prehistoric solstice sites in the Mid-Atlantic region and has published 32 books on Native American pre-history.

By Michael Dowling
Clarke Daily News

The Top Ten Most Read Articles of 2011
Ranking #1. Archaeologist Claims 12,000-Year-Old Solstice Site in Clarke County – 8,004 Views. The leading story of 2011 was the discovery of an ancient solstice site in the county. The Clarke Daily News broke the story and archeology sites around the world picked it up boosting readership from places like the UK, Australia, Germany, and France.

As 2011 winds to a close many people find themselves bidding it a welcomed good-bye. The challenging economy and a string of natural disasters including an earthquake, rank the year as an epic low spot for many American’s. However, as we at the Clarke Daily News look back, we see many good things and look expectantly towards what 2012 holds in store.

As we begin our third year publishing the news and events of Clarke County, we see a community that is seriously interested in the well being and welfare of its residents. Volunteer efforts are consistently in the

news and the county always takes a keen interest in the education and welfare of our youth. We see hopeful residents who persistently struggle to prosper and build a better community in a radically different region and economy that has become the “new normal.”

Yet, in spite of all of the challenges that steal people’s time and energy, they still nurture a desire to stay connected with their community. Time constraints and the ever increasing pressure of day to day life often prevent people from being involved in civic and community events. That’s why more and more residents are turning to the Clarke Daily News to stay connected and informed.  Last year 435 thousand visitors read over 1.3 million pages on our site.  That’s a big number for a little county.

So, as we close out the year and look back on the events of 2011 we thought we would share what our readers felt were the most interesting and important stories of the past year. The following list shows the top 10 articles that garnered the most page views. It provides an interesting perspective into not only what Clarke County residents are interested in, but what the outside world sees when they look into Clarke County.

Loudoun Daily Monitor

BLUEMONT, VA. – The Paleoindian site found just across the Loudoun border with Clarke County has received an official  site number (44CK151) from the Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources (DHR) adding it to the state’s inventory of archaeological sites.

In October at the Eastern States Archeological Federation’s annual meeting, archaeologist Jack Hranicky announced Virginia’s Spout Run Paleoindian Complex as the oldest above-ground Paleoindian ceremonial site in North America.

“For the DHR to give this prehistoric site a number is the procedure for recording sites which are added the state inventory,” Hranicky said. “This preserved site has numerous properties that prove its use by Paleoindians and classifies it as a major ceremonial/calendar site on the Shenandoah River.”

Initial site excavation and investigation offer a glimpse into a highly developed culture living in Virginia over 12,000 years ago. The site has above-ground concentric rings, ceremonial altar, 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 Paleoindians during the Younger Dryers period, which occurred after the Earth returned very quickly into near glacial conditions of cold, dry and windy.

Virginia is a national leader among the 50 states in registering historic sites and districts. For more information contact www.dhr.virginia.gov.

“Next we’ll be working with the DHR and U.S. Department of Interior to nominate it as National Historic Landmark,” Hranicky added.

Site owners Chris and René White, both Native American descendants, plan to establish a sacred retreat called the Sanctuary on the Trail, a faith-based neighborhood and community outreach-initiative where spiritual leaders across denominations can meet to create possibilities for communities, churches and tribes on challenges and issues facing them.

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.”

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.”

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]”.