All over the Columbia Basin the remains of another time and culture abound. They go un-noticed by any and all. Virtually "invisible" they are. Just rocks, the notion is that maybe early settlers built them for some reason or another. Yet no evidence exists that even remotely supports such a thought. The so called "stone houses" are part of a larger picture of events. There are also vast networks of stone walls as well. Gigantic stones were used in these walls which run up and over mountains, across plains and through rivers and creeks. It staggers the sense to see these things. Yet none of this very obvious, very difficult, very elaborate stone work has drawn any attention from the archaeology community! It is simply blown off, dismissed as this or that, but never really looked at closely. If you consider the difficulty of doing this in times past or today you immediately start to grasp the very "Impossible" aspect of doing this even with modern machines and knowledge. So how did the people who created these things manage to accomplish this stuff?
So how old are these stone structures? Well, all of them are above the 900 foot mark. They went through the glacial floods intact. Those floods were about 12,500 years ago. There were several - not just one. Numerous stories exist of this time period. Each are historically accurate as the evidence found supports what the tribes say, NOT what the scientists say.
Notice the woman in the video (link above) mentions Triceratops? And how about this recent development here - where soft tissue found in a dinosaur bone sort of goes along with what the natives say. That dino's roamed around until just a few thousand years ago. 5 or 10 thousand years is quite old yes, but it is a different story from 60 million years ago!
THE STORY
In certain oral traditions the story can take you way back, like a time machine. This is like that. In our research we actually did find the cairns or small rock houses. Some were uniform and others took advantage of the surrounding terrain. A few are still standing, many have collapsed and have fallen into indistinguishable masses of rock and grass. But a trained eye can spot them. They range from Rattlesnake mountain and into the John Day country of Oregon. They are on both sides of the great river Columbia, some are made in star shape with five points - appearing like a small stone fort. Some can be seen from space via the satellite images. Of course there are many people who say that these structures are "hunting blinds" or that they are for religious purposes. Such ideas are simply bullshit to anyone who has seen one of these stone houses. Yes, there are still vision quest sites that are found, yes there are still religious (sacred) sites that can be found. They are different from what we are speaking about here. So then, what are they, what were they? - For this much extensive & labor intensive work to occur there must have been a good reason. The stone huts had a simple reason for there existence.
When the scientists took notice of these stone huts it was on the Hanford Nuclear reservation outside Richland, washington. When the government stole the land from the farmers, settlers and Indians to build the atomic bomb they took away much of the sacred lands of the Indians permanently. The Wanapum, the Umatilla, The Klickitat, the Yakima and other tribes suffered the loss of these places with great protest, but the land was taken away anyhow. So, when the shuwapo scientists asked the Indian tribal elders what the stone huts were for the Indians decided to have a little fun with them.
The Chiefs said that the small stone structures were crude pizza ovens that had been built by early Italian immigrants coming west. The Chiefs concocted an entire yarn about their forefathers watching in great interest as the first pizzas of the west were made and consumed. Of course this was all just a big lie to appease the scientists and make a little fun too. It actually was recorded in the official government reports as "pizza ovens". The scientist's bought the story hook, line & sinker. Ha Ha Ha - big joke! Since I was taught the oral tradition long ago and knew the real answer to what these structures were for I asked "why did you purposely mislead the scientist's"? The answer given back was thus: "We lied because they would have never believed us if we had told the truth. Our history does not match the white version of history. Our true answer would have been discarded and would have made us out to be fools in the eye's of the white government men. So we gave them an answer they could live with and we had a little fun in the process." Now I will share with you readers the truth.
The stone huts and cairns were from a time long, long ago. When the earth was changing and the animals with no fur still roamed the plains and woodlands. According to oral teachings about the ancient past the great dinosaurs did in fact co-exist with man. Some of the great creatures were hunted by man, and some of the creatures hunted men. They were fearsome and fast, they hunted in packs (herds) - most of the herds were nomadic. They moved as the seasons changed. So sometimes the plateau was brimming with animals and at other times there were few to be found. The same is true for many modern animals today. Elk, bear, moose, cougar and wolf all are nomadic. Legend tells us that so were the great lizards.
In particular was a dinosaur very much like a velociraptor that was a seasonal dweller in these parts. It ate people and anything else that got in the way. They hunted in groups. They could be repelled by large groups of men. But if they caught a man or just a few men out in the open it was death for the men. This was life in those ancient times. These dinosaurs were a great, great menace when they came about. So over the millenia of existence the tribes built the grids of stone huts - they dotted the landscape and could be used by a man or two to get inside and hide. The creatures would tear up nearly anything else that mankind used to conceal or protect themselves in. Stone was something they just did not mess with.
A man could travel from one stone hut to the next in any direction until they were safe from the carnivorous herds. "Safe houses" of sorts by any other term. Before you poo-poo this, you might wish to go there and see for your self. On paper this stuff seems a bit out there. I fully understand. But once you see this stuff for your self it is quickly apparent that this could indeed be a means of travel, communication and safety. Many ancient geoglyphs are found near these stone huts. We consider them to be primitive road signs - markers, directionals and information. Again, geogylphs tend to go by most peoples attention. Only the most artful and attention getting geoglyphs catch the eye of modern man.
True or Not, there's your "curious tale" of the week kids! If it made you smile, laugh, scowl or just curious, then good.
The bump was bountiful and beings blessed, a sublime thought, a quiet rest .......
