Who Built America's Stonehenge?

There are five theories as to who built the American Stonehenge: Native American Theory, Celtic Theory, Pattee Theory, Cider Press Theory and the Stormwater Drain Theory. You may follow the links for greater elaboration on these theories. 

The Native American theory as proposed by author and researcher Mary Gage is as follows: America’s Stonehenge was built as a sacred ceremonial center by Native Americans over a 2500 year period in five cultural phases, each with its own distinct architecture. The archaeological and physical evidence at the site attests to the fact that the Native Americans possessed the technical skills to quarry the surfaced bedrock, shape the stones, move multi-ton slabs, and to construct stone structures using dry masonry techniques. The symbolism, architecture, complex stone structures, and carefully designed layout of the site speak of a culture which had developed a set of sophisticated cultural, religious, and spiritual traditions.

The case for the Native American origins of America’s Stonehenge is complex. It relies on multiple lines of evidence much of which is inter-related to each other. The evidence comes from traditional sources like archaeological excavations, cultural artifacts, C-14 dates, and petroglyphs (i.e. carved rock art). This evidence attests to a Native American presence on Mystery Hill from circa 7,000 years ago to as late as the early 1700’s. This evidence alone does not demonstrate that the Native Americans were the builders of the stone structures. Therefore one must turn to other lines of evidence like studying the architecture of the buildings, analyzing the repeated use of symbolism, evaluating the quarrying methods for the stone slabs, investigating the drain and basin features, and so forth. (These various lines of evidence are discussed throughout this website.) As these different layers of evidence are compiled together a compelling argument emerges in support of the Native Americansorigins of the site.

This is a pre-restoration photograph of the East-West Chamber. It appeared in William Goodwin’s bookThe Ruins of Great Ireland in New England (1946). The photograph is not dated but is probably from the 1930’s.

Celtic theory: This theory was originally proposed by William Goodwin who was the first person to systematically investigate the archaeology of the site. The theory first appears in 1939 in a series of newspaper articles and was eventually formalized in Goodwin’s 1946 book The Ruins of Great Ireland in New England.  Goodwin argued it was built by Irish Culdee Monks around 1000 AD. Barry Fell, a Harvard Professor of Marine Biology, and self professed linguist, argued based upon his translations of the various “writings” found at the site that it was built by Iberian Celts between 800 and 400 BC.  Fell’s arguments appeared in his book America B.C. (1976).  The book proved to be very popular with the American public and was instrumental in introducing the theory to a wider audience. Other researchers have proposed variants of the Celtic Theory.

Jonathan Pattee Theory:  This theory was originally proposed in 1939 by Hugh O’Neill Hencken, a curator with Harvard University’s Peabody Museum. This was in direct response to Goodwin’s claims it was a Celtic monastery. Hencken claimed the entire site was built by Jonathan Pattee who resided on the property between 1825-1849. It can be thought of as a sort of the eccentric farmer explanation. The theory was re-stated by archaeologist Gary Vescelius in 1983 after conducting a series of excavations at the site. This theory remains the “official” explanation for the conservative professional archaeological community. The archaeologist community has argued that it is the simplest and therefore the most logical explanation.

Archaeologist Gary Vescelius’s 1955 plane table survey map of the site. This map provides a high level detail, elevation data, and the locations of various archaeological excavations.

Credit: http://www.mysteryhillnh.info/html/historic-maps.html

Cider Press Theory:  In 1939, Hugh O’Neill Hencken, a curator with Harvard University’s Peabody Museum, published a paper proposing that the America’s Stonehenge site was the work of Jonathan Pattee who built a house and lived at the site between 1825 and 1849. This theory has been reiterated subsequently by later members of the academic and archaeological communities. It remains the prevailing explanation within academic circles due to the simplicity of its solution. The cider press hypothesis was first proposed by archaeologist Gary Vescelius (1983). It is based upon two lines of argument. First, the presumption the site is of historic origins. Second, it is based upon the observation that the large grooved stone   is visually similar to known examples of cider press stones. This analysis will focus on the second line of argument.

Utilitarian Drains Theory:  America’s Stonehenge has 37 carved grooves, carved basins, ditches, understructure drains, and stone covered drains. (A complete list of these features with photographs and descriptions can be found on the Drains & Basins webpage.) What were their purpose? One possible explanation for these various features is they were for handling rain water during stormy weather. This explanation is a collective consensus which has emerged amongst researchers and writers who have described the site (rather than a formerly proposed theory.) The specifics of the hypothesis are difficult to establish beyond the general thought process that these features were storm water drains. In some cases this interpretation refers to the larger covered and understructures drains while in other cases it is a generalization applied to a larger group of these features. The basic principle of storm water drains has not changed over the centuries and therefore this analysis will focus on these principles.

Credit: Mike in New Hampshire

The site first appears in print in the 1907 History of Salem, N.H. It is described thus: “Jonathan Pattee’s Cave. He had a house in these woods 70 years ago; took town paupers before the town farm was bought. This is a wild but beautiful spot, among rough boulders and soft pines, about which the most weird and fantastic tale might be woven. There are several caves still intact, which the owner used for storage purposes.” 

The site’s history is muddled partly because of the activities of William Goodwin, who became convinced that the location was proof that Irish monks (the Culdees) had lived there long before the time of Christopher Columbus, a concept he sought to publicize. The site has been altered by stone quarrying and by the efforts of Goodwin and others to move the stones to what they considered their original locations, with Goodwin perhaps responsible for much of what can now be seen. Many of the stones have post 1830s drill marks from the quarrying that took place on the site. 

Proponents of a pre-Columbian, yet non-Native American, origin for the site argue that some stones are encased in trees that may have sprouted before the arrival of the first colonists, claim that there are similarities between the ruins and Phoenician architecture, and say that marks on some stones resemble some ancient writing systems of the Old World. The late Barry Fell, a marine biologist from Harvard University and amateur epigrapher, claimed that inscriptions at the site represented markings in Ogham, Phoenician and Iberian scripts, which he also called Iberian-Punic. 

Artifacts found on the site lead archaeologists to the conclusion that the stones were actually assembled for a variety of reasons by local farmers in the 18th and 19th centuries. For example, a much-discussed “sacrificial stone” which contains grooves that some say channeled blood closely resembles “lye-leaching stones” found on many old farms that were used to extract lye from wood ashes, the first step in the manufacture of soap. 

Carbon dating of charcoal pits at the site provided dates from 2000 BC to 173 BC, when the area was populated by ancestors of current Native Americans. In archaeological chronology, this places indigenous use of the site into either the Late Archaic or the Early Woodland time periods. 

In 1982, David Stewart-Smith, director of restoration at Mystery Hill, conducted an excavation of a megalith found in situ in a stone quarry to the north of the main site. His research team, under the supervision of the New Hampshire state archaeologist, excavated the quarry site, discovering hundreds of chips and flakes from the stone. Both the state archaeologist and Dr. Stewart-Smith concurred that this was evidence of indigenous tool manufacture, consistent with Native American lithic techniques, although no date could be ascertained. 

American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, an enthusiast for New England megalith stone sites, is known to have visited Mystery Hill sometime between 1928 and the 1930s. Mystery Hill is popularly attributed as inspiration for Lovecraft’s story “The Dunwich Horror”. Scholars, however, place Lovecraft’s visit too late to have inspired the 1929 story. 

The site was featured on an episode of the American History Channel TV series Secrets of the Ancient World which aired on January 14, 2002, and in which Boston University archaeology professor Curtis Runnels refuted the theory that the site was built by Celts in ancient history. 

In Search Of…, a 1970s show narrated by Leonard Nimoy, did an episode about the site, titled “Strange Visitors”. It was referred to as “Mystery Hill”. 

In the Weird or What? TV series hosted by William Shatner, the “Human Popsicle” episode covered America’s Stonehenge and a variety of explanations as to its origin.