Im only on page 5, But I saw there were 20 pages and had to comment.

OP, (forget the rest of ya) lol
Someone who knows already told you all what is for but thats ok, pay no mind. lol

anyhow~

Dear OP~
Please take what professor rabbit had to say on this, seriously.
He is not wrong.

I feel you will probably take the 'right' route anyway.
But i just had to say it.


ohh,
cool, and 'lucky' find.
*but it should be covered back up.
it is in everyones best interest.
(well most everyone.)

[edit on 27-5-2010 by Ahmose]

Got a reply from the email I sent to the Forest Service archaeologist, and he said he agreed, "it is most likely a tar kiln". He has forwarded to two other FS archaeologists who specialize in this sort of thing, so I'll wait on their opinions, but there is little doubt to me that this is exactly what it is.

Job well done to godspunchline!


[edit on 2010/5/27 by nenothtu]

Alright. I've heard from the other two archaeologists, and it's unanimous. This rock carving is a tar kiln.

Case closed. Thanks to everyone for their input, and especially to godspunchline for finally solving the mystery!

Nenothtu... Find any thing else of interest?

Nah, not lately. I'm back in NC for a while, in a city, so I'm not able to thrash around the wilderness as I'd prefer to do at the moment. Found some things that appear to be stromatolite fossils in the mountains in Virginia, but I've turned those over to a biologist at a university near here,so they can do the science on them, between the biology department and the geology department. No telling how old those were, but I can say that the last time that area was near sea level was during the early Carboniferous era, around 300 million years ago, so it was likely sometime before that. Now the fossils are on a mountain side about 2400 feet above sea level.

Another fossil from the same site was a round circle, like a donut, that had tiny bumps arranged in a pattern on it. Don't know exactly what it was, but the biologist said it looked like a lamprey's mouth, so I reckon it was part of some sort of sea creature from long ago.

I have high hopes of heading to the hills again shortly for a little trip, so who knows what I might trip over?

i have seen a rock in the same general area of west virginia in a very unpopulated area that was carved in the perfect form of a native american looking face. it had obviously taken quite some time to perfectly form this face. it also appeared to be very old, but there is no way to tell.