Possible Perched Wing-Shaped Stones in Alcoves around the Champlain Valley. Photos by Mike Luoma.

Possible Ancient Stonework On the Shores of Vermont’s Glacial Lakes and Seas

Potential Stone Constructs Dating Back Into The Ice Age

I do love a good map.

The Champlain Valley on the map. From Major Glacial Lakes and the Champlain Sea, Vermont (2020). Map Compilers: G. Springston, S. Wright and J. Van Hoesen. Vermont Geological Survey. Used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 License License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.

This one depicts the glacial lakes and seas that filled much of the Champlain Valley and beyond towards the end of the last Ice Age, for a time even connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. After the weight of the ice sheets lifted, the earth’s crust rebounded. Land that was at sea level over 10,000 years ago is now a few hundred feet above sea level, all around our smaller Lake Champlain.

The work of Vermont researchers George Springston of Norwich University, Stephen Wright of the University of Vermont and John van Hoeven of Green Mountain College, this map of Major Glacial Lakes and The Champlain Sea, Vermont, 2020 has been helpful as I’ve found a great deal of interesting stonework along what used to be the shoreline of the Champlain Sea.

The PDF of the map let me roughly chart the shoreline’s estimated current location. Very roughly. (PDF: https://anrweb.vt.gov/PubDocs/DEC/GEO/MiscPubs/SpringstonGlacialLakes2020opt.pdf).