On my walk today, I went through Princeton Harbor, and noticed several piles of cairns in and around the water.
Who put them there, and why?
First off, for those who do not know what a cairn is, it is an artificial pile of stones, often placed in a conical shape. They are built for many reasons, some of which include marking a burial site, as holders for lighthouse-like fires to guide ships, or to commemorate events.
The first that I had ever heard of a cairn was when my husband Michael & I were climbing Mount Tallac in Lake Tahoe, and I saw the neatly piled stones along the way. I asked: "Why the heck are those rocks piled up like that?" Michael: "Those are cairns, sort of directional markers for climbers."
More recently, we watched a video about the artist Andy Goldsworthy, who piles up stones as pieces of artwork.
Whatever the reason for the cairns in Princeton Harbor, I enjoyed seeing the presence of these purposely-placed stones. Rock on!
Deb, it seems you may have uncovered something of extreme archeological importance:
“The Druids taught the existence of one god, to whom they gave a name “Be’al,” which Celtic antiquaries tell us means “the life of every thing,” or “the source of all beings”… They used no images to represent the object of their worship, nor did they meet in temples or buildings of any kind for the performance of their sacred rites. A circle of stones… enclosing an area of from twenty feet to thirty yards in diameter, constituted their sacred place…These sacred circles were generally situated near some stream [in this case an ocean]…The Druids had also their… piles of stones…These were called Cairns, and were used in the worship of the deity under the symbol of the sun.
Cairns