Information from you tube presence "Sasachiminesh", on "If you are recording a stone prayer, or you think it may be one, here's some tips":
- Take a GPS longitude and latitude if you can (with a field handheld or good download program).
- Take a photo of the Grandparent from 4 sides. If you live in MA, don't bother notifying the MHC - just notify the THPO of United South and East Tribes (USET) or THPO Narragansett Tribe, or nearest tribe in your state.
- With a compass, see if there are any other prayers and what direction they form as a line or as many lines.
- Not the number of visible stones, their size and shape.
- Note the construction style and shape of the grouping.
- Not the type of stones used and if they are local to the spot and all the same or not.
- Look for nearby stone walls, cellar holes, wells, etc. and note their positions.
- Look for nearby springs, seeps and intermittent streams and note their locations.
- Note what parts of the sky are visible (direction) and what parts are not.
- Note what lies visible to the immediate NE, Se, SW, and NW of the grouping, both on land and in the sky.
- Note if they object can be recognized as any American farming form _ a well head, a cellar, a cow pen or sheep pen wall, a street wall, field clearing heap, etc.
- Note all stone groupings, how far away each is from each other, their direction, and the details of each grouping.
- Read Hoffman, or Harris and Robinson in Northeast Anthropology, or Moore and Weiss in Ohio Journal of Archaeology, or Cachat-Schilling in Bulletin of Massachusetts Archaeology or Archaeological Society of Connecticut and learn the types of stone prayers. Then note if the stone grouping matches any of the named stone prayer types. Amorphous piles are also sometimes a stone prayer, word of caution.
- Take note of the soil type, plants growing nearby, type of terrain, slope, moisture of the soil, and potential use for farming or grazing. Soil surveys are general and large-scale, so you will have to note actual soil at the location yourself.
- Take note of any traces of old logging roads, or new log skid damage.
- Take note of elevation and direction of exposure (if a slope, which direction(s) does the slope face?)
- Mark the time of year and if it's near dawn or dusk, mark the position of the sun relative to the grouping.
- Mark the position of any visible ridgelines or valleys, and notable vistas.
- Mark the position of any visible hilltops,
- Look around the perimeter of the prayers for a single-stack stone on a larger stone/boulder - usually near old trail or road.
