The Quitsa Cromlech / Chilmark Dolmen (Martha's Vineyard)

[kuzinov]

I can't seem to find anything online about it, but, here on the island of Martha's Vineyard (off Massachusetts), there is a small stone structure in the town of Chilmark. This has always been attributed to Viking construction. It's basically three stone slab walls with a roof. I saw it a few years ago while plumbing a house on the plot of land it's on. Only a few amateur archeological digs have been done at the site as far as I know.

 

[Sid]

I can't seem to find anything online about it, but, here on the island of Martha's Vineyard (off Massachusetts), there is a small stone structure in the town of Chilmark. This has always been attributed to Viking construction. It's basically three stone slab walls with a roof. I saw it a few years ago while plumbing a house on the plot of land it's on. Only a few amateur archeological digs have been done at the site as far as I know.

Found this lurking in the online pond. . . [contains a photograph of the stone structure]
https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2017/06/28/marthas-vineyard-too-busy-try-newfoundland
This states that, America was not discovered until 1960 by a Norwegian lawyer, writer and explorer named 'Helg Ingstadt.'
(See correction below)

 

[Nosmo King]

Found this lurking in the online pond. . .
https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2017/06/28/marthas-vineyard-too-busy-try-newfoundland
This states that, America was not discovered until 1960 by a Norwegian lawyer, writer and explorer named 'Helg Ingstadt.'

1960? Really?

 

[Sid]

1960? Really?

Missed a bit! Don't know how that happened?. . . should have read ~ [L’Anse aux Meadows, now verified as the first landing place of the Vikings in North America, was not discovered until 1960 by a Norwegian lawyer, writer and explorer named Helge Ingstadt.]

 

[Nosmo King]

Missed a bit! Don't know how that happened?. . . should have read ~ [L’Anse aux Meadows, now verified as the first landing place of the Vikings in North America, was not discovered until 1960 by a Norwegian lawyer, writer and explorer named Helge Ingstadt.]

I was going to say, 1960 seems a bit late

 

[EnolaGaia]

Jason Colavito mentioned this stone structure in a 2013 blog entry:

As I understand it, there is an alleged dolmen at Martha’s Vineyard that was the subject of New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) research in the 1970s. The “Chilmark Dolmen,” “Chilmark Cromlech,” or “Quitsa Quoit” is a small stone structure comprised of a flat, oval-shaped capstone supported by several small stones. It’s probably colonial, from what I’ve read, but not much is known for sure. At any rate, it is orders of magnitude smaller than the European Neolithic dolmens or cromlechs to which it has been compared. Some have tried to make it a Norse burial marker, but even alternative types can’t agree on that since many want it to be Neolithic or Irish.

SOURCE: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/scott-wolter-to-investigate-mysteries-of-marthas-vineyard