Archaeology in your own backyard

A few weeks ago following Darcy Mathew's presentation on burial cairns and mounds, I was out for my usual Sunday run, on a route that I had taken many times before, and instead of just listening to my music and tuning out my surroundings, I began focusing on my surroundings.

I began to look around and think that unknown archaeological sites could potentially be anywhere. As I ran through Mount Douglas Park, I looked around for anything that appeared to be overgrown and as I continued on down Blenkinsop Road I looked for any unusual dips and mounds in the landscape. 

His PowerPoint presentation made me realize that archaeology is EVERYWHERE you just need to know how to look for it and be aware of your surroundings.

Maybe it was because I was looking for an archaeological site and daydreaming about being the first person to discover one, but I thought I saw (what looked like) different burial mounds on a piece of stagnant property on Blenkinsop Road. This piece of property used to be used as a horseback riding facility with several stables and riding arenas.I used to take horse back riding lessons there many years ago until the facility shut down.  

As I was running, I did not slow down or have a chance to take a closer look but the mounds were definitely man-made and stood out in the grassy fields. When I did ride at the old stable these mounds had cross country horse jumps built upon them. As Darcy Mathews mentioned in his presentation, burials mounds are not black and white and can vary greatly. For example, the Sutton Hoo burial mound (pictured below) is a very prominent feature in the landscape, whereas, some burial mounds are very hard to pick out amidst the landscape. During Darcy Mathews presentation, he said that after surveying an area several times he was able to pick out additional burial mounds and cairns that he did not see the first time around.

Burial Mound at Sutton Hoo, England
Available at:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Sutton_Hoo_Burial_Mound.jpg

I also noticed a few signs posted on the front grass just outside the front gates of the property which made me further believe (or hope) that this old riding stable property could in fact be an archaeological site. Unfortunately, since then I have run by a few more times and realized that these signs are actually advertising an environmental restoration project and not an upcoming archaeological project. But the question still echoes in the back of my mind, are these protrusions in the landscape unknown or forgotten about burial mounds? Or were they simply built for the cross country horse jumping course that I rode years ago?