Fragments of an Earlier World

Stone Faces Gazetteer

Faces: Alabama - Montana

Faces: New Hampshire - Pennsylvania

Faces: Rhode Island - Wyoming

Faces: World

Faces: Other Natural Materials

Anthropomorphic Features

Sleeping Giants

Stone Faces Map

Reader Contributions

Fragments of an Earlier World

Stone Faces Gazetteer

In conjunction with the "Fragments of an Earlier World" exhibit, the Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi has created a gazetteer database of Stone Face phenomena around the world. Many of the formations in the gazetteer are illustrated with postcards from the Museum collection to help you identify them when searching for faces in the field. Some of the entries provide specific information on where to find the formations, when we have visited and know the area.

Like spotting images in clouds, recognizing faces in natural features requires a youthful imagination and openness to the unexpected. Once you see a few faces you may be tempted to see them everywhere, perhaps even where others cannot. For the purposes of the Gazetteer, we are only interested in stone faces exceptional enough to have been discovered by numerous explorers, preferably those with historical reference such as antique postcards or stereoviews. Ideally the Gazetteer will also include information for modern day visitors. If you have more specific information about the location of these natural wonders, or are familiar with rock faces not listed in the database, please email the museum to contribute your knowledge.

Formations in the gazetteer are ordered by type and location:

Faces: Alabama to Montana

Faces: New Hampshire to Pennsylvania

Faces: Rhode Island to Wyoming

Faces: World

Faces: Other Natural Materials

Anthropomorphic Features

Sleeping Giants


THANK YOU! Tip of the hat to Jim Moore, Guy Worthey, Chuck O'Hara, Joseph Deuel, Paul Burden, Chris Miller, Diane Hettrick, John Masone and Matthew Jackson for information on additional stone faces for the gazetteer. See Guy's website for more photos of stone faces, and Jim Moore's site for New England faces.

R.V. Dietrich has written an excellent essay about the importance of stone faces and other Mimetoliths.


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