A comparison of headstones of granite from 100 years ago in Minneapolis shows similar accumulations of black lichen. Oddly enough the phony marks were the blackest. Perhaps the dust allowed a surface more conducive to lichen growth. The Writing Rock generally points downhill towards the spring. Similar boulders have been suggested by E. Breck Parkman as being related to rainmaking, fertility and babymaking rituals.
Some cultures consider the dead to value food and water, and for spirits to be thirsty and hungry.
The Writing Rock is in a rough alignment NNW between the burial mounds and the spring. The land is owned by Virgil and Nadine Olson. Members of the Olson family have found a chopper, hammer stones, and many other stone tools on the property. Artifacts including a spearpoint, stone ax, and a hatchet with a blade have also been found in the course of plowing, gardening, and at the bottom of a posthole. The site is visited every year by third graders from a local elementary school and is well known to the local community .