Maybe small camps?

Unless they were important dungeons there not dungeons. If you are worried that there are little dungeons, just laugh that thought off at this. "There are over 120 handcrafted dungeons" -Todd Howard. BTW oblivion dungeons where not all handcrafted very few were actually. They had 60 people while making oblivion, and now have 100 people who worked on Skyrim allowing them to make lots of handcrafted dungeons.

This means over 120 non repetitive dungeons.

Currently researching some more with the map and the gameplay videos at my side.

The map unfortunately seems a little off when it comes to the road leading north from the starting point to Riverwood. Todd walks near the waterside for a good minute without Riverwood being near while on the map the road is located further away from the river.
And at the location I think is the red mark on the map I didn't see anything more than the standing stones from the videos. So I'm still supporting my own theory.

The major flaw is, as you guys pointed out, the one in the lake. And also he says "there are 13 of these stones throughout the land" and every stone gives 30% skill increase to Combat/Magic/Stealth skills. It seems unlikely that Bethesda would have devided the 13 birthsigns up into these catagories.

Let's speculate some more guys!

Or maybe forts? Probably not though lol

One theory I've read on here is that the x's are the first word to every dragon shout. It makes the most sense to me, and one x is right where Bleak Falls Borrow is.

Does it mean a cleared dungeon, Im pretty sure that dungeons are marked when they are cleared

I too think this is the correct answer. Makes sense.

That did cross my mind but Correct me if im wrong i thought bleak falls barrow was on the throat of the world? And i didnt see an X there.

Just recounted; I see 24 X's on the map. There are 13 birthsigns. Maybe that was what he meant.

Note that in the video, there were three stones, belonging to the guardian signs, in one location. Maybe those same three can be found in other locations as well, with stones for the other 10 birthsigns scattered about as well. As for the one in the lake, maybe it was built before there was a lake there. Perhaps the Reach canyon was created by two tectonic plates drifting apart, which created a sinkhole that became the lake -- and the stones are really ancient. Just a thought.

I thought the same thing, but I noticed when I watched the video again he heads NW out of Riverwood, which takes him to the mountain range to the West of Riverwood on the map. I think that it is the Dragon Shout walls as stated earlier.
[EDIT] Also I remember reading that there were over 20 complete shouts, so if there are 24 X's on the map then there is more evidence to the theory.

Word walls?

So far I've counted 24 "x" on the map.

Theres a good chance it could mean the shout locations then.....but tbh id rather their location wernt given away, hinted at by npc's or read in books seems like a better way to discover their locations.

Why does no one consider Word Walls.

I've said it in every thread where people have speculated over the X's, does no one have a decent idea how many shouts there are?

I counted 24 X's on the map as well.

The Guardian Stones are definitely marked on the map with an X, it's likely that the other standing stones are marked with x's too, but that not all x's are standing stones (there's too many. Assuming the other standing stones also come in sets of three, there'll be 4 or 5 at most). The others might represent Daedric shrines or other such points of interest.

I think thats what most of the people including myself mean by shouts

You must have missed my post, I stated that I thought they were the dragon shout walls. I read in an article that there are over 20 complete shouts, and there are 24 X's on the map.

I really hope those are *not* word walls, as they should be completely unmarked.. aren't we supposed to find them all by ourselves?

Should of been clearer, in the other threads there's like one person who says they could be world walls who gets no replies, I'm actually glad in this thread they are being considered.

Either I'm blind or Bleak Fall Barrow is definitely not marked with an X :huh:
That'd likely rule out word walls.

I have also noticed that there is an X right where the standing stone in the demo is on the map. I didn't see a word wall there, so maybe they're not marking the word walls :banghead:

I got a feeling its not going to be shouts/word walls....well i hope not anyway. Getting these shouts should be in depth and not just following an X marks the spot, just my opinion.

I seen one in the English version of the map but not the Russian version. I also noticed that the English version looked as if it was pieced together.

I'm looking at a translated version of the map now, and the only X near Riverwood is below it, at the road bend (which probably represents the Guardian Stones). The mountains north-west of Riverwood are entirely X free.