This image shows a pair of woodcutters using an elevated platform to allow both of them to work on cutting planks from the log by use of a two-man saw.
Published by Plimoth Plantation, Inc., Plymouth, Mass.
The description states:
SAWING PLANKS
Early Pilgrim houses were of frame construction boarded with thick planks swan laboriously by hand from the forest timber. The operation of a 17th century pit saw is demonstrated daily at Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Mass.
–One can clearly see that sawing from above was fairly dangerous, should the saw bind and throw the sawyer off balance. From below, the sawdust made for dirty work at the very least.
This image likely dates from the 1950s.