Revisiting a 1,000-Year-Old Native American Petroglyph Site
- tagcaver
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Come along as I hike back out and revisit a sandstone rock shelter here on the Cumberland Plateau that contains 1,000-year-old Native American petroglyphs. In more recent years, three pictographs were also discovered, which led me to hike back out to explore the area again, and this time, it was Jason’s first visit to this incredible site.
This shelter was used by the late woodland and early Mississippian Native Americans and is the only excavated petroglyph site in the state of Tennessee. It was excavated by Dr. Duane King in 1974. 752 shards of pottery and numerous points were found here during the excavation and it is believed this was a ritual or ceremony site. The shelter contains petroglyphs of deer tracks, turkey tracks, and even linear grooves that are associated with vertical shafts we cavers call pits.
Nearby the shelter is a natural spring that seeps out of a shelter. It is obvious that animals use this spring as a water source so perhaps the natives did 1000 years ago as well. On our hike out, we went a different way than what we came in and came across what could be another ochre marking left behind by natives as a trail marker?
Whether you're into ancient history, archaeology, or just love hidden gems in the Tennessee backcountry, this is a journey you won’t want to miss.
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