Posted on 01/18/2009 5:51:10 PM PST by BGHater
Finding an Aladdin's cave
Cory Holliday almost didn't see the stick figure painted on the sandstone. His first impression was that it was a clever fake.
A cave specialist for the Tennessee chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Holliday was searching for caves on a 4,200-acre tract in a remote part of Fentress County on the Cumberland Plateau. It was winter, and he heard water. Thinking there might be a cave nearby, he hiked down to the base of a bluff, where he discovered a rocky alcove bisected by a 10-foot waterfall.
On the roof of a nearby south-facing rock shelter was a foot-long painting of a dancing stick figure. The left leg appeared misshapen, and the right hand resembled a claw.
Sprouting from the head were swirly lines. To Holliday, they looked like antennae.
The Nature Conservancy had purchased the large, forested block near the East Fork of the Obey River for $4.7 million in 2006, primarily because it is rich in caves and near two winter hibernating colonies of Indiana bats, a federally listed endangered species that remains in serious decline.
The rock shelter painting came as a complete surprise.
"I knew that Native American rock art had been found in the area, but I didn't realize this was so significant," Holliday said. "My first impression was that someone had drawn it with charcoal."
In fact, the artist most likely lived during the Mississippian Period between A.D. 1000 and 1600 and used a paint based on a prehistoric recipe whose main ingredient was pulverized clay.
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...
graffiti ping.
Looks like Native Americans in 1000 AD had the same symbol to indicate that this cave was a restroom for Males only
LOL!
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Thanks BGHater. |
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I thought it was the electric company warning about overhead cables.
Damn Indians defacing the pristine cave walls and atmosphere again. (ahem) Ancient ‘tagging’?
LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe it’s a prophesy that we are to have ‘the first bl-ack (cue McKinney) president in US history’. /s
Looks like he’s winding up for a pitch.
Chief Tyrol ping!
Wow, really neat find.
Good one.
LOL!
;’)
If it weren’t for Columbus discovering and the eventual colonization of the States, the Indians would STILL be working on the wheel...
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