This article talks about the study of the Dunbar Cave in Montgomery County, Tennessee to learn more about the varied ways that the cave was used by people. Many of the artifacts that was in the cave linked its usage time to be from the Late Paleo-Indian to the Mississippian period. The article define dark-zone cave art as “the decorations in the areas of the caves that is beyond the reach of external lights”. Mug Glyph Cave art was found in the 12th Unnamed Cave in Tennessee and since then sixty-nine other caves that had dark-zone cave art were found. The artifacts and chronological data from these sites indicates that the tradition of cave art began 6000 years ago.
In 2005 one of the author join a group of explorers search for more information, during this trip they were able to find two more glyphs, a number of pictographs and petro glyphs, and traces of human activities that was happening in the cave. They were able to find a total of thirty-five individual glyphs so far. The article define pictographs as images that are drawn in black pigments and the petro glyphs is define a...
The paper talked about the new mud glyph cave art site the was discovered in northern Alabama. It is believe that the artifacts and the images that is located in the cave linked back to the Early and Middle Woodland periods. The cave was named “19th Unnamed Cave” by a naming system that was used be University of Tennessee. Other main points in this paper include the 19th Unnamed Cave, the mud glyph art that it contains, and how the mud glyph contributes to the understanding of mud glyph assemblage preservation, and it helps illuminates the chronological placement of the art form. The cave is located in northern Alabama with a cave mouth of 25 m in diameter and with more than 5 km of underground passageways. The article hypothesized that since the entrance of the cave had some fluvial action, there would no archaeological material that would have been preserved.
A farmer in the late 19th century, upon plowing his land near Carthage, Alabama, discovered an object buried in the earth. From the soil, he removed a large stone disk, polished and flawlessly round. The disk was about 12 inches in diameter with small-notched edges. One side displayed incised globular lines and the flip side was “a strange engraving showing an open hand with what looked like an eye peering from it. Encircling the hand-and-eye image were two entwined rattlesnakes with horns and long tongues.” The farmer had previously found tools pieces of pottery, but he had never seen an object such as this (Blitz 2008:1).
To identify the specific type, functions and time period of the artifacts, various archaeology books, reports, and journal were referred. The interpretation was then conducted by dividing the artifacts into different area on the map and investigating their relationships.
The Bristol Caverns are open all year around, except for on holidays, and the time that you are able to visit is subject to change during different seasons. You can visit the Bristol Caverns from 9a.m.-5p.m. on Monday through Saturday and from 12:30p.m.-5p.m. on Sundays. It is suggested that you call before attempting to go to the Bristol Caverns because of the number of tourists. (http://www.bristolcaverns.com). The drive from the ETSU campus to the caverns takes about forty-two minutes. In order to get to the Bristol Caverns you can start on 11E, get off at the Bluff City exit, take it to 394, turn right onto 435, and you will then see the Bristol Caverns on the left. Upon arrival you will be expected to pay an admission fee of $9.00, which can change, according to age. The Bristol Caverns offers special rates and tours for groups interested in touring. One of these group opportunities, "Wild Tours" (http://www.bristolcaverns.com), gives groups the chance to explore parts of the cave normally not seen, provided a guide is present.
...ncyclopedia of Archaeology, Ed. Deborah M. Pearsall. Vol. 3. Oxford, United Kingdom: Academic Press, 2008. p1896-1905. New Britain: Elsevier, Inc.
The Chattahoochee Legacy Hall provides a timeline of history from the first civilizations to the modern day. When first entering I encountered a 15 foot alligator that was illegally killed and preserved and enclosed in a glass case, Oscar the Alligator is a fitting name. Down the hall I encountered an old slave house, where I met Cicero, a young slave who claimed the house was his. He spoke about Horace King and his great building skills. Across from the house, I noticed a beautiful red ceremonial beaded sash. According to the information next to the display I learned it was carried by a Yuchi chief named Sakasemyer, who snuck it through the Trail of Tears. Next to that was a school house, this exhibit was a favorite when I would visit the museum as a child. It is a one-room school complete with a large chalkboard in front behind the teacher’s desk and a smaller one on each of the sixteen desks. The detail is decent, upon walking in I heard an echo from the wooden floors and I noticed a bucket of coal for warming the room in the winter months. On the chalkboard assignments were listed for each particular grade level. The next era i...
Turfa, Jean Maclntosh. American Journal of Archaeology. N.p.: Archaeological Institute of America, 1977. JSTOR. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
n the big beautiful place of Tennessee is a scary looking cave called the Bell Witch Cave in Roberts County unlike other caves that may seem scary but aren’t spooky. Bell Witch Cave gave people of Tennessee the chills and made them feel a little unusual about the dark rocky cave. What made Bell Witch cave so unusual and scary were all the living and non-living things that have been in the cave for years now. The cave had a gate that covered the entrance, but looked like it has been broken through a few times that made things strange about Bell Witch Cave. The inside of the Bell Witch Cave hard pointy shape rocks that just surrounded the cave from top to bottom it had bats hanging upside down from the top of the cave, some bats would go and come
To start, it is important to have an understanding of how anthropologists interpret cave art. First, they attempt to decipher any glyphs or written letters by comparing them to today’s languages to infer their meanings. For example, this is what occurred at Lascaux; Lechler (1951:166) noticed that one of the letters closely resembles a letter in Hebrew, and another used this to say that it symbolizes entrails. One can see that anthropologists thoroughly analyze potential symbols...
Not too far away from the town of Montignac, in the western Massif Central and Northern Pyrenees, the cave of Lascaux was discovered. Four teenage boys and their dog discovered it. The four boys, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon Coenccus, were out on an expedition, but they found more than they bargained for that day. Their dog wandered away and they searched for him. In the process, the four boys discovered a cave that had been right below their feet for the past 17,000 years. They were not able to venture down into the 250-meter deep cave on the first day so they came back the next day prepared to enter the cave. When the boys first wiggled their way down into the cave they did not find anything. It was not until they reached an oval room that they first discovered paintings on the walls. These boys had uncovered paintings dating back to the Aurignacian (30,000-18,000 B.C.E.) (Laming, 34-41) and Magdalenian (15,000-10,000 B.C.E.) periods. It is believed that many of the paintings found in Lascaux were created between 16,000 and 14,000 B.C.E. The boys could no longer keep this cave a secret, so they told one of their teachers, Monsieur Laval. After accompanying the boys down to the cave, M. Laval started alerting historians to this new discovery. Within five days three historians were already on their way to visit the site. On September 17, 1940 three experts on Paleolithic art, Abbé Breuil, Dr. Cheynier and Abbé Bouyssonnie, crawled down into the cave; it was at this point the cave became authenticated.
Cave Paintings have been dated back 30,000 years ago, during a time called the Upper Paleolithic Period where homo-sapiens began to express themselves through rock art and drawings on the walls throughout caves in mostly France and Africa. The process of the art being made was resulted from rocks being ground up to make pigments which were often first engraved into the cave walls or painted directly on them in black and ochre colors. There is no absolute reason behind these cave paintings, but scientist have thought of theories behind the talented artists work. The main three categories that have been studied are animal drawings, shamanism, and human paintings; all of which give reason to a new evolution of the human mind and how the meaning behind the cave art can be an insightful look at what homo-sapiens experienced thousands of years ago.
The symbolic value of the cave in Western literature originates in The Odyssey (Seigneuret 223). There are a few symbol...
“Stone Age Toolkit." America's Stone Age Explorers. PBS, Sept. 2004. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
Prehistoric sites display its historic beauty by the visualization of artifacts found or by its historical landmarks. These characteristics enable archaeologists to trace the evolution of societal influences among various geographic areas. Artifacts and pieces of historical land display a vast array of social, economic and religious entities that give insight to the cultural practices performed during a certain time period. A site that displays significant historical information is seen within the Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville, Illinois. Native American Indians play an important role in contributing to our historical events dating back thousands of years ago. Family ties to the Native American tribes enables family members to see first hand how the prehistoric cultural, social and religious practices performed evolved into a new set of practices in our society today.
One of the biggest questions that humans have is “what is reality”. Plato suggests that, “ we are born in illusions,” (Plato) and that the truth is initially blinding. “The Myth of the Cave,” is a narrative story about the idea of reality, it is explored though an allegory about a man finding out the truth about reality coming from a life in the dark. They can only learn about true mainly through reason and truth. The story is told as a metaphor for what happens in the natural world and how people can be stuck in the dark about reality. Plato tells the story through the voice of Socrates, his mentor.