Post by L Roebuck on Mar 23, 2006 9:52:29 GMT -5
Layers of history being found at Appalachian Caverns
By RAIN SMITH
Reporter
BLOUNTVILLE –– Excavations would be "difficult and useless."
That was the conclusion made by Gerard Fowke, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, when Appalachian Caverns was first investigated in 1922.
"Thank you for leaving the door open, Mr. Fowke," says historian Bill Milhorn in an intrepid, confident tone.
"Every time you look around, you find something different."
For the past several months, Milhorn has volunteered his time researching the caverns, historically known as Linville Cave. In November of last year, the Times-News reported on a project to refurbish a cabin on the caverns' property. Then, workers unearthed a scabbard, trammel, buttons and more - craftsmanship behind the pieces pointing toward a possible Colonial presence on the land as early as the 1760s.
But those inhabitants were far from the first to call the area –– or the sprawling, 57 degree caverns beneath the surface –– their home. From pottery pieces to fire pits, flint shards to a mastodon molar, some researchers are saying the caverns were well-used –– and in the cold winter months, much appreciated –– by pre-history Native Americans.
"We have enough from the site to tell us it was used periodically for a few hundred years, during the span of from about AD 300 to AD 700," said East Tennessee State University anthropologist Jay Franklin. "It was just sort of a short-term camp.
"It was a very nice, sheltered location to camp, and then to range out from there."
Based on charred seed and nuts found within the caverns, Franklin hypothesizes that about 1,300 years ago Native Americans used the site as shelter in the fall and winter months. In January, at Nashville's 2006 Current Research in Tennessee Archaeology meeting, he delivered a presentation on work at the site to colleagues.
Among the evidence for a strong Native American presence is a piece of charred wood excavated from a pit within the caverns, radiocarbon dated to AD 675.
"We know that some centuries prior to that (date) there were a number of large, open habitation and village sites all up and down the valleys through here," Franklin said. "And then about the time (findings within) the cave date to, there seems to be –– and I stress seems to be –– some kind of a dispersal of the larger populations that were here. They seem to have scattered.
"These were (not transient but) local people, I have no doubt. But there's clearly some reorganization in how they're organized at this time, and we just have to look into that more."
To find out what caused this reorganization, and how it relates to Appalachian Caverns, Franklin is searching for grants to fund extensive radiocarbon testing of native artifacts from throughout the region.
According to Lee Vest, chairman of the Appalachian Confederate Tribes, the search for game or warfare between tribes could have fueled a dispersal. Either way, he's certain Appalachian Caverns were important to his ancestors well before the carbon dating proves their presence. And Vest's opinion may be backed up by the unearthed mastodon molar.
As Milhorn says, the mastodon "didn't walk into this cave (with no large openings at the time). ... It was drug into this cave and used for food, clothing, material."
"Ten thousand years ago, for a small band or a small family, it was a housing area," Vest adds. "Then, after the Indians became more acclimated to this area of the country, they started building surface dwellings. The earlier man here did take advantage of the outcroppings of rock, overhangs, caverns and so forth. But in more recent times I think it was a temporary shelter."
Vest believes the caverns findings, and future investigations, give his people a unique opportunity to assert their importance and past contributions.
"People are starting to realize we are part of the local history, part of the U.S. history," Vest said. "People are starved for this information, and we are a part of this. At the same time, we don't know all the history either. So with these people doing this research, and us being a part of it, it thrills us to death."
Times-News
www.timesnews.net/communityArticle.dna?_StoryID=3605427
Appalachian Caverns
Show Caves of the United States: Appalachian Caverns (Linville Caverns)
By RAIN SMITH
Reporter
BLOUNTVILLE –– Excavations would be "difficult and useless."
That was the conclusion made by Gerard Fowke, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, when Appalachian Caverns was first investigated in 1922.
"Thank you for leaving the door open, Mr. Fowke," says historian Bill Milhorn in an intrepid, confident tone.
"Every time you look around, you find something different."
For the past several months, Milhorn has volunteered his time researching the caverns, historically known as Linville Cave. In November of last year, the Times-News reported on a project to refurbish a cabin on the caverns' property. Then, workers unearthed a scabbard, trammel, buttons and more - craftsmanship behind the pieces pointing toward a possible Colonial presence on the land as early as the 1760s.
But those inhabitants were far from the first to call the area –– or the sprawling, 57 degree caverns beneath the surface –– their home. From pottery pieces to fire pits, flint shards to a mastodon molar, some researchers are saying the caverns were well-used –– and in the cold winter months, much appreciated –– by pre-history Native Americans.
"We have enough from the site to tell us it was used periodically for a few hundred years, during the span of from about AD 300 to AD 700," said East Tennessee State University anthropologist Jay Franklin. "It was just sort of a short-term camp.
"It was a very nice, sheltered location to camp, and then to range out from there."
Based on charred seed and nuts found within the caverns, Franklin hypothesizes that about 1,300 years ago Native Americans used the site as shelter in the fall and winter months. In January, at Nashville's 2006 Current Research in Tennessee Archaeology meeting, he delivered a presentation on work at the site to colleagues.
Among the evidence for a strong Native American presence is a piece of charred wood excavated from a pit within the caverns, radiocarbon dated to AD 675.
"We know that some centuries prior to that (date) there were a number of large, open habitation and village sites all up and down the valleys through here," Franklin said. "And then about the time (findings within) the cave date to, there seems to be –– and I stress seems to be –– some kind of a dispersal of the larger populations that were here. They seem to have scattered.
"These were (not transient but) local people, I have no doubt. But there's clearly some reorganization in how they're organized at this time, and we just have to look into that more."
To find out what caused this reorganization, and how it relates to Appalachian Caverns, Franklin is searching for grants to fund extensive radiocarbon testing of native artifacts from throughout the region.
According to Lee Vest, chairman of the Appalachian Confederate Tribes, the search for game or warfare between tribes could have fueled a dispersal. Either way, he's certain Appalachian Caverns were important to his ancestors well before the carbon dating proves their presence. And Vest's opinion may be backed up by the unearthed mastodon molar.
As Milhorn says, the mastodon "didn't walk into this cave (with no large openings at the time). ... It was drug into this cave and used for food, clothing, material."
"Ten thousand years ago, for a small band or a small family, it was a housing area," Vest adds. "Then, after the Indians became more acclimated to this area of the country, they started building surface dwellings. The earlier man here did take advantage of the outcroppings of rock, overhangs, caverns and so forth. But in more recent times I think it was a temporary shelter."
Vest believes the caverns findings, and future investigations, give his people a unique opportunity to assert their importance and past contributions.
"People are starting to realize we are part of the local history, part of the U.S. history," Vest said. "People are starved for this information, and we are a part of this. At the same time, we don't know all the history either. So with these people doing this research, and us being a part of it, it thrills us to death."
Times-News
www.timesnews.net/communityArticle.dna?_StoryID=3605427
Appalachian Caverns
Show Caves of the United States: Appalachian Caverns (Linville Caverns)