The Context of Early Southeastern Prehistoric Cave Art: A Report on the Archaeology of 3rd Unnamed Cave

In the deep recesses of “3rd Unnamed Cave,” a karst cavern in Tennessee, evidence for an ancient association between dark zone cave art and chert mining has recently been documented. The art comprises petroglyphs on the ceiling of a chamber more than 1 km from the cave entrance. On the floor below t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American antiquity 1998-10, Vol.63 (4), p.663-677
Main Authors: Simek, Jan F., Franklin, Jay D., Sherwood, Sarah C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
America and Arctic regions
Archaeology
Cave paintings
Caves
Ceramic cultures
Geology
History
Mining
Murals
Nodules
North America
Petroglyphs
Prehistoric art
Prehistory and protohistory
Rock paintings
Sediments
Silts
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Summary:In the deep recesses of “3rd Unnamed Cave,” a karst cavern in Tennessee, evidence for an ancient association between dark zone cave art and chert mining has recently been documented. The art comprises petroglyphs on the ceiling of a chamber more than 1 km from the cave entrance. On the floor below the art, natural sediments were excavated prehistorically to obtain high-quality chert nodules. Radiocarbon age determinations place the mining during the Terminal Archaic period. Studies in lithic technology, geoarchaeology, and petroglyph description are presented.
ISSN:0002-7316
2325-5064
DOI:10.2307/2694114