DO NOT TOUCH OR IN ANY WAY BOTHER THE PETROGLYPHS!!
The Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 protect this site.
Do not Dig, Remove, Injure, or Destroy any Historic or Prehistoric Objects, Ruins, or Sites.
Violaters are subject to arrest, and a maximum fine of $20,000, and or imprisonment.
Deep in the mountains of Jackson County, just outside Sylva, North Carolina, sits a large, baffling stone. It is a soapstone boulder covered with a plethora of strange drawings that some archaeologists believe may be 2,000 to 3,000 years old. Even the Cherokee Indians consider the site ancient, pre-dating their presence in the area. The rock has been studied by researchers across the world, but no one has ever deciphered the bizarre petroglyphs on the stone or figured out who made them.
TO LOG THIS CACHE, do at least TWO of the following: NOTE: Please send the answers to me in an email through Geocaching.com. The SAME DAY you post the log. Do *NOT* post them in your log!
You do NOT need to wait for a response from me.
1. In your own words, describe the boulder estimating its size and what you see on it in addition to the carvings.
2. Study the various figures and tell me how you think they were "carved" into the stone.
3. How much of the boulder do you estimate is exposed above ground? For example, all of it, only the tip top, half of it, etc.
4. Estimate the weight of the exposed portion of the boulder using this method: Estimate the length, width, and thickness of the boulder in feet. Multiply these three dimensions together to determine the volume of the boulder in cubic feet. Multiply this number by 180 (which is the average weight in pounds of a cubic foot of solid soapstone). You may submit this number for the weight in pounds, OR you can divide your answer by 2000 to determine the weight in tons.
5. Based upon your observation of the geology of the site you see here, why do you think early inhabitants chose to create the glyphs here?
6. *OPTIONAL* While not required, a PHOTO of you and/or your group WITH YOUR GPS at the site is always welcome, AND MAY BE USED FOR ONE OF YOUR 2 REQUIRED ANSWERS!!!
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NOW FOR THE CACHE
A petroglyph is an image created by carving into a rock or by removing part of a rock surface by incising, pecking, carving or abrading to create a desired image. The word "petroglyph" comes from the Greek words "petra", meaning "stone", and "glyphein", meaning "to carve". The petroglyphs we are interested in are not modern, but ancient. Before metal tools most petroglyphs were created by scratching into relatively soft rock using bones, antlers, or rocks. While it is impossible to know why such images were created, there are numerous theories: To express mythical or magical beliefs/To create a representation of the cycles of birth and death/To assist in superstitious beliefs regarding the success of a hunt/To capture time by recording the "look" of others in the group/To communicate/To express the carvers themselves and make "pretty pictures".
The JUDACULLA ROCK PETROGLYPHS, as at other sites like this, do not have a single purpose. It is known that the carvings were probably made over several hundred years, possibly by different ethnic groups. They were likely made for several different reasons. It is possible that some of the carvings were made to symbolize an event that had occurred, possibly a vision quest, while others were made to influence a future event. Other carvings may have been made as a by-product of ritual activities that occurred here. Judaculla Rock represents an accumulation of events and actions over time.
Judaculla Rock was a place of power within a sacred landscape. Native Americans rarely distinguished between the actions of humans and their spirit helpers, because their identities were essentially the same. In numerous Cherokee stories footprints and tracks, like those here, signify an in-between transitional state or condition. More specifically, rocks with footprints and tracks signified the area of transition, a doorway or threshold, into the domain of dangerous spirit beings. These prints are not only physical testimony that spirit beings were there some time in the past, but that they could still be lingering somewhere close by in the present, and that they may return unexpectedly at any time in the future.
Who Made The Judaculla Rock Petroglyphs?
It is very likely that the Cherokee, and possibly the Catawba and Creek as well, made the carvings here at Judaculla Rock. The Blue Ridge Mountain region of North Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee has experienced an overlap of different linguistic groups over time, even though the mountainous region was most recently dominated by Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee. The neighboring Creek and Catawba languages are respectively Muskogee and Siouan branches of the same root linguistic background of the Cherokee. The three groups had broadly similar social structures, economic and political systems, and religious practices.
Judaculla Rock has special significance among the Cherokee Indians, even after their mass removal from the region in 1838. Cherokee accounts link Judaculla (also known as Tuli-cula/Juthcullah/Tsulʻkalu), their slant-eyed Master-of-Game, with the surrounding landscape, including landforms, rivers, and Indian towns. The petroglyph boulder occurs on an old trail that links the old Cherokee townhouse at Cullowhee, or "Juthcullah's Place," with Judaculla's reputed townhouse within Tannasee Bald (also known as Tsunegûñyĭ). From a traditional perspective, contemporary Cherokees continue to regard the boulder as spiritually significant.
How Were The Carvings Made And How Old Are They?
The carvings at Judaculla Rock were made in one of two ways. Many of the figures were created by "pecking". Hard rocks, or hammer stones, were used to create the shapes by repeated blows in the same spot until the desired shape was created. Alternatively, some of the figures were created by carving into the rock. A hard stone would be rubbed back and forth to create the design. Although soapstone is considered a soft rock, it is still rock and rather hard to carve. It took a lot of time and effort to create these figures that have lasted so long.
The earliest evidence for the carvings at Judaculla Rock dates back at least 3,600 years. These carvings were the result of Native Americans removing pieces of soapstone to make bowls. The soapstone at Judaculla Rock has a soft, yet durable make-up. This makes it easy to carve and efficient to use, and it is particularly well-suited for cooking, as it holds and radiates heat without breaking.
Most of the carvings here are more recent. These beautiful, albeit worn, examples of pre-historic Indian occupation were probably carved sometime during the Woodland Indian era (1,000 BC to 1,000 AD). Also, based on comparison with other such sites, Jannie Loubser has concluded that most of the figures were carved in the last 1,000 years. Early American explorers describe the Judaculla Rock site, so we know the carvings were made before 1800. Our best understanding of it is that the carvings were made during repeated visits over several hundred years, beginning around A.D. 1,000.
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NOW FOR THE GEOLOGY
Judaculla Rock is one of the best known of the petroglyph, or marked stone, sites in North Carolina. It consists of one very large soapstone boulder, containing hundreds of symbols, carved or pecked into the surface.
Just What Is Soapstone?
The boulder at Judaculla Rock is formed from soapstone or steatite, a naturally occurring metamorphic rock common to the North Carolina mountains. Soapstone is soft, easily carved with primitive tools, and often found shaped into bowls, pipes, or ornaments.
Because it is composed primarily of talc soapstone is usually soft. Soapstone is typically gray, bluish, green or brown in color, often variegated. Its name is derived from its “soapy” feel and softness.
Soapstone is properly applied to an impure form of steatite which contains varying amounts of chlorite, tremolite, pyroxene, magnetite, pyrite, quartz, and carbonates of calcium and magnesium. Its impurity is due to the fact that it is usually derived from the alteration of a basic, igneous rock, often pyroxenite.
In common parlance soapstone is the most widely used term, and is applied to any soft rock which can be cut readily. In North Carolina it is used extensively to designate rocks in which chlorite predominates over talc.
How Does Soapstone Form?
Soapstone most often forms at convergent plate boundaries where broad areas of Earth’s crust are subjected to heat and directed pressure. Peridotites, dunites and serpentinites in this environment can be metamorphosed into soapstone. On a smaller scale soapstone can form where siliceous dolostones are altered by hot, chemically-active fluids in a process known as metasomatism.
Origin of Soapstone Deposits
Chloritic soapstone has well developed cleavage so may be called a chloritic schist. In general, the hornblendic rocks, the gabbros, hornblende gneisses and hornblende schists, give rise to chloritic soapstones, which are of wide distribution in North Carolina. The soapstone thus developed is commonly schistose and as stated above might be more properly called a chloritic schist; in some instances, when derived from massive rocks, soapstone is more or less massive. In most all cases the rock is quite strong in all dimensions.
Along contact of pyroxenite and periodotite dikes with enclosing gneisses and schists, there is usually developed a layer of talc schist which is quite pure, while the central portion of the mass may be more massive soapstone.
The information on this page comes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapstone, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaculla_Rock, http://www.judacullarock.com/, and a similar EarthCache owned by The Scout Master. I hope you enjoy your visit to Judaculla Rock.
FTF HONORS GO TO Tuckasegee!!!
