All 150 coins have been claimed for 2026. The caches are still in place but the 2026 challenge has ended. Thank you for coming out and enjoying LBL Heritage.
This Geocache is part of an annual Geocache Challenge put on by the Heritage Program at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area as part of our outreach to the public, to get people to explore their forest and their history, and to share the unique heritage of the families from Between the Rivers.
This Geocache is part of the “2026 Land Between the Lakes Heritage Geocache Challenge: Mississippian Indians”. There are 6 geocaches placed across Land Between the Lakes related to the history of the Mississippian Indians (A.D. 1000 – 1500) along the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. If you locate each geocache, and collect a numbered aluminum tree tag from each cache, you can turn them in at the Golden Pond Visitor Center for one of 150 Challenge Coins created for this event.
The Geocache is a 6” x 6” orange watertight plastic box marked “Heritage Geocache” on the top. The geocache is placed under a log.
Eddyville Gorget Geocache
What is a Shell Gorget?
A Mississippian Shell Gorget is a polished, carved ornament made from marine shell, often warn around the neck, possibly serving as a symbol of status, family, spiritual, or ceremonial significance. They would have been made A.D. 1000 and 1500.
Drawing of the Eddyville Gorget
This shell goret was found in the vicinity of Eddyville, in Lyon County Kentucky. It lends the Eddyville name to an entire class of shell gorgets that are found at archaeological sites in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Despite the geographic distance between the gorgets, archaeologist who study Mississippian art believe they were all carved in the same workshop, if not by the same artist.
What Makes Up the Eddyville Style?
The Eddyville style refers to the artwork carved in the shell, that is of a human (as opposed to an animal or a geometric design) that is consistently posed in a similar way which appears to be in motion as if the character is running. The Character is always wearing a specific pointed apron on his waist, and the edges of the gorget are always concentric rings.
Who is the Character on the Gorget?
Archaeologists who study Mississippian art suggest that the person in the gorget represents a well-known hero character from widespread Native American mythology. Often referred to as the Birdman, or Morningstar, the hero character from Native American stories is often involved in activities where he has to interact with supernatural beings in the sky or in the underworld. The activities often involve games of skill, battle, or procuring an object.
What is the Character doing?
In the gorget found at Eddyville, the character appears to be playing a well-known Native American game called “chunkey”. In the game one player rolls a stone disk across the ground while players throw spears toward where they think the stone will stop. Chunkey Stones are a very common artifact at Mississippian Archaeological sites.
Evidence of Widespread Travel and Trade
Not only are Eddyville Style gorgets found from Nashville to St. Louis to Oklahoma, the material used to make the gorget had to travel too. Shell gorgets are generally made from Whelks, a type of large sea snail, primarily harvest from the Gulf of Mexico.
The shell used to create the Eddyville Style gorgets would have been harvested in the Gulf of Mexico, traveled up the Mississippi River to an artists’ workshop where they were carved with stone tools, then they moved with various people towns across the southeast, including Eddyville, Kentucky.