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 in an old river buoy.
Tinsley Hill Geocache
1961 University of Kentucky Report by renowned Archaeologist Douglas W. Schwarts.
Tinsley Hill was a Mississippian Indian Village on the Cumberland River floodplain that was occupied between A.D. 1300 and 1500. The site was excavated in advance of the inundation of Lake Barkley.
1960s excavations by Berle Clay
In the winter and spring of 1958, Douglas W. Schwartz and Tacoma G. Sloan identified Tinsley Hill as the only large Mississippian site below Lake Barkley's inundation pool. The site covered approximately 20 acres and contained two mounds, a village area, and a stone box cemetery. The site underwent several large excavations before the lake was constructed.
Mississippian Stone Box Graves
Durning the Mississippian time period, in the Western Kentucky and Tennessee area, burial in Stone Box Graves was a common practice. While archaeologists do photograph excavations, artistic renderings such as these images are used in publications to out of respect for our tribal partners and their ancestors.
The Excavation of Burials at Tinsley Hill
In 1959, remains of 128 individuals were excavated from the cemetery including at least 26 adult males, 26 adult females, 29 children, and 19 infants. The other individuals could not be categorized. In addition, 478 associated funerary objects were collected.
In 1960 and 1962, during the village excavation, an additional 9 individual graves were removed. All nine individuals were infants.
After excavation, the remains were then housed at the Webb Museum of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky.
Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
Since 1990, Federal law has provided for the protection and return of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. By enacting NAGPRA, Congress recognized that human remains of any ancestry "must at all times be treated with dignity and respect."
With the Creation of NAGPRA, museums, universities, and the federal government have been working with tribes to return the remains of their ancestors and to assist in the reburial.
Working with Tribes on Reburial
During the NAGPRA process, museums, universities, and government agencies review their collections for human remains and then publish that data in the Federal Register. The associated tribe can then come forward and take possession of the remains. In the area around LBL, the associated tribes are the Shawnee, the Cherokee, and the Chickasaw.
Tribes then often ask federal lands to assist in the reburial of the ancestors in locations close to the original excavation site. Land Between the Lakes is a proud partner of our associated tribes and works to assist our tribal partners on a regular basis.