Native or slave?

[DigEmAll]

What do you guys think? This was found in a cliff shelter overlooking the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Is this slave art, or native art? It looks slave to me, however it was found with some for sure indian things.

[Cannonman17]

That's a really cool find. I would think slave art more though because of it's ultra-strong african facial features.

[Oroblanco]

I tend to agree with Cannonman here, looks like most likely slave art - however it also resembles Olmec artifacts, might pay to do more research on this item. COOL find, I might add, though that may give away my age...
Oroblanco

[diggummup]

Maybe it was made for a runaway slave that was befriended by an indian?Nice interesting find.

[DigEmAll]

I was thinking that maybe the slave was traveling the river and was caught in a storm. He then went up to the cliff shelter to wait it out. Found some indian things there and became "inspired" to leave something himself.

It's all speculation... nobody will ever know how it got there for sure. I was just wondering what you guys think about who might have made it.

[COUNTRY GIRL]

CAN NOT WAIT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS ONE!! I'D OF PEED A LITTLE OVER A FIND LIKE THAT!! SWEET!

[badandy]

Looks like slave to me, Still neat though. LOL, Country Girl!
badandy