Hunting Rock Shelters

[Tnmountains]

Hello
I have not posted anything in a while and did not want you all to think I have been slacking... Have been out in the mountains working on some leases and decided to try and find some new rock shelters to hunt over the Tennessee Valley and thought I would show what comes out of them. The first picture you all have seen before but it is one of my favotites.The second picture is looking off the mountain. I lease all the places I am showing and have written rights to all my activities (fun).


Here are just a few of the shelters I found. The ones dug out I just kept hiking but you can see some morters left years ago on the ground. Key componet is always a nearby water source and they do not have to face south as many people think.

Not dug

Morters left from previous diggers on the ground. Slight impression in the stone or a cupped area from grinding.

Not dug.

This was the best looking shelter I found..Its non dug and a test hole gave me charcoal at 3 feet and a broke curved base.


Here are a few points all found while digging rock shelters in the past.




Time permitts I hope to be able to hunt these this year before hunting season.I know we all hunt fields and water ways but thought it might also be fun to see some rock shelters. Hopefully I will be able to share some recent finds. Thanks for looking.
TnMountains

 

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[archer66]

But you are right about digging around any rock on the floor as that is where you will find most your stuff that and the back walls. So many of these mountain type shelters were seasonal and all about the hickory nuts. The valley held the game most times. They would go up there to get nuts and make tools in their spare time. Rare is the pottery.Now if the shelter is near the base of the valley or like russel cave down the road you had better camp out and write a book about it.
: ). On average I would say there are shelters on the bluffs and tops of the mountains say 3 every mile with some places having as many as 10-20 per mile. Anywhere there is an overhang somebody built a fire at some point.
Its so diffrent in the valleys and rivers

I have a question about cave hunting. You mention artifacts are often found on the back walls....do you mean as far back as you can go or on any wall anywhere?? There is a nice cave on my family place that I can easily walk several hundred feet back in before I have to start crawling and scooting. Would you imagine most of the artifacts hidden in that cave to be nearer the front or scattered or to the back? The entrance is about 20 foot high and the rock ledge around the entrance extends for probably 60 foot beyond the opening to one side. Once you get inside the ceiling is high and the floor is solid rock with a small stream flowing out of it. The walls step up to a ledge that recedes until it meets the ceiling (shown in the second and third pic). I thought I had a pic from the outside but I don't. There is a pile of debris that has fallen from the roof just outside of the opening under the overhang that is pretty much right on the spot that I would want my summertime campfire if I were living in that cave. The shelfs inside the cave are covered in mud ranging from centimeters deep to several inches deep in some spots. My dad found a cache of spearpoints tucked back in a hole in the wall back in the early 1950's, and my cousins did some digging around the opening several years ago. They did it all wrong and dug thru several layers of campfire remains without really taking the time to pay attention to what was present in those layers. I had no idea that was happening or I would have put a stop to it. The found points, teeth, campfire remains and who knows what else. Personally I am not experienced enough to do any digging so I intend to leave it alone...unlike my idiot cousins. I am wondering though if I can sysematically check every crevice and nook and cranny and maybe come up with some nice finds? This cave is in my grandfathers back yard so it has had human contamination in it off and on for at least the last 75 years so who knows what is left. Regardless here are the pics....someday I'll get in there and get some better ones.

 

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[creek astronaut]

tn mts heck i may just not go to the race!after seeing that spot i mite rather be there all week.wouldnt even need to look for artifacts to be a happy camper at that great spot.but i got the tickets already,will be giving you a shout in a few weeks.great show guys the pics are ridiculous.

 

[redlined]

Man the memories those pics bring back. Before I got married, kids, and everything else, digging was all I'd do. Looks very much like the rock shelters here as well. We once found a small cave overlooking a river deep on a ridgeline, it was slap full of artifacts and freshwater mussel shells from that little river. We used to do the same as you, only we waited until late summer, and ginseng hunted while we scouted new bluffs to dig. By the time the 'seng died back in the fall, we had found enough new places to keep us busy for another year. Sadly, I've been out of the digging loop so long, I don't even know what the laws are in this state anymore. Anyhow, thanks for giving me the itch again, seeing those big overhangs made my pulse jump quite a bit.

FWIW, some of those smaller shelters really give up the high quality stuff at times. We dug gorgets, celts, and some great Archaic point types out of shelters no bigger than an average size hotel room. We dug some great stuff out of the huge shelters too, but running four sifters and a 8' vertical wall of dirt in front of you is really more like work than fun, plus the possibility of a cave-in can makes things a little hairy......

Once in a blue moon you hit a real nice one. We found a few during deer season one time went back and some guys had rigged a pump to a creek and washed them out.There was mud on the ceilings. They pillaged for years. 10 years later I met the guy that did it. I still get upset the way they went about their hunts.
Yours was a year round shelter with a good creek. They are rare now days if almost unheard of to see one not dug. Go back and see what all you missed at your shelter of long ago. Glad it brought back good memories.
TnMountains

The one with the mussels, wasn't really all that big, we pretty well had it licked in a few weekends. There are two however, that we dug on and off for years, there was literally fire ash over ten feet deep from the grounds surface in the heart of the shelter, and I knew going in it had been dug by several since the mid 60's! I'm certain there is still a ton in that one, and Buck Creek's were about the most prevalent point type there. You are right about finding one undug, I still keep an eye out while hunting, and most everything you find has already been dug. I have found though that most are very sloppy about how they dig. We used to go through others old siftings to get at the new material underneath and found plenty they had missed........

 

[abarnard]

Very cool pics TN, I wish I had some rock shelters to go explore; way cool. Those are some nice finds, and I hope you get a chance to dig those new shelters you found before hunting season. Good luck, can't wait to see the pics...

 

[Tnmountains]

But you are right about digging around any rock on the floor as that is where you will find most your stuff that and the back walls. So many of these mountain type shelters were seasonal and all about the hickory nuts. The valley held the game most times. They would go up there to get nuts and make tools in their spare time. Rare is the pottery.Now if the shelter is near the base of the valley or like russel cave down the road you had better camp out and write a book about it.
: ). On average I would say there are shelters on the bluffs and tops of the mountains say 3 every mile with some places having as many as 10-20 per mile. Anywhere there is an overhang somebody built a fire at some point.
Its so diffrent in the valleys and rivers

I have a question about cave hunting. You mention artifacts are often found on the back walls....do you mean as far back as you can go or on any wall anywhere?? There is a nice cave on my family place that I can easily walk several hundred feet back in before I have to start crawling and scooting. Would you imagine most of the artifacts hidden in that cave to be nearer the front or scattered or to the back? The entrance is about 20 foot high and the rock ledge around the entrance extends for probably 60 foot beyond the opening to one side. Once you get inside the ceiling is high and the floor is solid rock with a small stream flowing out of it. The walls step up to a ledge that recedes until it meets the ceiling (shown in the second and third pic). I thought I had a pic from the outside but I don't. There is a pile of debris that has fallen from the roof just outside of the opening under the overhang that is pretty much right on the spot that I would want my summertime campfire if I were living in that cave. The shelfs inside the cave are covered in mud ranging from centimeters deep to several inches deep in some spots. My dad found a cache of spearpoints tucked back in a hole in the wall back in the early 1950's, and my cousins did some digging around the opening several years ago. They did it all wrong and dug thru several layers of campfire remains without really taking the time to pay attention to what was present in those layers. I had no idea that was happening or I would have put a stop to it. The found points, teeth, campfire remains and who knows what else. Personally I am not experienced enough to do any digging so I intend to leave it alone...unlike my idiot cousins. I am wondering though if I can sysematically check every crevice and nook and cranny and maybe come up with some nice finds? This cave is in my grandfathers back yard so it has had human contamination in it off and on for at least the last 75 years so who knows what is left. Regardless here are the pics....someday I'll get in there and get some better ones.

Archer
Great looking cave and overhang. I would check in the cave in the nooks and crannys for caches for sure. I know they did not want to sleep in that water so you are right to hunt the overhangs out front. Unless there is a dirt floor to the side or in the back. Remember that the smoke had to go out the front so if the fire was towards the back of a cave it might smoke them out. Look for smoke stains on the ceilings and from any of the fallen rock out front. I imagine that there is a lot there.Set up a sifter and learn to dig it.It could be great under the collapsed ceiling outside. I do not know how much water the cave pushes out in hard rains.If its a lot then it was the same way long ago.If the cave does not fluctuate much from hard rains I would check that creek very good. Sometimes you find as many in the creeks outside as you do the shelter.
It is well worth spending some time and doing some test holes and scouting around. I bet there is much there still to be found and some may be washed down that creek.
Let me know how you do and keep us posted on what you find. Its an exciting much harder type of hunt but very rewarding to hunt in their living rooms.

 

[pickaway]

Nice pics & finds...

 

[irbaddadjoe]

Those shelters are awesome!!!!!

 

[Charmin]

I'm speechless.

Me, too !! I keep coming back to this post and just drool! I hope when you get to do some sifting (or whatever you're gonna do), that you post some more pics for us to see.
regards~~sandcreek

 

[Tnmountains]

Am heading there in the morn. I have to show the property to some hunters. I hope they are smart and dont take all day. I threw some tools in the back of the truck just in case we have a little time. I am going to try to come in over the top to save some time.If I can find it that way !!!
lol. Glad everyone is enjoying and sharing pics like Archers.
Later,
TnMountains

 

[bravowhiskey]

Was at the farm this last few days and have made a variety of posts about it. Pretty much ran the gammut on things to be done and to do. Never get it all done. But have a heck of a good time trying.
Here are a couple pics of rock shelters, I believe. Will be digging come fall. Can't wait.

Normally it is real dry this time of year, but recent rains have left the moss very green and lush.

May all your trails be happy,

BW

 

[Tnmountains]

Was at the farm this last few days and have made a variety of posts about it. Pretty much ran the gammut on things to be done and to do. Never get it all done. But have a heck of a good time trying.
Here are a couple pics of rock shelters, I believe. Will be digging come fall. Can't wait.


Normally it is real dry this time of year, but recent rains have left the moss very green and lush.

May all your trails be happy,

BW

Bravo those look like real good ones. I can bet you will post something from them. I hiked for miles today and the bugs ate us alive. Am whipped. Thank you for sharing Bravo and keep us posted.
TnMountains