<< Our Photo Pages >> Sandy Creek terrace complex - Ancient Village or Settlement in United States in The South
Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 07 March 2014 Page Views: 5792
Multi-periodSite Name: Sandy Creek terrace complexCountry: United States
NOTE: This site is 53.95 km away from the location you searched for.
Region: The South Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Athens
Latitude: 34.033889N Longitude: 83.376667W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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External Links:
Richard L. Thornton writes: A recent discovery of ancient stone-walled terraces, stone cairns and the apparent ruins of structures on publicly owned land. North of Athens, GA in Sandy Creek Park
Through the years, photographer Mack Dana Jones has been increasingly intrigued by a complex of ancient stone retaining walls, apparent ruins of stone structures, and in the northeastern corner of the park, well over a hundred fieldstone cairns. There are apparently two types of retaining walls. Some are skillfully laid, from 50 to 200 feet (15m-61m) long. Others are much shorter and simply piles of long-aged field stones that functioned as check dams in swales. Amorphous piles of stones are interspersed among the walls. The area containing cairns, which are stacked columns of fieldstones, is about 800 feet (244 m) north of the terraces. There are no signs of terraces among the cairns
Sandy Creek Park does not have signage concerning the ancient stone works. The publications of the Athens-Clarke County Historical Society do not mention the apparent ruins. Jones even browsed through archeological literature, but found no mention of the site. Employees of the Athens-Clarke County Recreation Department had little information on the stone ruins. Most were not aware that they even existed.
Mack Jones is currently preparing an Archaeological Site Nomination Form to submit to the Georgia Division of Historic Preservation. This is the first step toward bringing professional archaeologists to the site. It is always possible that publicity about Sandy Creek Park will attract archaeology professors and students from the nearby University of Georgia.
If the Sandy Creek Park Terrace Complex turns out to be Native American in origin, it, along with the better documented Track Rock Gap Terrace Complex, will mandate major changes to the history and anthropology books about eastern North America. If it is “merely” the ruins or 19th century industry or an agricultural experiment by European settlers, the site still deserves recognition and protection. It is unique in the Southern Piedmont.
Read more in The Examiner
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