Submitted by coldrum ----
A geologist who studied the Nikwasi Mound with a ground penetrating radar unit over the summer revealed his findings at the Franklin Town Hall last week. “It’s full of stuff, whatever it is,” said Western Carolina University Professor of Geology Blair Tormey of the Nikwasi Mound, located in downtown Franklin. Tormey has been working through the local Native American Cultural Sites Preservation Project to study and document the Nikwasi Mound.
Last June, Tormey used a ground penetrating radar unit to create mapping of the interior of the mound. He presented his findings to interested parties last Friday, Jan. 29. WCU Anthropology and Archaeology Professor Anne Rogers, Franklin Town Manager Sam Greenwood, Sharon Taylor with the Little Tennessee Land Trust and project supervisor Bill Evans were all in attendance.
Tormey said that his findings have revealed 123 targets, or objects, within the mound.
Tormey said that objects made of metal, such as utility lines and pipes, are easily picked out due to the signal received on the equipment. In addition to the 123 objects, or artifacts, detected within the mound’s boundaries, another 146 objects were detected outside the mound’s boundaries. “The objects found have weaker signals,” he said. “But, in terms of knowing what they are, it is a challenge.”
One object was one square meter in size and extended vertically from the top of the mound to the bottom. “It looks like a column going from top to bottom,” said Evans. He suggested the detected column could have been a hollow cedar log smoke stack that the Cherokee used to keep a fire going at all times.
“Everyone lit their fires from the central fire,” agreed Rogers. Tormey spoke of eternal flame mounds that used a cedar log to house the fire, packing dirt around the log as the mound continued to rise in height.
Another interesting find was a perfect oval that measures 50 feet by 30 feet in dimension. “It could be a small mound,” Tormey said of what he called a “large sub-mound structure” within the mound itself. No objects were located within the oval although the earth was clearly very densely packed within the defined space.
Since the Nikwasi Mound is protected, excavation is not likely. Rogers said that it would be interesting to see the similarities or differences between GPR findings at Nikwasi and at other area mounds such as the Cowee Mound. “There are still some that are accessible and could be studied,” she said.
Referring to mounds that have been lost to development or other causes, Rogers said, “The more we find out about these particular towns, the more we will understand the ones we will never see again.”
The Native American Cultural Sites Preservation Project seeks to inventory and preserve culturally significant sites.
For more, see http://www.maconnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6291&Itemid=34.
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