The AACA internet database on Lithic Sourcing lists 17 types of flint or
chert which are found in Tennessee. Some of these, such as Boone, Buffalo
River and Hornstone, are known to most collectors. Others, like Bach Creek
and Frog Mountain, are known only to specialists and residents of the particulate
localities where they are found. However one type of Tennessee chert is known
to almost everyone, Dover.
Named after the small town of Dover in Stewart County, in north central
Tennessee, Dover chert is a tan/brownish material of medium hardness. Dr.
Richard Michael Gramly reports in his work Prehistoric Lithic Industry at
Dover, Tennessee, that outcroppings of Dover chert have been found in southern
Illinois and western Kentucky as well as the Highland Rim of Tennessee. However,
the principal quarry is near the town of Dover, where Gramly reports over
4000 pounds of spoilage in just one of the pits which he excavated (Figs.
1-3). Dover chert has been found at Poverty Point and Beau Rivage in the
context of sites which date from 1500 B.C. It was the material used in a
Clovis point found in Mississippi. So time wise, Dover chert was used beginning
in the Paleo period all the way through the Mississippian period. Geographically,
Gramly reports Dover chert being found at such far-flung locations as the
Spiro site in La Flore County, Oklahoma as well in Brown County, Illinois
and at Etowah in Barstow County, Georgia.
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This excerpt from "Dover Swords" published
in the 2018 Central States Archaeological Societies 2018
October Journal
Read the complete 8 page column in the Central
States Archaeological Societies 2018
October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2019
|
|
|
Figure 1. The Dover Quarry, also known as Revnik
site. Outcrops of Dover chert are seen throughout this small valley,
and the ancient quarry pits are visible. Once the material was excavated,
it was hauled more than one-half mile away to a large workshop area.
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From a geological standpoint Dover is the same material as Fort Payne and
Muldraugh cherts. However, at least to the author, Fort Payne (which is found
in the area where Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama intersect), appearance-wise,
has a dark, almost blackish tone throughout it, while Dover maintains a lighter
and more consistent tannish-brown colorization.
Dover chert does not respond to heat treatment. However, Waldroft reports
that Dover has the interesting property of being easier to work after it
is soaked in water and, conversely, becomes harder after being allowed to
dry. It is believed that this is why workshops were generally located near
local streams. If Dover is the chert most associated with Tennessee, then
the sword and other specialized Mississippian items which have been found
with them are the iconic items associated with Dover chert.
Gregory Perino describes what he refers to as the Duck River Sword (formally
named by James A. Brown in 1976 though informally this name predates its
use in a publication) as having a “long, narrow and willow-leaf shape…pointed
to rounded at the end.” He also describes them as having a rounded
or pointed base with a tip which is needle-like or converging. This needle
tip has sometimes been described as a “rat-tail.”
Accompanying the sword are at least five other types of flint objects which
are known to be found in conjunction with swords: the spiked dagger, the
sickle or “curve,” the circle (sometimes referred to as a “sun
circle”), the mace and the flint hafted celt or monolithic axe.
Located almost 30 miles due south of the Dover quarries is the Link Farm
(Fig. 4), known to history as the location where the Duck River Cache was
found. This was described at the time and is still considered by many to
be the greatest archaeological discovery in North America (at least north
of Mexico). The cache, which is today on permanent display at the McClung
Museum (Fig. 5) contains all six types of Dover artifacts. (editor’s
note: See
the article in this issue on the cache).
Read the complete 8 page column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2018
October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2019
|
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Figure 2. A large quarry pit on the
hillside at the Dover quarry site. |
Figure 3. Fractured dover nodules lying on the surface
from prehistoric mining operations. |
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Read the complete 8 page column in the Central
States Archaeological Societies 2018
October Journal which
can be purchased on-line after March 2019 |
Perhaps like many early discoveries the exact history of the cache is shrouded
in myth and legend. Buddy Brehm in his 1981 publication The History of the
Duck River Cache ( Fig. 6), does what I consider to be the best work in sorting
the history surrounding its discovery all out. He concludes that the cache
was found in 1894 by a hired workman who was “grubbing” a field at the Link farm. Grubbing involves the removal of shrubs and brush in order to make a piece of land tillable. Today
this is done by machinery, but in 1894 involved hard, manual labor. While there were mounds on the Link Farm, the cache was found “as
a bundle” separate from the mounds. Four months later in the following
year, someone dug below where the cache was found and uncovered two stone
figures known as “Adam” and “Eve.” In 1936-1937 the
University of Tennessee conducted a field survey of the site and found two
maces, a
sword, and several performs in the floor of a house which they theorized
was the home of the artisan who created the items.
As an aside, the story of Adam and Eve is itself fascinating. They were
last together in the Edward Payne collection. Adam passed through several
owners including Vice President Nelson Rockefeller before ending up at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eve has simply disappeared.
|
This excerpt from "Dover Swords" published
in the 2018 Central States Archaeological Societies 2018
October Journal
Read the complete 8 page column in the Central
States Archaeological Societies 2018
October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2019
|
|
|
Figure 5. The Duck River cache on display at the
McClung Museum on the campus of the University
of Knoxville.
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