Old Stone Fort - Manchester, TN
Posted by: 
ggmorton
N 35° 29.169 W 086° 06.163
16S E 581392 N 3927327
A nice state park with lots of hiking trails, and a nice visitors center in Manchester, TN which is on the NRHP.
Waymark Code: WM13N3M
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 01/12/2021
Views: 0
"Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park is a special type of Native American site, a hilltop ceremonial enclosure begun 2,000 years ago and used at least through the fifth century. It has been called the most spectacularly sited sacred area of its period in the United States.
Two rivers drop off of the Highland Rim and plunge dramatically to the Central Basin, where the forks of the Duck River create a promontory. During the Woodland prehistoric period, mound builders constructed a set of parallel mound walls on this narrow neck of land. These walls orient to within one degree of the sunrise on the summer solstice. Ancient societies often recognized this sunrise as a time to celebrate and reenact creation myths.
Old Stone Fort, now nearly 800 acres, was dedicated on April 23, 1966, by Governor Frank Clement. Although the park’s purpose is the preservation, protection, study and interpretation of an ancient culture, many visitors come to the park for visiting the museum, fishing, boating, hiking, picnicking and camping."
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"The site consists of earth and rock embankments enclosing about 50 acres at the end of a natural plateau where the forks of the Duck River converge. The earth and rock walls, which range from 3.6 to just over 6 feet in height were constructed where the bluffs along the forks of the Duck were not precipitous. The east wall along the Little Duck is 1,094 feet long. The west wall runs 1,396 feet along the bluffs of the Duck River proper. The south wall was constructed 2,116 feet from one stream to another. The so-called "north" wall is where the east and west walls converge to form an entrance which consists of two pedestal mounds at the ends of the east and west walls and two parallel "entrance" walls which run into the enclosure from the pedestal mounds, the west entrance wall being 214 feet long including 54 feet of a back entrance wall forming a "cul-de-sac." A ditch was located across the entranceway and between the pedestal mounds and parallel entrance walls. The walls have been damaged by earth and stone removal, historic building activities, and erosion, but the above description is considered fairly accurate, being based on several early descriptions and drawings, and on an archaeological excavation carried out by the University of Tennessee Department of Anthropology in 1966.
The Old Stone Fort is one of the finest examples of a prehistoric enclosure site in the Southeastern United States. It is also the only site of its kind in North America that has been extensively excavated and described in the recent literature. Although early interest in the site was stimulated by the idea that this structure was built by pre-Columbian European explorers (e.g. Norse, Welsh), excavation by the University of Tennessee demonstrated that the details of construction are very similar to those found in the Hopewell enclosure sites of Ohio, and the C-14 dates from the walls ranging between A.D. 30 and 430 confirm its construction during the Middle Woodland period by Indians who had cultural ties to the Hopewell culture of the Ohio Valley. The function of this and similar sites is still in question, but future excavation here could solve this problem. Some of the walls have been partially destroyed by historic depredations, but the 1966 excavation at this site and future field work should provide for one of the best restorations of this type of site in the eastern United States.
The approximately 50-acre site is now part of the Old Stone Fort State Park, comprising some 675 acres, developed by the Department of Conservation of the State of Tennessee."
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