
The Duck River cache is the
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
collection of 46
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a collection of Native American societies that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building la ...
artifacts discovered by a worker on at the
Link Farm site in
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...
in December 1894.
Chert objects

The cache has been called "perhaps the most spectacular single collection of prehistoric Native American art ever discovered in the eastern United States".
"Nearly four dozen ceremonial stone knives, daggers, swords, maces, and other striking examples of prehistoric stonework".
The ceremonial objects are made from
Dover chert, a type of
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
found exclusively in the nearby
Dover, Tennessee
Dover is a city in and the county seat of Stewart County, Tennessee, west-northwest of Nashville on the Cumberland River. Fort Donelson National Cemetery is in Dover. The population was 1,442 at the 2000 census and the 2010 census showed a pop ...
area.
Stone statues
A few months later in March 1895 the same but slightly deeper location was also the site of the discovery of a paired male and female set of
Mississippian sandstone statues nicknamed "Adam" and "Eve". The male statue is now at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
and the female statue has been lost. The site is preserved as part of the
Johnsonville State Historic Park.
See also
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Mississippian copper plates
*
Mississippian culture pottery
Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine ( ...
*
Mound Bottom
*
Obion Mounds
References
External links
PBS Antiques Roadshow Appraises Duck River Cache and The Ancestor
Mississippian culture
North American sculpture
Native American relics
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