Native American Rock Carvings of the Carolina Mountains

Date: May 18th, 2019

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve

Speaker: Dennis Chastain, noted naturalist, historian, and outdoor writer

In the late 1990’s, Dennis Chastain and now retired archaeologist, Tommy Charles, discovered more than 600 circle type petroglyphs on Pinnacle and Table Rock Mountains in northwestern South Carolina. In later years, a grand total of more than 2,000 of these curious artifacts have been documented at fifteen different sites, ranging from Pisgah National Forest and DuPont State Forest in North Carolina to the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in South Carolina.

Chastain will present a slideshow about the petroglyphs, or ancient Native American rock carvings, found in the mountains of both North and South Carolina. He will discuss a recent archaeological study, which he co-authored along with Dr. Johnanes Loubser, concerning the circle petroglyphs on Pinnacle Mountain. The slideshow will also cover a wide variety of other rock carvings, including Judaculla Rock near Cullawhee, NC and more than 20 stick figure petroglyphs at Hagood Mill near Pickens, SC, as well as numerous other petroglyphs and pictographs (cave paintings) from both Carolinas.

Dennis is an award-winning outdoor writer, interpretive naturalist, and modern-day explorer.  He has been writing feature articles for South Carolina Wildlife magazine and other outdoor publications for more than twenty years. As you’ll soon discover, by using his skills as a naturalists and his love of cultural history, Dennis has a unique way of interpreting what can be seen when exploring the local mountains.