Information AboutChatata |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CHATATA | |
| archaeological sites in tennessee | |
| bradley county, tennessee | |
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The small community that now exists in this area is known as Tasso, a name that during the 1800s and 1900s gradually replaced the original Native American name of Chatata for this region. Today the Chatata name survives in references to Chatata Creek, which flows through Bradley County into the Hiawassee River, as well as the moniker applied to a local golf course and country club. Chatata is an area of significant archeological / geological / palentological interest because of the so-called Chatata Wall excavated there over a century ago. In 1891, Issac Hooper noticed a line of sandstone rocks protruding from the surface of his farm every 10 meters or so over a gently curving arc about 300 meters long. Unusual symbols seemed to be inscribed on one of these surface stones. Visiting New York professor A. L. Rawson took an interest in the site and funded excavations there. A meter-high three-ply sandstone wall was unearthed with markings located on one surface of the middle layer. Rawson believed these markings to be Hebrew and claimed to translate several chapters of the Old Testament from them, evidence to him that one or more of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel had arrived in Tennessee before Europeans or even the Cherokee. Subsequent visits to the site by other scientists, and samples from the Wall displayed for a time at the Smithsonian Institution , failed to generate support for Rawson's claims. The Chatata Wall faded from the public limelight, and today its exact location is effectively unknown. Originally believed upon its discovery to be an artificial structure, the Chatata Wall was ultimately judged to be a natural phenomenon. Whether its strange markings were of human, geological or palentological origin is still a matter of debate. References: Rawson, A.L.; "The ancient inscription on a wall at Chatata, Tennessee." Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 11 (November 9, 1891): 26-8 Rawson, A.L.; "The Ancient Inscription at Chatata, Tennessee," American Antiquarian, 14: 221, 1892 Wirth, Diane E.; "An Ancient Wall at Chatata, Bradley County, Tennessee", Ancient American, 1:20, September/ October 1994. Edwards, A.; "The Mysterious Wall of Bradley County", The People News, October 2004. |
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