Michelle Willard, Daily news Journal , September 18, 2015
MURFREESBORO—Officials presented a plan to transfer ownership of Black Cat Cave to Middle Tennessee State University at the Murfreesboro Planning Commission meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Archaeologists and Middle Tennessee State University students are examining Black Cat Cave at 3500 Old Lebanon Pike, where they discovered a Native American cemetery.(Photo: Submitted)
Angela Jackson, assistant director of the Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation Department, gave a history of the cave that is the reputed location of a speakeasy during the 1920s Prohibition era and recently discovered prehistoric artifacts.
“There were a lot of partners that helped us understand what we have,” she said, listing Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, faculty members Shannon Hodge and Tanya Peres, the Tennessee Division of Archaeology’s Aaron Deter-Wolf, and Pat Cummins with the Native History Association.
Through those collaborations, the city learned the cave housed artifacts and human remains from the prehistoric Middle Archaic Period, which were dated with radiocarbon-dating to 5,000-7,500 years ago.
Native American cemetery discovered at Black Cat Cave
“We believe Middle Tennessee State University is better suited to preserve the site,” Jackson said.
The city of Murfreesboro constructed an innovative gate system to prohibit public access to the property and still allow air and water exchange in the cave system as well as habitat for cave-dwelling species. (Photo: Submitted)
Because of the presence of a prehistoric Native American cemetery within the cave, the city and MTSU must make a joint application to the federal government to allow the deed to transfer.
“There are a number of steps that will have to be completed by the city and MTSU before request can be submitted and a transfer completed. In the meantime, the park remains closed to the public,” Jackson said.
The Murfreesboro City Council must also endorse the transfer, but Doug Young, who serves as a city councilman and as Planning Commission vice chairman, said he thinks it won’t be a problem to get council approval.
“This is a great opportunity for the university to explore the cave,” he said.
The city of Murfreesboro constructed an innovative
The city of Murfreesboro constructed an innovative gate system to prohibit public access to the property and still allow air and water exchange in the cave system as well as habitat for cave-dwelling species. (Photo: Submitted)
Young added he always thought Native Americans didn’t live in Rutherford County, but the remains and artifacts in the cave are proof that they did.
Hodge reinforced that fact with a presentation to the Planning Commission about the findings from an archaeological excavation last year by a team of MTSU professors and students.
“There is a very lengthy record of humans using this cave,” Hodge said. “It is culturally important as well as historically important.”
Traditionally, historians and archaeologists believed that for thousands of years much of Rutherford County was a “no-man’s-land” between neighboring groups, used simply as a hunting ground. But this site proves that prehistoric people lived and thrived in the rich environment and abundant natural resources in the county, Hodge said.
It’s importance led the city to construct an innovative gate system to prohibit public access to the property and still allow biological transparency, an important part of the design because it allows air and water exchange in the cave system as well as habitat for cave-dwelling species.
Griggs & Maloney Vice President Ryan Maloney said the new gate system is designed to protect cultural and natural resources and “prevent public access to a potentially hazardous environment.”
Contact Michelle Willard at 615-278-5164 or on Twitter @MichWillard.