Preliminary investigations at the Skeleton Mountain site, 1CA157, Calhoun county, Alabama.

ABSTRACT

In 2007, the Jacksonville State University Archaeological Resource Laboratory and several volunteers began the investigation of a stone feature on the crest of Skeleton Mountain overlooking the former Fort McClellan in Calhoun County, Alabama. JSU-ARL researchers believe prehistoric Woodland and/or Mississippian Indian populations constructed this structure between 2500 to 800 years ago as part of their ceremonial/mortuary rituals.

INTRODUCTION

In March 2007, Jacksonville State University Archaeological Resource Laboratory (JSU-ARL) staff and volunteers began the preliminary mapping and photographing of the stone snake effigy. Approximately three days were spent clearing, mapping, and photographing the stone structure and other stone features within the immediate vicinity.

In 1976, University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) staff archaeologists conducted the initial investigation of this stone feature and recorded it as site lCal57. Several recent push piles created by earth-moving equipment along the northern portion of the site were also noted (McEachern et al., 1980).

In the 1990s, as part of a Phase I Archaeological Survey of Fort McClellan, Jacksonville State University (JSU) archaeologists revisited the site and noted that the stone feature was constructed of loose, angular quartzite and limestone cobbles in a raised walkway-like structure of homogeneous height and width. This feature was laid in a serpentine fashion along the edge of the steep, western slope of Skeleton Mountain (Holstein et al., 1995) (Fig. 1).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]