FRANKLIN — Paul Litchy’s backyard at the end of a modern-day Franklin cul-de-sac was once a stomping ground for ice age man and beast.
This week, his backyard became one of 11 places added to the National Register of Historic Places by the state Historical Commission.
An archaeological excavation last fall turned up the bones, artifacts and animal remains that archaeologists now say prove human activity occurred here before 12,000 B.C. Litchy’s property — known as the Coats-Hines site — is one of the two oldest human settlements documented in Tennessee. Read more.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - A Moccasin Bend spokesman says an archaeologist who discovered American Indian remains in a washout near an ongoing erosion project also discovered a nearby burial site that was looted at the historic site on the Tennessee River.
Spokesman Kent Cave said Wednesday that the burial sites were not uncovered by any erosion project work activity.
The Moccasin Bend National Archaeological District is part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and the grave looting and open burial site were discovered near an area where work is continuing on a $3.2 million first phase of riverbank stabilization work. Read more.
