This Late Archaic site was primarily a soapstone bowl quarry & workshop, but also contains boulders with engraved design elements.   There are examples of bowl preforms and bowl extraction scars on several of the rocks.   The area was inhabited throughout the Woodlands and Mississipian periods.   It is located on private property. (Note - this site was photographed on various dates.   Consequently, images of the same subject may look different due to varying weather conditions.) Area A (9TO25) - Early 2019:

Soapstone petroglyph rock I wish I had taken more photos showing the surrounding area. As it was, this was the widest view I shot.

Soapstone petroglyph rock, with low sunlight highlighting details.

Same viewpoint, under wet (drizzly) conditions

From another angle... These engravings are believed to date from the Middle Woodland to Late Mississippian periods.

This view coincides with the tracing in the next photo...

J. Loubser's re-drawn tracing of carved rock features. (Fold-out view showing top and sides in one plane.)

Detail view of several cupules on the rock.

In addition to the cupules, the rock contains several petroglyphs, seen here on the RH corner of the rock.

Closer view of the "vulva" petroglyph. This relatively common rock art motif is associated with female fertility. To the left is another petroglyph; worn and hard to see, it is possibly a footprint.

Several bowl preforms are also found in this area:

Bowl preform on Boulder ZZ Or perhaps a broken extraction stub which didn't detach properly...

From another angle Note this boulder is not in its original position, but was likely moved during road construction.

One more view of preform / stub on Boulder ZZ

Bowl preform on Boulder YY

Devil's Walking Stick   (Aralia spinosa) - Don't grab this!

Click here for Site TO4FE, Area B (9TO294)

All Text & Images: Copyright 2019.