MTSU professor, Tanya Peres, has recently launched the Rutherford County Archaeology Research Program in the hopes of exploring and recording all the prehistoric cultural resources in the county.
In 1776, explorer James Adair met with a group of Native Americans at Black Fox Springs near present day Murfreesboro. They told him their ancestors used the area as a hunting ground.
Since the Tennessee Division of Archaeology began recording sites, more than 1,300 prehistoric sites have been located in Williamson and Davidson counties, whereas Rutherford County only has 275 currently on record.
In Peres’ mission to add to the county’s list, she’s starting with an archaeological field school for MTSU students at the Magnolia Valley equestrian farm in Eagleville.
Peres explained she chose Magnolia Valley because former student Jesse Tune suggested they use his mother’s land in Eagleville.
Mary Tune purchased the land in 2006 and her son, being a curious archaeologist, did some digging in 2008 and found artifacts that suggested humans lived on the farm in the Paleo Era, which dates roughly from 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, to the Archaic Era, which dates roughly from 3,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Read More: Group doing archaeological digs in Rutherford and MTSU students discover plenty of history at first Archaeological Field School
