I finally found an Indian bluff shelter in Bankhead Tuesday that I'd been hunting off and on for maybe 30 years. A now departed Cherokee Elder friend of mine had given me just enough info about the shelter to make me lose sleep thinking about it. His 3rd great grandfather had passed the info down to his grandfather many, many years ago. My friend said he thought it was a drawing of his ancient grandfather catching a wild dog. See what you think.
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The charcoal (?) drawing is in a well protected area of the shelter where it is never in direct sunlight or exposed to rain etc. I have no way to prove it's authentic except the old man had no reason to lie to me. I have very few details on it but he thought it would have been drawn in the early 1800's. This is my intrepretation only but I don't really know.
It looks like the animal in the bottom right has a tether of some kind tied around his neck (and leg?) to keep him in the area. Then the hard part is what is the man doing? Could he be throwing a net of some kind over the dog / animal that is running away? Again pure speculation on my part. The man and the long black swath may not even be connected in the original drawing. Is the long black swath representing a rattlesnake? If the man is swinging a club etc he may be acquiring his next meal. Your guess is as good as mine. But we can all agree whatever it depicts, it is interesting.