MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE—Black Cat Cave, located in central Tennessee, has been secured by a public and private partnership including the City of Murfreesboro and Middle Tennessee State University. Recent excavations have shown that the cave, which served as a speakeasy in the 1920s, is the site of a Native American cemetery dating back 5,000 to 7,500 years. The new gate system will protect the prehistoric cemetery while allowing for water and air exchange in the cave system. “The ultimate goal is to protect this Native American site from future episodes of vandalism and looting, while gaining important archaeological information to better understand the long-term use of the cave by various groups that lived in Rutherford County,” Tanya Peres, now at Florida State University, said in a Middle Tennessee State University press release. To read about Pinson Mounds, another Native American site in Tennessee, go to "Off the Grid."
