Submitted by Jim Langford ([email protected])

Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society member Jim Langford sent thesga.org this notice…. NWGAS is a Chapter of the Society for Georgia Archaeology.\

Mayans in North Georgia??? This question raised some eyebrows and much heated discussion a few weeks ago when a Georgian posed this as a “substantiated” fact.

Come to the Museum at Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site on Thursday, March 15th at 7:00pm to hear the REAL story of rock structures on a mountainside in Union County, Georgia—structures that sparked this controversy. Our speaker for this meeting of the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society will be Dr. Jannie Loubser, an archaeologist and world expert on rock carvings and rock structures.

Dr. Loubser has spent several years exploring and recording rock carvings and rock structures in Georgia. Many of these were built by native populations and these carvings and structures date back hundreds and even thousands of years. Recently, some enthusiasts reported that some of these investigations by Dr. Loubser prove that Mayans settled in Georgia several hundred years ago. Dr. Loubser and other Georgia archaeologists dispute this claim. Regardless of the lack of connection to Mayans, these rock structures and carvings are fascinating remnants of very early cultures in Georgia. And we can learn many things from these cultural treasures.

Dr. Loubser is a native of South Africa and received his doctorate degree from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a post-doctorate degree from the University of Canberra in Australia. He has more than 30 years of experience in researching and preserving rock art and rock structures in several countries around the world including South Africa, Australia and the United States.

We are very lucky to have Jannie come and speak to us on March 15th, at 7:00pm at the Etowah Indian Mounds Museum near Cartersville. The public is invited to the meeting and there is no charge for attendance. For more information, you may call Jim Langford at 404-285-2001, Jack Walker at 770-655-2595, or Etowah Indian Mounds Museum at 770-387-3747.

The museum is located just west of downtown Cartersville at 815 Indian Mounds Road. You can find it by taking exit 288 off of I-75 (north of Atlanta) and following the brown directional signs. Also, see map below.

Where to find it

Click above to go to a larger Google interactive map of the area.

Posted online on Monday, March 5th, 2012

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