Perhaps it was the awe-inspiring vista that drew them there. It might have been a sacred place used for worship that brought them a little closer to the azure sky and beyond.
Whatever led them to the spot, these unknown people left their mark on the mountain. Unlike scribblings in sand lost quickly with the tides, these rock carvings have been preserved.
But even in the 21st century, the recent discovery at Pinnacle still is shrouded in mystery. Exactly who made the carvings or why is purely speculative, said Tommy Charles, an archaeologist with the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology in Columbia.
Archaeologists have reason to think the carvings may be thousands of years old, dating to the Archaic period, long before the time of the Cherokee Indians.
They are unlike historic carvings, which generally have some types of easily recognizable symbols, such as faces, letters or numbers, Charles said. The petroglyphs at Pinnacle, strictly geometric symbols, can't be tied in with any other historic period, he said.
Archaeologists also think the petroglyphs are prehistoric because they are far more eroded than more recent finds, yet they are deeply carved and well preserved, Charles said.
The carvings, also known as petroglyphs, are there by the hundreds, carved in metamorphic rock called gneiss.
The geometric designs in one location are circles and ovals. Some are the size of a chicken's egg; others are as big as a man's hand. One collection of shapes even resembles a tiger's paw.
All but one face west, so Charles said they may be connected with sun worship or at least an appreciation of the sun. But since there are no written records to support the theory, there is no way to say whether the carvings are religious or simply anonymous doodling, he said.
Local outdoorsman Dennis Chastain, who has hunted n the woods of the Jocassee Gorges for the past 30 years, had eaten his lunch on the spot probably a dozen times before discovering the petroglyphs with Charles.
"You can pick up an Indian arrowhead anywhere in this state and take it to a good archaeologist, and he or she can tell you with some degree of certainty how old it is, what it was used for and what tribe or culture manufactured it," Chastain said. "These petroglyphs, on the other hand, are an absolute mystery."
More questions are being raised as discoveries are being documented. Less than a mile away, nearly 200 petroglyphs with rectangular, horseshoe and P-shaped carvings were found on a single rock at a resort near Table Rock in Pickens County, Charles said.
What archaeologists think is an ancient pictograph, or drawing on rock, also was found last year on a remote mountainside in northern Pickens County.
While Greenville, Laurens and Oconee counties also are yielding good finds, Pickens County probably has more petroglyphs than other counties, Charles said.
Finding the Pinnacle Mountain petroglyphs was an added bonus because it is part of the 33,000-acre Jocassee Gorges tract recently purchased by the state for preservation.
The public eventually may be able to visit the site, which has been tagged as a possible stop along the 400-mile Palmetto Trail under development from Oconee State Park to north of Charleston.
The Natural Resources Department plans to survey the entire area for petroglyphs, so they can be protected and preserved, said department archaeologist Chris Judge. Such artifacts are very fragile and sensitive, and it is illegal for anyone to disturb or vandalize them, he said.
Until a few years ago, only six petroglyphs had been recorded in the entire state.
Since then, there has been an active search program called the South Carolina Rock Art Survey, and hundreds of carvings have been found in remote mountains in the Upstate and even in downtown Columbia.
Development, weather and pollution are causing the rock carvings to deteriorate and eventually disappear. Unless they are recorded, part of the state's heritage will be gone forever, Charles said
Prehistoric Petroglyphs Discovery In South Carolina
[Original headline: Pinnacle Mountain petroglyphs pose mystery]
Jocassee Gorges, S.C. [AP] - Hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, ancient peoples may have sat in silent meditation on Pinnacle Mountain.
Asheville Citizen-Times / NC - December 3 2000
