I’ve looked into the theories to explain Judaculla Rock. My favorite is that it reflects prehistoric access to the microscope since the carvings on the rock so closely resemble microorganisms. http://gulahiyi.blogspot.com/2007/01/judacullas-microscope.html
I didn’t say that was the most credible theory, but I give it high marks for ingenuity.
It was good to see that some folks met recently with the intention of taking better care of the old petroglyph and I hope their efforts come to fruition. But that meeting got me to thinking again about the origins of Judaculla Rock.
Here’s one possibility:
We’re told that early settlers remember Cherokee elders coming to Judaculla Rock every year to commemorate a battle with the Creeks in 1755. According to that explanation, the various designs on the rock correspond to the events of the conflict.
But what of that episode in 1755?
The Battle of Taliwa was fought in Ball Ground, GA to settle a land dispute. The Cherokee war chief, Oconostota, led 500 warriors against a much larger band of Creeks. Despite being outnumbered, the Cherokees scored a decisive victory, with the Creeks retreating to the south of the Chattahoochee River, and relinquishing their former territory.
Assuming Judaculla Rock depicts this episode of history, there should be some image on the rock depicting Nancy Ward (1738-1822). She was, at the time, a teenager known as Nanye-hi. When her husband was mortally wounded in the battle, she took up his gun, sang a war song and led the Cherokees to victory, gaining her the title of “Warrior Woman.”
After the battle, Nanye-hi married a white trader, Bryant Ward, and encouraged peace between white settlers and the Cherokee. She became known as the “Beloved Woman” for her humanitarian efforts. Later in her life, and years before the Removal of 1838, Nancy Ward had this prophetic vision:
A great line of our people marching on foot. Mothers with babies in their arms. Fathers with small children on their backs. Grandmothers and grandfathers with large bundles on their backs. They were marching West and the "unaka” (white soldiers) were behind them. They left a trail of corpses, the weak, the sick who could not survive the journey.
If the elders did gather at Judaculla Rock to share war stories, some of their memories must have included the remarkable Nancy Ward.