European Bronze Age ships and wagon identified on the Tugaloo Stone

Only the Scandinavian Hjartspring Boat had a shallow enough draft to reach the location of the stone monument on the Tugaloo River ~ headwaters of the Savannah River. The rapid flow of the Lower Savannah River would have prevented the other vessels from getting much farther upstream than present-day Downtown Savannah.

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

The Tugaloo Stone was discovered on a low mound adjacent to the Tugaloo River near Toccoa, GA in 1795. The monument marked the starting point for an important trade route, which connected with the Nacoochee Valley gold fields. It can be seen now at the Traveler’s Rest State Historic Site museum. Generally ignored by academicians for the past 228 years, I became the first person in 2017 to realize that it had been displayed upside down for over two centuries.

The image above is one of the frames of my new video on the Kingdom of Apalache. I thought readers would be interested in seeing it. Most of the symbols on the images are constellations used by Bronze Age European navigators. The oval ones are seasons of the year.

I was able to precisely identify the ships with a beautifully illustrated book on Naval History that I purchased at the US Naval Academy book store, years ago, when I was working in Columbia, MD.

Phoenician Bronze Age cargo ship

Roman cargo ship

(very similar to Phoenician ship except for mast of foresail)

Scandinavian Bronze Age coastal and riverine boat

Late Bronze Age Greek warship

Minoan Bronze Age ship

Strettveg Sun God Cult Wagon (c. 600 BC)