Image Details

The undecipherable Bat Creek inscription (top) with some parallel signs taken from the Sequoyah handwritten syllabary of the 1820s (middle). The comparison is suggestive, but not a transliteration. The complete 86 character handwritten syllabary is shown at bottom. There is no Cherokee sign paralleling the upside down “Cross of Lorraine” that appears above the inscription. In the 1820s, many Cherokee were influenced by Christian symbolism or were directly converted.