The Settler

Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Alan Cressler Douglas looks up to a cave painting.

Not only has Joseph Douglas been an associate professor of history at Volunteer State Community College for 10 years, he has also been exploring caves for almost 30.

Douglas' first caving trip was to Mammoth Cave with his parents.

When he was 13, he visited many other caves with his Boy Scout troop.

It wasn't until high school that he began to show a real interest in caving.

Douglas had an older friend who owned the book "Caves of Tennessee" by Tom Barr.

His friend was excited about exploring caves, so Douglas thought he would try it out.

Since then, he has been hooked.

"At first, I started exploring caves simply as a hobby. As I went into caves I began to see evidence of history, so I became interested in caves professionally," said Douglas.

On weekends, Douglas explores caves with some of his friends.

Through the week, he explores with the Tennessee Archaeologists Group on research trips.

In the even of an interesting discovery, Douglas calls the Cave Archeology Research Team to examine his findings.

Douglas has been in caves in 50 counties in Tennessee, and caves in 15 states.

They range from small caves near Gallatin to large caves on the Cumberland Plateau.

He has even been in a couple of caves in Mexico.

Douglas said he does not have a single favorite thing about exploring.

"You get to see beautiful things. You get to see life forms you don't usually get to see. Professionally you get to discover things that people didn't know about," said Douglas.

In January 2005, Douglas, joined by Amy Wallace, an interpretive specialist, discovered prehistoric art in Dunbar Cave in Clarksville, Tenn.

He knew the art had to be older because someone had done graffiti over it recently.

Chemical analysis was later done on the pigment to prove that the art was prehistoric.

Douglas, Jan Simek, Amy Wallace, and photographer Alan Clesser published an article in "Tennessee Conservationist" about their discovery in Dunbar.

Douglas also researches how caves were used.

He has found out how American Indians used the caves. He has also seen evidence of moonshine being made in some caves.

Her will have a chapter in "UT Press" about a cave the Indians used in the 1930s.

Douglas said that some of these saves he explores are closed to the public.

He said he can't give out some names because people could try to destroy the history found in the caves.

In addition to American History, Douglas also teaches Tennessee History.

He said he is able to take his discoveries to tell students how caves in their state were used.

Douglas said that he is often exhilarated when in caves.

"To me, it is the excitement of discovery," said Douglas.

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