Cherokee Indians made the markings on Judaculla Rock at different points in time. More than 3,000 years ago, they quarried soapstone from its surface by chipping off pieces to carve into bowls, leaving scars that remain visible at the lower left of the rock where bowl material was cut from the main rock. Much later, after quarrying at the site had ceased, petroglyphs were inscribed into the rock, and archaeologists estimate that most of these glyphs are between 300 and 1,500 years old.