Thread: Look What Was Dug Up In South Carolina

Look What Was Dug Up In South Carolina

This is how serious these archaeologists and students were: They dug into the Earth in rural Lancaster County, South Carolina using spoons and trowels and not much more. No big shovels. No heavy equipment. The patience and persistence of this dogged team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have paid off. They found what they believe to be are two of the most important Indian settlements in the early history of the United States.

The bounty from those spoons and trowels and all the sweat and sore muscles that went into using them was thousands of artifacts and the remnants of cabins once used by the Catawba Indians in an area collectively called Old Town and New Town. The site, which is not being identified to prevent vandals and relic hunters from trespassing, is located just south of Charlotte, N.C. on hills that slope up from the Catawba River.

In a news release announcing the discovery, the UNC archaeology team said it found shards of English, American, and Catawba pottery, coins, and snaffle bits for horses' bridles. Also unearthed were broken Jews' harps, which are small instruments that produced musical tones when held in the mouth and plucked.

"Old Town, where the Catawbas lived on the eve of the American Revolution, should provide insights into what life was like at a time when they were still an important and strategically positioned ally of South Carolina on their western frontier," Dr. R.P. Stephen Davis of UNC's Research Laboratories of Archaeology said in the news release announcing the findings. "At New Town, occupied between about 1800 and 1820, the Catawbas' relationship to their white neighbors was more economic than strategic in that they were landlords to dozens of white farmers who leased lands on the Catawba Reservation and also were engaged in the commercial production of pottery for sale."

The Catawba Nation is one of the Carolinas' most storied Indian groups:

In the early 1700s, nearly 20 neighboring tribes sought refuge among the Catawba after being plagued by European-introduced diseases and raids from the Iroquois.
A small pox epidemic in 1759 devastated the entire native community. The survivors from a number of tribes merged to form what is now known as the Catawba Nation.
The Catawba considered themselves to be professional soldiers. They fought as allies to the colony of South Carolina in every war from 1680 to the American Revolution.
The Catawba Nation contributed--in proportion to their population--the highest rate of military service of any American community during the American Revolution. In recognition of this service, they became known as the Patriot Indians.
The Catawba changed the title of their leader from "king" to "general" to fit better into the new republic.
The Catawba Indian Nation has maintained the longest continuous pottery tradition in the eastern United States.