The Site

During the middle of the 18th century, six towns situated on the north side of Catawba River at Nation Ford formed the nucleus of the Catawba Indian Nation. Following a devastating smallpox epidemic which struck the Catawba settlements in 1759, the survivors abandoned the Nation Ford area and eventually resettled several miles downriver along Twelvemile Creek and at Old Town. Old Town was inhabited by several Catawba households until the 1790s, when the nearby community of New Town was established.

Recent UNC archaeological field schools have excavated several late 18th-century and early 19th-century Catawba sites, and this summer we plan to continue our investigations at Old Town. We expect to identify and sample household refuse deposits and cellar pits associated with one or more Catawba cabins. Excavations of similar deposits this past summer at Old Town yielded extensive amounts of native pottery, animal bone, and botanical remains, as well as abundant European-made trade materials. The 2010 field school excavations will add to this growing body of archaeological evidence about the Catawba and, in doing so, will provide significant insight into this important period of Catawba history.