The 2003 UNC Archaeological Field School excavated at Catawba New Town, Locus #3, from June 5th until June 20th. The area excavated represents the location of one or more Catawba log cabins that were occupied during the early 1800s, and these are thought to be contemporary with the cabin found at Locus #2. A brief summary of what we found here is provided below.

The excavations were directed by RLA staff archaeologists Steve Davis and Brett Riggs, with supervisory assistance from UNC graduate students Michelle Schohn and Jon Marcoux, and UNC undergraduate student Rebecca Richman. Twelve UNC students participated in the excavation. The pictures below give a glimpse of our experience at Catawba New Town, Locus #3.

Click on any thumbnail image below to view a larger picture.

Maps and digital mosaics of the 2003 excavations.

Excavation Summary

Excavations at Catawba New Town (RLA-SoC 632) were undertaken at two cabin locations, designated Loci #2 and #3. Locus #3, located about 70 m from Locus #2, represents one of the two cabin locations identified to date that has never been plowed. Excavations of four separate blocks encountered substantial concentrations of artifacts and the tops of pit just beneath the leaf litter and root mat. Given this state of preservation, excavation was undertaken in 50-cm quarters within each one-by-one-meter square and the excavators worked largely with trowels. Metal artifacts at Locus #3 had been mapped previously by metal-detector survey, but very few of these artifacts have been recovered. Mapped concentrations of artifacts helped guide the selection of areas to excavate.

The largest excavation block contained 30 one-by-one-meter squares and revealed four features. One of these (Feature 5) is a large, somewhat irregular-shaped basin that contained large quantities of Catawba pottery (mostly small sherds) and other artifacts. This feature likely represents a pit that was dug to retrieve clay for daubing. The other three features (Features 4, 6, and 7) were roughly rectangular pits that contained relatively rich deposits of artifacts. Features 4 and 6 may represent shallow cellar pits. All three features contained fragments of broken Catawba vessels and pearlware and Rockingham ware sherds, as well as glasswares, tableknives, and silver bangles; Feature 6 also yielded a small, unbroken Catawba-made bottle and a simple Catawba cup.

Another excavation block, located nearby and comprised of 12 one-by-one-meter squares, revealed the base of a stick-and-clay chimney (Feature 8) and a filled-in stump hole (Feature 9) that contained large sections of two broken Catawba vessels. The chimney base was covered with a thin deposit of charcoal, ash, and burned pearlware sherds that appears to represent in situ hearth debris.

Two smaller areas were excavated at the edge of Locus 3. The first, comprised of 4.75 one-by-one-meter squares, yielded numerous, highly fired Catawba sherds from a thin deposit just beneath the root mat. Interestingly, few of these sherds had been smudged and did not appear to have come from fully completed vessels. If this interpretation holds up following analysis, then this area may represent a waster dump. A significant aspect of Catawba economy in the early nineteenth century was the commercial production of pottery for sale to their white neighbors and other markets. This intensification of production is generally reflected by the uniformity and apparent large quantity of pottery found at New Town.

The final excavation block, comprised of four one-by-one-meter squares, was placed where a cluster of metal artifacts had been found during the metal-detector survey. Initial testing of this location had yielded two articulating halves of a snaffle bit, an unidentified iron object, and a lockplate from a flintlock pistol. This area apparently was a trash dump, and excavations revealed another complete snaffle bit, a harness buckle, a pistol barrel and frizzen, a worn-out shovel blade, and another unidentified iron object. This deposit, located 35-40 m southwest of the residential clusters, represents a discrete, off-site dump.

Soil samples recovered at one-meter intervals across Locus 3 will be used to define variation in residual soil chemistry, with the goal of determining chemical signatures of cultural activities around and between cabin areas. Such chemical patterns will be referenced to structures of contextual patterns and artifact distributions to reconstruct spatial aspects of daily activities at New Town.