Settlement in Burke County offers unique view of early America
The Associated Press
July 12, 2002 1:11 am
Posted on 07/12/2002 12:49:12 PM PDT by Constitution Day
The Associated Press
Settlement in Burke County offers unique view of early America
July 12, 2002 1:11 am
MORGANTON, N.C. -- For years, archaeologists didn't want people to know about the site of a 16th-century Spanish fort in rural Burke County.
Experts say the creekside land, about 90 miles northwest of Charlotte, is the first spot in the interior of North America where physical evidence exists of an early European settlement.
Now they want to raise awareness for fund raising. It will open to the public on Saturday for the first time.
Visitors can see the remains of burned buildings and 16th-century spike-like nails, a soldier's belt buckle and lead balls for a harquebus -- a portable matchlock gun. On July 5, archaeologists dug up a brass aglet, a lacing tip for the end of a boot or piece of armor.
"It's unique. There's nothing else in North America like this place," said Rob Beck, 33, one of the directors of the field project, co-sponsored by Warren Wilson College and Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton. "It's a story that's been left out of the history books. When people come here they can see a new page of history as it's coming out of the ground."
For years, it was an intriguing theory, Spanish explorers living in the Catawba Valley decades before the English settled Roanoke Island on the North Carolina coast.
Experts say the Burke discoveries can shed light on European settlement of North America, including the travels of Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto, who discovered the Mississippi River.
Some historians theorize De Soto marched up the Catawba River on a 3,500-mile trek that brought him in contact with Native American societies before they were ravaged by diseases the Spanish brought.
Beck's uncle and aunt, James and Pat Berry, own the 12 to 14 acres in Burke County -- and it was there that Beck's interest in the past was sparked as a boy.
But Beck had no idea he'd ever turn up an important archaeological discovery on his boyhood stomping grounds.
Long known as the location of a large Indian village, state archaeologists excavated in 1986 but nothing pointed conclusively to Spanish explorers.
In 1994, Beck said he found a rusty nail and a few dirty olive jar fragments on the land. Some experts questioned whether those artifacts indicated the Spanish had actually been there.
As more discoveries were made, authorities later agreed the artifacts belonged to 16th-century Spanish explorers.
In 1997, using a device that shows magnetic features in the ground, experts found four burned buildings buried two to three feet in the earth.
As more artifacts turned up, they were convinced they'd found the site of Fort San Juan, built under the direction of the Spanish leader Juan Pardo in January 1567, more than 30 years after De Soto came through.
An English translation of a 16th-century document detailed Spanish explorations in the Carolinas backwoods during that period. The Spanish were looking for silver and gold and a road to Mexico.
The Spanish built five wilderness forts -- three in North Carolina, one in South Carolina and one in East Tennessee.
"Finding the forts was like looking for a needle in a haystack," said David Moore, assistant professor of anthropology at Warren Wilson College and project co-director. "Only one has been found, the one in Burke County."
According to documents, 30 soldiers were stationed at Fort San Juan, built at a large Indian village that Pardo called Joara. In June 1568, the forts were destroyed in an Indian uprising.
Beck said archaeologists plan to dig at the Burke County property for the next 15 to 20 years.
""We're just getting started," he said. "We're just touching the surface of the history."
© Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is copyrighted by The Durham Herald Company and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.
I know you are on a lot of archaeology threads.
Feel free to ping others who may be interested.
FRegards,
CD
Did you know that a nearly 12,000 year old site was found near Greenville a while back?
Links below if you're interested:
ECU ARCHAEOLOGY SITE IS "GIANT SAND TIME CAPSULE"
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE PUTS ECU ON TRAIL OF FIRST CAROLINIANS
Pre-Clovis Suprize. The Topper Site
CD
Okay. How about this one?
WFTR
Bill
1. There is a plaque here at the mouth of Mobile Bay, at Fort Morgan, that commerates Prince Madocs visit here in 1170AD.
2. In the latest issue of Ancient American magazine (Issue #45) there is an article on page #20 titled Tennessee's "Lost Tribe Of Israel", written by Brian Allen. Very interesting article. They mention the "Famous Bat Creek Stone inscription, covered with ancient Hebrew characters, was unearthed in the Melungeon territory of Tennessee." Mention of lots of Hebrew coins found in the area, etc. They make some connections to these dates, 68AD, 69AD and 135AD.
I'll see if I can find something from Ancient American on-line regarding the Melungeon and this article.
Could be either Jews or Israelites, or neither. Only Berry Fell knows for sure. ---ggg---.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.