MT. GILEAD — Recent archaeological excavations at Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site have uncovered evidence that man lived at the site as far back as 13,000 years ago, some 3,000 years earlier than previously thought. Digs conducted June 22-26 uncovered a spear point thought to be the oldest artifact ever found at Town Creek, once the home of what archaeologists now call the Pee Dee people.
The newly discovered artifact is a so-called “Clovis point,” which dig volunteer and former Site Manager Archie Smith found on Wednesday, June 24, while sifting through excavated soil. These flaked stone projectiles were commonly used on the tips of darts or spears by the prehistoric people of the Clovis culture, who lived in North America during the Paleoindian period (ca. 13,000-10,000 B.P.). Many authorities consider the Clovis people to be the earliest known inhabitants of the New World.
The June dig was the first field work done at Town Creek since 1987 and was conducted on an area lying outside the stockade where excavations had not been previously done. Archaeologists Dr. Steve Davis and Dr. Brett Riggs (from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) oversaw the excavations, along with Dr. Tony Boudreaux from East Carolina University. Approximately 50 volunteers came from across the region and from as far away as Greenville, Goldsboro and Chapel Hill to assist.
The goal of the dig was to reveal a small round structure believed to lie outside the walls of the present stockade. While researchers did not find a ring of postholes that would mark the wall of the anticipated structure, they did discover what appears to be two or three rows of postholes that may have marked concentrically larger stockade walls.
Further analysis of the images recorded images and the artifacts recovered in that dig may reveal more information to archaeologists, historians and anthropologists. Town Creek’s non-profit support group, The Friends of Town Creek Inc., funded the work.
Paleoindians were a nomadic people who travelled continually in search of food. While they may have occasionally hunted large game including mastodon, ground sloth and bison, they mostly ate deer, bear and seasonal nuts and fruits.
Those people living in North Carolina during the Paleoindian period would have experienced the climate changes of the Ice Age, when great glaciers covered much of northern North America. While this ice did not reach as far south as piedmont North Carolina, the temperature was considerably colder in the Tar Heel State then, with harsh winters and cool summers. Forests of jack pine and other vegetation similar to that seen in the highest elevations of western North Carolina or northern Canada extended across the region.
For more than a thousand years, American Indians farmed lands later known as North Carolina. Around 1000 A.D., a new cultural tradition arrived in the Pee Dee River Valley. Throughout North Carolina’s southern piedmont, the western mountains and other areas of the Southeast, the Mississippian tradition spawned complex societies. Inhabitants built earthen mounds for their leaders, engaged in widespread trade, supported craftspeople and celebrated a new form of religion.
In 1937 excavations began at Town Creek Indian Mound. Key features of the site were reconstructed, including the mound, two temple structures, the burial hut and the surrounding stockade. Archaeologists’ excavations revealed that the mound at Town Creek was constructed over an early rectangular structure known as an “earth lodge.”
The mission of Town Creek Indian Mound, a national historic landmark, is to interpret the history of the American Indians who once lived here. The visitor center features interpretive exhibits as well as audiovisual displays.
Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site is North Carolina’s only state historic site dedicated to American Indian heritage. Tour groups are welcome. The site is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. It is closed to the public on Mondays and most major holidays.
The historic site is located on Town Creek Mound Road approximately five miles east of Mt. Gilead, in southern Montgomery County between N.C. 73 and N.C. 731. For more information on the latest archaeological discovery and on Town Creek Indian Mound, visit www.towncreek.nchistoricsites.org call Rich Thompson at (910) 439-6802 or email rich.thompson@ncdcr.gov.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, Town Creek Indian Mound is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2009 theme observance of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com or call (919) 807-7385.