Orange County NC Website
Page 36 - <br /> d <br /> Archaeological excavations , scale drawings , a site map , and documentation of the mill <br /> machinery at the Freeman ' s Mill site record the history and evolution of the structure and its <br /> component parts , as the uses of the mill building and machinery changed through time . Data- <br /> recovery excavations at the prehistoric sites are now under way . Those sites , which contain <br /> intact cultural deposits dating from the Middle Archaic, Middle Woodland, and Late <br /> Woodland periods , will likely yield significant information about prehistoric Native <br /> American social activities , community patterns , and diet . <br /> Twenty-two years have elapsed , and the Randleman water supply project is still not complete . <br /> But it now seems that a completion date is both possible and probable . While more than 330 <br /> archaeological sites will be flooded and lost , the information recovered can make important <br /> contributions to the knowledge of the prehistory and history of the Deep River valley. <br /> -Dolores A . Hall <br /> MOUNTAIN ARCHAEOLOGY <br /> Stone Mountain State Park <br /> Blue Ridge Cultural Resources of Boone conducted archaeological investigations of the <br /> historic Hutchinson residence (31WK196 " ") in Stone Mountain State Park, Wilkes County . <br /> The earliest portion of this one-and-one-half-story log house was built around 1855 . The <br /> archaeological work, done to complement a comprehensive restoration of the building, <br /> uncovered large quantities of artifacts ranging from kitchen materials to clothing items and <br /> glass marbles . The architectural and archaeological integrity of the building was such that <br /> Blue Ridge Cultural Resources felt that the property is eligible for listing on the National <br /> Register of Historic Places , <br /> F <br /> National Forests in North Carolina <br /> Dr . Larry Kimball of the Appalachian State University (ASU) Laboratories of Archaeological <br /> Science directed an archaeological data-recovery project at site 31SW273 as part of a mitigation <br /> plan for a land exchange with the National Forests in North Carolina in Swain County . Site <br /> 31SW273 was first identified as the remains of an early-twentieth-century homesite . However, <br /> later investigations also identified a Qualla phase (Historic period Cherokee) component . <br /> This small upland site covers less than one-half acre and is an excellent example of an isolated <br /> Native American homestead . ASU archaeologists found hundreds of postmolds associated <br /> with a residential complex consisting of both a summer house and a winter house , along with <br /> a third, smaller, structure . Ongoing analysis of the artifacts will provide important <br /> iO4 <br /> nformation about the site and its former Cherokee occupants . Research here offers a unique <br /> opportunity to compare this type of small upland homesteads to the better known village sites <br /> located along the river bottomlands . -David G. Moore <br />