HPC agenda 102799 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

settlements in the North Carolina Piedmont are Clovis-period campsites dating from the close of the last Ice Age about 12 , 000 years ago . Fluted Clovis points are occasionally found in surface collections in the region, but no intact Clovis sites have been recorded in the North Carolina Piedmont . Clovis points have been found in Orange County, including one surface find from Cedar Grove, north of Hillsborough (Perkinson 1973 ,027) . The oldest excavated site in the North Carolina Piedmont dates from the Hardaway period, about 10 , 000 B . C . to 8 , 000 B . C . ( Coe 1964 : 57 ; Ward 19839, 61 ) . We know almost nothing about these earliest North Carolinians . They were probably nomadic hunters and gatherers, but we do not know whether these eastern Paleo4ndians were like their Paleo -Indian contemporaries in Missouri and Florida, who hunted now- extinct big game animals such as mammoth, ground sloth, and bison ( Steponaitis 1986 *0369) . Archaic Period- The following Archaic period is somewhat better known, but still the subject of debate because of scanty information about major aspects of subsistence and social organization. Overviews of the Archaic period have suggested that the nomadic or semi- nomadic hunter-gatherers, fishers, and shellfish collectors developed regional adaptations to the Holocene ' s warmer climates, the expanding deciduous forest (with its edible mast of acorns and hickory nuts) , and smaller game animals (such as the white-tailed deer) . Early and Middle Archaic settlements in the southeastern United States apparently tended to be small , temporary camps with little or no evidence of substantial dwellings or other structures (Steponaitis 1986 * 3719 Willey 1966 : 60 ; Caldwell 1958 ; Anderson and Hanson 1988 ; Anderson 1992 ) . The Early Archaic period in North Carolina is sub- divided into a Palmer phase (about 8 , 000 B . C . ) and a Kirk phase (7 , 000.6 , 000 B . C . ), both characterized by corner- notched points (Coe 1964) . Also present in the Piedmont but less common than the corner-notched points are projectile points in the "bifurcate tradition" (about 6, 900 to 5 , 800 B . C .) . These points feature basal concavities or notching (Daniel 1994 * 10) . Although sites with Early Archaic points will probably be found in several areas near the St. Mary' s Road, sites with intact Early Archaic remains tend to be very rare . The Middle Archaic period is represented by a variety of distinctive point types . The Stanly phase ( 6 , 000- 5 , 000 B . C . ) is represented by a square- stemmed point with a "Christmas tree" shaped blade . The Morrow Mountain phase (5 , 500- 4, 000 B . C .) is represented by a point with a distinctively contracting stem. The Guilford phase (4 , 000- 3 , 500 B . C . is represented by a cigar- shaped or spike4ike point (Coe 1964 ; Daniel 1994 * 114 2 ;Blanton and Sassaman 1989) . In Daniel ' s overview of Orange County ' s prehistoric settlements, Middle Archaic sites were common, but only ( so far) in disturbed surface or plowzone contexts (Daniel 1994 , 12) . The Late Archaic, or Savannah River period ( 3 , 500- 500 B . C . ) is characterized by large, triangular points with broad stems and by large bowls carved from soapstone (Coe 19646* 119) . In some parts of the Southeastern United States, the Late Archaic period saw a rise in regionalism and in the number of permanent long-term villages along major rivers and coastal areas ( Steponaitis 1986) . So far in the North Carolina Piedmont, the archaeological evidence for such changes is lacking , chiefly because we know of few if 5