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households located near valley margins or on nearby uplands . The Wall site (31 ORI 1 ) excavated at "Occaneechi Bend" by the RLA is an example of an early Hillsborough phase settlement . Although stone tool traditions are similar to the preceding Haw River materials, pottery decoration changes. Net impressed decorations are replaced by simple and check stamped ceramics (Daniel 19940. 15 ) . In the later part of this phase inhabitants appear to have dispersed into smaller, isolated farmsteads "along valley margins or nearby uplands of small tributary streams" (Daniel 1994 : 15 ) . A similar pattern of periodic Native American aggregation and dispersal is seen throughout the colonial era ( Stine 1990) . Based on these settlement patterns , researchers might expect to find small, dispersed hamlets of the Haw River or Hillsboro phases on the better-drained bottomlands near the Trading Path. Small campsites from any of the Woodland periods might be found on the better-drained floodplains, or on small, dry terraces or ridgetoes immediately overlooking the floodplams . Contact Period- During the sixteenth century Spanish explorers entered the foothills and mountains of North Carolina, opening the doors to European Native American trade . Piedmont Native Americans affected the European contest for hegemony, and offered raw resources (e . g . , peltry) in trade for manufactured goods (e . g . , beads) . Native Americans would soon form an important conduit for rich furs, hides, and meats in return for English, French, and/or Spanish trade goods . They would also supply warriors, language teachers and wives, and occasionally slaves to the Europeans . Different European and Native American groups would adapt to the growing mercantile system and would in turn adapt that system to their own cultural practices (Merrell 1989 ; Stine 1990) . Early historic records indicate that seventeenth- century Piedmont Native American groups were primarily Siouan speakers . Historically the names Occaneechi, Tutelo , Cape Fear, Sapon4 Shakor4 Eno , Saxapahaw, and Keyauwee are associated with distinct Siouan cultural groups ( Stine 1990a 15 ) . The last Indians in the study area were probably members of Siouan- speaking groups, including the Occaneechi, Shakori, Eno , and S issipahaw. The earliest recorded European visitor to this section of the Piedmont and its resident Indians was the explorer John Lederer, a QTerman doctor commissioned by the Governor of Virginia to look for a westward route to the Pacific Ocean in 1669 and 1670 . The Trading Path took. Lederer and other travelers through present- day Orange County. The existing right-of--way of St. Mary ' s Road follows or closely parallels that Great Path (Rights 1931 ) . It is important to note that Lederer was sent by Virginia Colony' s Governor Berkeley, who was also financially involved in the Indian Trade, to explore the region. This explains the explorer ' s interest in Native American trading practices . Lederer ' s somewhat exaggerated accounts of his travels suggests that he may have reached the vicinity of modern day Hillsborough. He describes Native American villagers who were used to "higgling , " described below: If you barely designe a home -trade with neighbour-Indians, for skins of deer, beaver, otter, wild- cat , fox, racoon, etc . your best truck is a sort of course trading 7