A third summer of field school at Watauga unearths new discoveries
Associate professor Jane Eastman (top) and research assistant Kelly Hoover excavate a root cellar that appears to have been used to store sweet potatoes in the mid to late 1700s.
By Brooklyn Brown
A groundbreaking, non-invasive archaeological dig is underway at the historic Cherokee township of the Watauga mounds in Macon County.
Western Carolina University鈥檚 Sequoyah Distinguished Professor Brett Riggs and Jane Eastman, associate professor, are in their third season of hosting an archaeological field school at the ancient site, teaching 91热爆网 students best practices for non-invasive excavations and unearthing centuries-old Cherokee history and culture.
Riggs and Eastman presented their most recent findings at the 2nd Annual Teach What You Know, Share What You Have conference hosted by the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program in 91热爆网鈥檚 Bardo Arts Center. The field school discovered significant astronomical orientations of the mounds at Watauga, and traced their orientation to other mound sites in Western North Carolina.
Field school intern Autumn Hall sifts through excavated soil.
鈥淢y favorite thing about Watauga is the interconnectedness of the landscape with time and space,鈥� said Autumn Hall, a senior majoring in history and anthropology. 鈥淲e got to attend the conference and listen to Dr. Riggs and Dr. Eastman share this incredible information with the Cherokee community.鈥�
鈥淲e are learning from these discoveries that the technology they used and the way they interacted with each other was very advanced,鈥� said Gabe Ghammashi, a recent 91热爆网 anthropology graduate and current field tech. 鈥淚t's interesting to learn about and to show that these people had a lot more complexities than we tend to think about ancient civilizations.鈥�
Riggs and Eastman want to ensure that the Cherokee community is benefitting from this research. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredible knowing that this stuff sparks conversations and thought among people in the community,鈥� Riggs said. 鈥淭here were 150 Cherokee people visiting the Watauga site during the conference. To interact with folks asking questions, sharing their thoughts and feelings about how these places affect them lets us know that this has a big impact.鈥�
The team is still researching the chronology of the site, but posit that the Grant or Rutherford expeditions burnt down the township during the American Revolution.
鈥淲hen Cherokee people are at these sites and they're speaking in the Cherokee language that just sort of sends chills,鈥� Eastman said. 鈥淗earing Cherokee people speaking their language at these places is one of the greatest things to me.鈥�
Mounds are a sacred and ancient Cherokee earthwork, so it is important that the field school avoid invasive excavation. Not only that, but the site is also filled with delicate remnants of Cherokee culture. The team uses magnetometry and gradiometry to excavate the site.
Field Tech Ollie Morrison at the Watauga site.
鈥淚n our first summer, we used the radiometer over 鈥淢ound B,鈥� the second mound,鈥� said Kelly Hoover, recent archaeology and biology graduate and current research assistant. 鈥淲e were downloading the collection data in the lab and all of us were sitting around waiting to see, because we thought something was there, but we weren鈥檛 sure. And then we just see Mound B in its entirety. I just remember feeling like a rush and the air was like electric when we saw Mound B. It really solidified for me that I was in the right field.鈥�
鈥淎rcheology is getting to the point of reconnecting and actually helping to rebuild cultures, instead of just taking everything,鈥� said recent anthropology graduate and current field tech Ollie Morrison. 鈥淭hat's really, really exciting to me 鈥� getting to take stuff from history and actually reconnect it with people today and really build that relationship with the community.鈥�
Like Morrison, Hall is also appreciative of this new wave of archaeology dedicated to people and communities.
鈥淢y previous field experiences are with forensic anthropology,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a nice change of pace from looking into death and all the processes that go with that, to looking into life and connecting people with their living history. It's just amazing to see the interconnectedness and that relationship that鈥檚 still there. It鈥檚 been really exciting to have a summer full of life.鈥�
