Lecture Series

UPDATE:

In light of Governor Cooper’s state of emergency declaration and guidance regarding canceling or postponing large gatherings in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, this event has been canceled. While we are disappointed not to be able to offer this experience, the health and safety of our visitors, volunteers, and staff is always our first priority. If this event is rescheduled, we will announce new dates in the future.

Join us for a talk describing ongoing research into placing the Cherokee mound and town of Tali Tsisgwayahi (Two Sparrows Town) within the cultural context of the Cullowhee Valley of the 1600s. This research is made more challenging by the intense development of the town area as part of Western Carolina University’s campus, which has altered the original topography, dramatically reduced sight lines, and rerouted water courses.

As the Director and Curator of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian, and member of the Lumbee Tribe, Nancy Strickland Fields will talk about the importance of Native Community outreach and community inclusion as a means to build partnerships, relationships, trust and authenticity in museum programs and exhibits.

Nancy Strickland Fields is the Director/Curator of The Museum of the Southeast American Indian at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Archives Building Auditorium | 109 E. Jones Street, Raleigh

Nearly a thousand years ago, Cox Mound, Bell Site, Hiwassee Island, Ledford Island, Long Island, and Bussell Island were all complex villages including combinations of mounds, plazas, palisades, ditches, and houses. The damming of the Tennessee River dramatically changed the landscape where these sites were located, and these villages are now under rivers and agricultural fields sitting on lands owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Dr Brooke Bauer is a citizen of the Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina and her research concentrates specifically on the ways in which Catawba Indian women created, promoted, and preserved a Catawba identity as they adapted to the changes occurring inside and outside Catawba tribal boundaries during the eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century. Her talk looks at women's intimate relationship to Catawba land through their shared history, kinship connections, and their economic productivity.

Archaeologists use a range of tools to find out about the past.  Absorbed pottery residue analysis uses Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry to identify and interpret the contents of unglazed pots from archaeological sites.  Excavations at the Barrracks West of Battery A at Brunswick Town – Fort Anderson produced a range of unglazed pottery made and used by Native Americans, slaves, and European Americans.  Fifteen sherds and one soil sample were selected for residue analysis.  We will discuss the interpretations of the different potsherds, and the differences between residues from Native A

Since 2011, archaeologists at UNC-Chapel Hill have been collaborating with the Pauli Murray Project to study and protect the archaeological legacy of the Fitzgerald/Murray family at the site of their family home in Durham, NC. This presentation summarizes results to date and situates the research within the contexts of contemporary and historical archaeology as well as public archaeology.

Dr. Anna Agbe-Davies is an Associate Professor at UNC-CH. 

Michelle Lanier will explore the uses of archaeology, mapping, ecology, and land conservation as intersecting tools for expanding and diversifying the historical narrative of North Carolina.

Michelle Lanier is the Director of the NC Division of State Historic Sites.

The lecture will be livestreamed and available on YouTube if you cannot make it in person.

Watch the Lecture

An interdisciplinary team of students and faculty from East Carolina University is investigating a set of diverse maritime cultural sites on the south eastern seaboard that represent either a preservation risk or a potential resource to be showcased for heritage tourism.  The project represents a partnership with private, state and federal stakeholders.

Dr. Rachel Briggs is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UNC Chapel Hill and specializes American Indian foodways, gender, and the emergence of complex societies in the Southeastern United States. Dr. Briggs will speak about how archaeologists have traditionally used the apex of Mississippian societies to model the genesis of these socially complex organizations.