Lecture Series Archive
Mounds, Plazas, and Palisades: Geophysical Survey on Mississippian Village Sites in the Tennessee River Valley
Thursday, September 19, 2019 - 11:00 a.m.
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.
A World of Transformation: The Lives of Catawba Indian Women, 1746 - 1840
Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 11:00 a.m.
Dr.
The Chemical Trowel: Using absorbed pottery residue analysis to interpret pottery use at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson
Tuesday, July 16, 2019 - 11:00 a.m.
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 an
Archaeology at the Pauli Murray House
Thursday, June 20, 2019 - 11:00 a.m.
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.
What the Land Witnessed: Connecting the 'Soul-Soil' of a Diverse People through the Power of Place and True Inclusion
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 11:30 a.m.
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.
Maritime Heritage at Risk: Lighthouses, Shipwrecks and Deserted Towns
Thursday, April 25, 2019 - 11:00 a.m.
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.
How Women Created the Mississippian World at Moundville, A.D. 1070-1200
Thursday, March 28, 2019 - 11:00 a.m.
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.
State of North Carolina Archaeology
Thursday, January 31, 2019 - 11:30 a.m.
What's going on in North Carolina archaeology? Come hear State Archaeologist John Mintz discuss the past, present, and future of archaeology in North Carolina and the OSA's role in preserving our cultural heritage.
Watch the lecture
New Insights into Moravian Pottery Production in Old Salem: The View from Lot 38, 1784-1831
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
In our third Lunchtime Lecture, Mr. Hughes investigates Moravian culture through local pottery production at the eighteenth-century town of Salem in the piedmont of colonial North Carolina.
Hidden Beneath the Waves: Exploring the Underwater Cultural Heritage of NC
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
In our second Lunchtime Lecture, Mr. Southerly and Mr. Casserley dive into inter-agency partnerships to discover, research, and protect the hallmarks of North Carolina’s maritime cultural heritage: shipwrecks. North Carolina waters have long been known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, with thousands of shipwrecks occurring over hundreds of years.
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain
Friday, October 12, 2018 - 7:00 p.m.
In our featured Archaeology Month evening lecture, Dr. Moore will examine the changing paleo-environments of the Southeastern Coastal Plain and the ways in which humans adapted to their shifting world many millennia ago.
Reach for the Channel: History and Archaeology of Channel Improvements on the Cape Fear River
Thursday, October 4, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
Rivers have served as the super highways of civilizations for centuries, and the Cape Fear is no different. In our first Lunchtime Lecture of the month, Mr. McKee will discuss how natural and artificial changes to the Cape Fear River affects the archaeology of one of North Carolina’s oldest ports, Brunswick Town.
Prehistory in North Carolina: Identifying Volcanogenic Rock from the Carolina Terrane
Thursday, September 27, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
Shane Petersen is an archaeologist with the Environmental Analysis Unit of the NCDOT. Shane will speak about his ongoing research on one of North Carolina’s most important prehistoric resources.
Diversity in Décor: Fireplace Tiles and Murals from the Overhills Estate on Fort Bragg
Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
Dr. Linda Carnes-McNaughton is the Program Archaeologist and Curator for the Cultural Resources Management Program at Fort Bragg and formerly the Archaeology Supervisor for NCDNCR Historic Sites Section. Dr.
From Grave Markers to Unmarked Graves: Archaeological Insights of Historic Cemeteries
Thursday, July 26, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
Shawn Patch is an archaeologist and geophysical specialist with New South Associates, Inc., a cultural resources consulting firm. Shawn will discuss archaeological insights on various historic cemeteries in North Carolina and beyond.
A Look Into the Past: An Overview of the Archaeology Program in Lincoln County, NC
Thursday, June 28, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
Lincoln County, situated in North Carolina's Piedmont region, is steeped in a historic and cultural heritage that spans over two hundred years. It is one of the oldest counties west of the Catawba River. The landscape is rich with early landmarks and historic sites.
Sea Level Rise Project 2010-2012: A Study of the Potential Effects of Climate Change on Archaeological Sites in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina
Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
Research suggests that a rise in sea level from 0.5 to 2.0 meters above the present mean is possible by the end of the current century. North Carolina has over 5,900 square kilometers of land below one meter in elevation making it the third largest low-lying location in the United States after Louisiana and Florida. Between 2010 and 2012 the Offi
North Carolina’s Petroglyph and Pictograph Archaeological Sites
Thursday, May 24, 2018 - 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 6:30 pm
Scott Ashcraft, US Forest Service Archaeologist will give a presentation on North Carolina’s rich rock art legacy that includes some of the most densely carved petroglyphs and oldest pictograph sites in the Southeastern U.S.
Mounds and Towns in the Cherokee Heartland of Western North Carolina
Thursday, May 10, 2018 - 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 10th 2018 - 6:30 pm
Dr. Ben Steere, assistant professor of anthropology and co-director of Cherokee Studies Programs at Western Carolina University will discuss the archaeology of mounds and towns in the Cherokee heartland of western North Carolina.
The Berry Site Artifacts and the Stories They Tell
Thursday, April 19, 2018 - 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 19th 2018 - 6:30 pm
In 2013, Archaeologists confirmed the Berry Site as the location of the Native American town of Joara, and the Spanish Fort San Juan established by Juan Pardo in 1567. Dr. David Moore from Warren Wilson College will present a lecture on the nature and significance of artifacts recovered from the Berry site.
Tracing Catawba Persistence: Household Archaeology of the Late 18th Century Catawba Nation
Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - 11:30 a.m.
During the late 18th century, the Catawba Nation experienced profound cultural changes over a relatively short time as community members adjusted to a series of transformative events including a devastating smallpox epidemic.
North Carolina’s Ceramics Through the Centuries
Monday, October 23, 2017 - 11:30 a.m.
Not long ago, Pennsylvania potter, Jack Troy declared “if North America has a ‘pottery state’ it must be North Carolina, as there is probably no other state with such a highly developed pottery consciousness,” –and he is right!
Student Research Symposium
Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 9:00 a.m.
The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (NC OSA) in association with the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties is hosting a public presentation to discuss recent research by student and OSA interns utilizing extant artifact collections curated at the Archaeology Research Center, and field research on certain state historic sites.
The Archaeology of Houses and Households in the Native Southeast
Monday, October 16, 2017 - 11:30 a.m.
Please join us as Dr Ben Steere, director of the Cherokee Studies Program at Western Carolina University, discusses his new book, “The Archaeology of Houses and Households in the Native Southeast.” The book, published by the University of Alabama Press, explores the evolution of houses and households in the southeast from the Woodland to the Histor
Archaeology of the Catawba Nation after the Treaty of Pine Tree Hill
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 - 6:30 p.m.
In 1760, following a devastating smallpox epidemic that destroyed more than half the nation, the Catawbas signed a treaty with South Carolina that provided a secure reservation, 15 miles square, in return for relinquishing claim to a much larger tract spread across much of Piedmont North Carolina and South Carolina.
Late Archaic Residency in the Appalachian Summit Region: Excavations at the Weatherman Site (31CY31) in Yancey County, North Carolina
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 11:30 a.m.
Excavations completed by AECOM for the North Carolina Department of Transportation at the Weatherman Site (31YC31) on the floodplain of the South Toe River documented deeply stratified Archaic deposits. The most intensive was a Late Archaic component dominated by hearth remnants and numerous broken and whole Savannah River projectile points made p
Conserving Our Underwater Cultural Heritage: An Introduction
Wednesday, August 16, 2017 - 11:30 a.m.
Since the early 1960s, North Carolina’s Office of Archives and History has been striving to implement public laws and policies for the protection, preservation, and investigation of underwater archaeological sites in the state. There are many thousands of known underwater sites, constituting part of our “underwater cultural heritage”.
Applying Archaeological Geophysics in the 21st Century: Examples from the Southeastern United States
Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - 11:30 a.m.
Geophysical techniques are used to make maps of buried archaeological features. These techniques can give archaeologists vast amounts of intra-site spatial data without costly, time-consuming, and inherently destructive excavations.
Student Research Symposium
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
This event will be held in celebration of North Carolina Archaeology Month as well as the ongoing research many undergraduate and graduate students have been participating in here at the NC OSA.