In May, we hosted a special joint research site visit with some of our Friends of the Duke Forest and students in the Unearthing Duke Forest Story+ project. We met with UNC-Chapel Hill professor Dr. Steve Davis and his students in the summer field school of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology to learn about their exciting investigation in the Duke Forest.
It all started when Davis, on the brink of retirement, made a final push to solve a career-long quandary in locating an indigenous village that was vaguely described in the famed 1700 account of English explorer John Lawson. We are pleased to report that the crew indeed found artifacts that are being cleaned and analyzed in the laboratory. The findings lead Davis and his co-investigator Dr. Heather Lapham to propose that the village from Lawson’s account is likely nearby in the Duke Forest.
See the 3-D models of the pits
While this initial exploratory phase is complete and while all pits have been filled, we expect to share news coming out of the RLA for years to come. Stay tuned for a recap video later in the summer.
Here’s a recent article from UNC’s Endeavors magazine.
