THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 24, 1994 TAG: 9410240054
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
Suffolk's oldest homes go back about 10,000 years.
Granted, they're not standing. But the places where prehistoric Suffolkians hunted mammoths are there, buried deep beneath the muddy banks of local streams and rivers. Along the Suffolk Scarp, where an ancient sea once lapped against the modern-day Dismal Swamp, is one of four rare Paleoindian-era sites in the state. There, early humans worked quartzite arrowheads and piled oyster shells in gigantic mounds roughly 12,000 years before Jesus was born.
In the Harbour View development in northern Suffolk is a fort from the early 17th century. And on Dumpling Island, Nansemond Indians made one of the first business transactions in the New World with a certain John Smith.
Researchers documented these and 405 other historical sites in a recently completed archaeological assessment of Suffolk, one of only four such compilations completed in the state.
For those not in the know, 408 is a lot. It places Suffolk in the top 5 percent of Virginia cities with identified archaeological sites, according to David H. Dutton of the state Department of Historic Resources.
City planners hope the survey's findings can help better preserve the past while Suffolk winds into the future. But if the study shows anything, it proves that during prehistory, the Peanut Capital of the World was a happening place.
Experts from the College of William and Mary's Center for Archaeological Research documented the sites without even visiting the city. Most of their research was done by examining state documents in Richmond.
Although this study didn't pinpoint any dramatic finds in Suffolk, it is far from comprehensive. Much of the 430-square-mile city never has been searched.
Most of the sites researchers documentedare along the city's waterways and in developed areas, especially in the north, where the federal project to build Interstate 664 required archaeological surveys.
Many of the identified sites have been destroyed by development. And with the city expecting the addition of 20,000 residents in the next 20 years, researchers hope Suffolk officials will turn to the assessment before approving future plans.
After using state archives to locate the sites, researchers began hunting for trends, hoping they could predict where others might be found.
They plotted maps of known sites and estimated where others were most likely.
``If we have this knowledge up front, then we have less of a problem if a site is found in a development,'' said Donald W. Linebaugh, co-director of William and Mary's Center for Archaeological Research.
The City Council has final say as to how far Suffolk will go to preserve these areas.
The city's 2005 General Plan, completed in 1989, states that one objective is to ``preserve unique and historically significant structures and places.'' Other than that, Suffolk has no other mention of preserving historic resources.
Armed with this new survey, Suffolk planning officials hope to create a preservation section in the city's comprehensive plan, as well as in zoning and subdivision ordinances.
``This,'' City Planner Greg Kennedy said, ``will give us more than one paragraph.''
State legislation was passed recently requiring localities to consider archaeology in their comprehensive plans.
If a project is receiving federal money, licenses or permits, the National Historic Preservation Act comes into play. State law requires an archaeological review for any project on state land.
And if burial grounds are found, the Virginia Antiquities Act lays out procedures for the treatment of human remains in both marked and unmarked graves.
However, there is no legislation requiring cities to report a find.
``Any control or regulation over that would have to come from the city,'' Dutton said. ``That would be a local decision.''
Suffolk is well ahead of any of its neighbors. Virginia Beach is in the process of completing a historic property preservation plan, including both structures and archaeological sites. Chesapeake will be developing a preservation plan next year.
Why all this care for old bones and homes? It's a question Dutton wishes more people would ask.
``Most of what we know about our past has focused on a lot of people who we knew about already,'' Dutton said. ``We know of the rich and the wealthy and the people that kept records of their activities.
``But I've always liked to talk about archaeology as the unwritten history. You get more of a broad history of what was happening in the past. And what people didn't want you to know, you find in archaeology.''
Jimmy Byrd, an amateur archaeologist, knows the value of the past. He has been collecting arrowheads and other artifacts throughout Suffolk since he was a teen. He's now 84.
``Sites are being destroyed every day,'' said Byrd, who keeps a meticulous collection in two sets of drawers in his home. ``Go to Whitemarsh Road. Everywhere you see a new home built, that was once a rich site.''
``There's nothing you can really do,'' Byrd added. ``Of course it's a loss whenever you lose a good site. But thank God we've got good relics and good memories.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MICHAEL KESTNER/Staff
Jimmy Byrd of Suffolk presents some of the artifacts he's collected
in the city, including an arrowhead dating to 3500 B.C., top.
Staff map
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN SUFFOLK
SOURCE: William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research
by CNB