Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9103230086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But preservationists are pleased with the significant 17th- and 18th-century discoveries that the somewhat-rushed excavation has uncovered.
Since construction of the $1 million James I. Moyer Sports Complex began last year, workers have unearthed artifacts that shed new light on the earliest written account of European-American contact with Native Americans in Southwest Virginia.
Archaeologists have discovered holes in the ground that were used by Native Americans as trash pits, the equivalent of the modern-day landfill, said Tom Klatka, archaeologist with the Roanoke Regional Preservation Office. Approximately 120 holes - called "features" - were located on the site, he said.
"We found things that the Indians had thrown out - broken pieces of pottery, broken stone tools and food remains from meals, like shell from river mussels and bones," Klatka said. "We also found charcoalized plant remains of corn, beans, squash and a variety of seeds gathered from wild plants."
The artifacts will enable preservationists to determine the lifestyle of Native Americans and reconstruct local ecology of the area before the exploration by European settlers, Klatka said.
Two weeks ago, a $2,500 donation was made by several public and private organizations to match a $2,500 contribution from the city of Salem.
But that money essentially has been spent, Klatka said. A portion of the money was used for the remaining excavation, to be completed in the next few days. The rest will be used to pay expert archaeologists to continue excavating next week and to analyze dirt that has been collected and bagged.
Archaeologists' work has been constrained by the state budget crunch and by work on the sports complex, which is to open this spring.
"We've tried to work quickly," Klatka said. "We're saving what money we have left for processing. The contribution from the state will continue through my services."
The site was spotted by volunteers of the Roanoke chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia years ago, but digging was not planned until bulldozers rolled in to prepare the 22-acre site for the sports complex. Several professional archaeologists from the state Department of Historic Resources began the work under the state's threatened-sites program.
Program funds provided salaries for a 10-to-12-person full-time crew to work on excavation. The money also was used to conserve artifacts that needed to be stabilized, such as a badly corroded trigger from an old British musket, Klatka said.
Once the significance of the artifacts was determined, Salem temporarily halted construction last summer and asked Klatka to evaluate the site and monitor further excavation.
Archaeologists focused on portions of the site that had been destroyed by construction, specifically areas of bottom land and places where irrigation water and storm runoff pooled, Klatka said.
"No one likes to see a site destroyed," he said. "It's a shame it's been destroyed. But we're trying to make the best of the situation."
For years, local historians have speculated that the first recorded visit by European explorers was made more than 300 years ago by Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam at the site of the Roanoke Industrial Center beside the Roanoke River - formerly the site of the old American Viscose Plant - at the foot of Mill Mountain.
But discovery of the items at the sports complex site may upset that longstanding theory. New evidence may persuade historians that the visit actually occured in South Salem.
The Salem Historical Society plans to assemble the artifacts in an exhibit at its Longwood Park museum.
"We plan to use the artifacts extensively as one of the segments in our initial display," said David Robbins, chairman of the society's committee in charge of museum operations.
The display, which will include a Native American exhibit and other exhibits depicting Salem's history, will be the museum's first, Robbins said.
by CNB