Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020191
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN LENGTH: Medium
The archaeologists have recommended to the state Historic Preservation Office that the site be preserved, forcing arsenal officials to make minor adjustments to a construction project on an adjacent site.
"It's an important site that contains a lot of information that helps us better understand" the Woodland Indian culture, said Dennis Blanton, co-director for William and Mary's Center for Archaeological Research. "While it isn't the only one in the area, there aren't many."
The archaeologists found stone tools, pieces of pottery, food remains and animal bones when they visited the site Aug. 14-24. They also found imprints where posts from a small Indian hut once stood.
Blanton estimates that fewer than 100 Indians lived on the site sometime between 1200 to 1400.
The arsenal is expanding a waste-treatment facility beside the site and the archaeologists were called in to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act. It requires federal agencies to take into account any effect construction might have on historical sites.
An archaeological overview and management plan done in 1984 identified the site as a former Indian village, but it was not known what artifacts could be recovered.
Blanton said it took very little digging to realize that the site, which is less than half an acre, was piled deep with Woodland Indian history.
Part of the site was destroyed by previous construction at the arsenal, but Blanton estimates that it's 50 to 75 percent intact.
"We were surprised at how much was still left," he said.
Once it determined the site should be preserved, the William and Mary contingent returned to Williamsburg to prepare a report detailing the project for the state Historic Preservation Office that should be complete next month.
There are no plans, however, to completely excavate the site.
"We don't want to go in and dig up the site because then it will be completely gone," Blanton said. "We want to preserve, and hopefully another generation of archaeologists with better equipment will be able to find out more than we could now."
Joanne Jenkins, an industrial specialist at the arsenal, said the site will be fenced and protected from any further damage.
She said the minor adjustments will be made, but the expansion of the waste-treatment facility will be completed.
by CNB