Antiquity, Project Gallery: Moore, Beck & Rodning

Antiquity, Project Gallery: Moore, Beck & Rodning:

"Antiquity Vol 78 No 299 March 2004

Joara and Fort San Juan: culture contact at the edge of the world David G. Moore, Robin A. Beck, Jr. & Christopher B. Rodning The Berry site is located on Upper Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River, about twelve km north of Morganton in Burke County, North Carolina (Figure 1). The site covers about 5 ha and is situated on the extreme north-east margin of a 75 ha alluvial bottomland. Archaeological research indicates that it was one of the largest native towns in North Carolina during the mid-sixteenth century (Beck & Moore 2002; Moore 2002). The site was identified in Cyrus Thomas' 1891 report on mound explorations for the Smithsonian Institution, where it is described as a 'Mound on the west Bank of Upper Creek 8 miles north of Morganton (about 15 feet high and unexplored)' (1891:151). Our research indicates that the Berry site is the native town of Joara, visited by the Spanish expeditions of Hernando de Soto in 1540 and Juan Pardo from 1567-1568. Pardo's Fort San Juan, constructed at Joara, is the earliest European settlement in the interior of what is now the United States"