Research Laboratories of Archaeology
Home page: http://www.rla.unc.edu
Research Laboratories of Archaeology (RLA) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the leading institutes for archaeological teaching and research in the South. RLA supports faculty and students in North Carolina and around the world and curates a large collection of archaeological artifacts and photographs.
RLA has allowed LEARN NC to republish many of its educational resources, including “Intrigue of the Past,” a collection of lesson plans about archaeology and American Indian history; “Excavating Occaneechi Town,” a slideshow demonstrating the process of conducting an archaeological dig; and various maps showing the locations of historical Indian settlements.
Resources provided by Research Laboratories of Archaeology
Records 1–20 of 124 displayed: go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- About the Archaeology Primer
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 1
- The Occaneechi Indians were once prominent in the Virginia and Carolina Piedmont. As their numbers were reduced by clashes with European colonists, they retreated to a village on the Eno River. Their numbers further dwindled due to disease and warfare, and by 1730 the Occaneechi were all but gone. In 1983, archaeologists discovered a village site near Hillsborough, North Carolina. Through a series of digs, they confirmed that they had found Occaneechi Town.
- Format: article
- Ancient pit contents
- Ancient refuse at the bottom of a pit.
- Format: image/photograph
- Ancient pit contents
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 11
- Here is a view of a pit after it has been completely excavated. In the bottom you can see animal bones mixed with pottery fragments, called sherds. The sherds come from a cooking pot that broke while being used. An ancient villager discarded the broken fragments...
- Format: article
- Ancient pits
- Photograph of students revealing ancient pits by troweling the top of subsoil.
- Format: image/photograph
- Ancient post holes
- Photograph of students revealing ancient post holes by troweling the top of subsoil.
- Format: image/photograph
- Animal bones (A common artifact type)
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 31
- Animal bones were commonly found in archaeological features at the Fredricks site. Most of these bones are from animals that were hunted or caught for food (such as deer, bear, raccoon, turkey, and fish).
- Format: article
- Archaeological context
- In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.5
- In their study of context, students will use a game and a discussion to demonstrate the importance of artifacts in context for learning about past people.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Social Studies)
- Archaeological sites open to the public
- A listing of field trip opportunities focusing on Native Americans as well as colonial times in North Carolina. Organized by county.
- Format: article
- An archaeology primer
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 2
- This primer will introduce the methods of archaeology, so you can better understand how Occaneechi Town was excavated and how the Electronic Dig works. All the examples and photographs you'll see come from the actual excavations at Occaneechi Town (also called...
- Format: article
- Artifact classification
- In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.4
- Students will use pictures of artifacts or objects from a teaching kit to classify artifacts and answer questions about the lifeways of a group of historic Native Americans.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Social Studies)
- Artifacts found by waterscreening
- Small artifacts recovered by waterscreening.
- Format: image/photograph
- Artifacts found by waterscreening
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 29
- With waterscreening, even the smallest artifacts are found. This photograph shows tiny shell beads, about an eighth of an inch in diameter, that were caught in the smallest screen. One can also see tiny bone fragments from birds and fish, as well as snail...
- Format: article
- Backfilling the excavation
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 44
- After each summer's excavation is finished, the site is backfilled. That is, all the dirt that was taken out of the squares and features is put back in. This helps preserve the site by preventing erosion and discouraging vandalism (which, sad to say, is a...
- Format: article
- Backfilling the Occaneechi Town excavation
- Student backfilling an archaeological excavation.
- Format: image/photograph
- Basic excavation steps
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 3
- The five basic steps in any excavation are: Establish a grid of squares over the entire site Remove and screen the plowed soil from the top of each square Photograph and map the soil stains (called features), which are visible beneath...
- Format: article
- Brick fragments (A common artifact type)
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 32
- Small brick fragments occur in the plowed soil at the Fredricks site and are associated with European settlement in the area after about 1750.
- Format: article
- Burial
- Photograph of a burial, a common archaeological feature at Occaneechi Town. Burials are pits, usually oval or rectangular in shape and often quite deep, that were dug as individual graves. They contain the skeletal remains and accompanying funerary objects...
- Format: image/photograph
- Burials (A common feature type)
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 20
- Burials are pits, usually oval or rectangular in shape and often quite deep, that were dug as individual graves. They contain the skeletal remains and accompanying funerary objects of persons who died at Occaneechi Town. The pit shown here is partially dug....
- Format: article
- Charcoal (A common artifact type)
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 33
- Charcoal was commonly found in archaeological features at the Fredricks site. Most of this charcoal is from wood used as fuel; however, plants that were grown or collected for food also are amply represented by seeds, nutshells, and (occasionally) other parts....
- Format: article
- Chipped-stone projectile points (A common artifact type)
- In Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer, page 34
- The Occaneechi and their predecessors used the bow-and-arrow as a weapon. Their arrows were tipped with small triangular points that were chipped from stone. Much earlier inhabitants of the site (before about 1,000 B.C.) used larger stemmed or notched, chipped-stone...
- Format: article
