Abstract A Synthesis of the Prehistoric Archaeological Investigations of Lake Phelps, Washington County, North Carolina by Greg Pierce June, 2010 Director: Linda Wolfe DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY During the mid-1980s, visitors and staff at Pettigrew State Park in Washington County, North Carolina discovered a series of prehistoric dugout canoes and associated artifacts in and around Lake Phelps. Beginning in 1985, archaeological investigations were undertaken at Lake Phelps to locate and identify prehistoric canoes. They also conducted a series of surveys aimed at collecting and identifying prehistoric artifacts. The work in these areas led to the discovery of 23 canoes, 19 of which have been radiocarbon dated, and the recovery of 5829 prehistoric artifacts. After these initial investigations, few archaeological investigations have been undertaken at Lake Phelps. Over the next 25 years the lake was only revisited five times, and all of this work focused primarily on the canoes. This changed in 2007 when low lake levels again led to the discovery of a significant amount of cultural material. This caused a renewed interest in the prehistory of Lake Phelps, and it was the catalyst for this thesis project. At the request of the North Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation, I conducted a research project focused on the prehistoric occupation of Lake Phelps. This project had four main objectives. The first was to locate and integrate all of the previous research from the lake. These documents were held by a variety of agencies, many of which were unaware of the existence of outside documents. With the data from the Lake Phelps archaeological investigations spread about in this manner, it prevented an accurate and inclusive evaluation of the work done at Lake Phelps. The consolidation of these data in this thesis allows for a complete and detailed evaluation of the prehistoric occupation of the lake. This thesis also presents materials collected during fieldwork designed to fill in gaps in the data. This fieldwork consisted of a survey of portions of site 31WH12. This survey completed the controlled collection of the entire site that was begun in the 1980s. The material from the survey was analyzed and integrated with that of the previous work. All of the data from Lake Phelps are used to define spatial and temporal patterns in the prehistoric occupation of Lake Phelps. These patterns are used to generate a culture history for Lake Phelps. The final step of the project uses this model to generate a context for future work on the lake. The results of the re-examination of the Lake Phelps data reveal a prehistoric occupation that began in the Late Paleoindian and lasted until the Late Woodland period, with the lake being abandoned before Europeans reached the region in the Eighteenth century. Archaeological investigations also show reveal four distinct areas of prehistoric occupation on the northern and western shores of Lake Phelps. An examination of the artifacts and canoes found in these occupational areas shows that they were used differentially throughout time, in many cases reflecting the larger regional settlement pattern trends seen across the rest of the North Carolina coastal plain. A Master’s Thesis Presented To The Faculty of the Department of Anthropology East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts By Greg Pierce June, 2010 A Synthesis of the Prehistoric Archaeological Investigations of Lake Phelps, Washington County, North Carolina ©Copyright 2010 Greg Pierce A Synthesis of the Prehistoric Archaeological Investigations of Lake Phelps, Washington County, North Carolina By Greg Pierce APPROVED BY: Director of Thesis:___________________________________________________ Dr. Anthony Boudreaux Committee Member:__________________________________________________ Dr. Charles R. Ewen Committee Member:__________________________________________________ Dr. Benjamin A. Saidel Committee Member:__________________________________________________ Dr. Linda D. Wolfe Committee Member:__________________________________________________ Mr. Gene Peacock Chair of the Department of Anthropology:________________________________ Dr. Linda D. Wolfe Dean of the Graduate School:___________________________________________ Dr. Paul J. Gemperline TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Physiographic Setting 8 Chapter 3: Culture History 12 Chapter 4: Archaeological Investigations 29 Chapter 5: Synthesis of Archaeological Investigations and Spatial Analysis 51 Chapter 6: Discussion 70 Chapter 7: Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Work 80 Works Cited 87 Appendix A: Accession 87.137 Artifact List 91 Appendix B: Accession 87.249 Artifact List 149 Appendix C: Accession 86.130 Artifact List 151 Appendix D: Accession 86.89 Artifact List 156 Appendix E: Accession 87.995 Artifact List 159 Appendix F: Accession 22.636 Artifact List 162 Appendix G: Pettigrew State Park Artifact List 164 Appendix H: Pierce Survey Artifact Counts 166 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 : Location of Lake Phelps 2 Figure 2: Location of state archaeological sites 4 Figure 3: The Claggett Survey 33 Figure 4: The Claggett Survey cells 34 Figure 5: The Phelps Survey areas 37 Figure 6: The location of the Lake Phelps canoes 46 Figure 7: The locations of prehistoric occupation areas 56 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 : Diagnostic Artifact Counts for Lake Phelps Surveys by Period 30 Table 2: Lake Phelps Canoes by Archaeological Period 47 Table 3: Artifacts by Area 58 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In 1985, a drought on the coastal plain of North Carolina caused the water levels at Lake Phelps to drop (Figure 1). Lake levels were further depleted by firefighting efforts focused on containing a peat fire on the east side of the lake. This resulted in the discovery of prehistoric ceramic and lithic material on the lake bed by visitors and rangers. By the end of the summer and into the fall, people began to report the presence of dugout canoes. This was deemed an important find because fewer than 10 dugout canoes had been recovered in the entire state of North Carolina. The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (OSA), the Underwater Archaeology Unit (UAU), and East Carolina University (ECU) became involved in the investigation of the canoes. Over the course of the next two years, these agencies would engage in cooperative and individual projects to investigate the canoes and their associated cultural material. Initial investigations focused solely on the identification and recording of the canoes. By the spring of 1986, the breadth of the work expanded to include survey and controlled collection of prehistoric cultural material. In May of 1986, the first such survey was conducted on the northern shore by Steve Claggett at the site of Big Point (31WH12). A year later, David Phelps of ECU surveyed additional portions of the northern shoreline and a small section of the western shore. The purpose of the Phelps survey was to generate a culture history for the entire prehistoric occupation of Lake Phelps (Phelps 1987a, 1987b). Unfortunately, the results of these surveys were never reported. By the end of 1987, 21 dugout canoes had been located, four of which were recovered, and portions of the northern and western shores had been surveyed. Figure 1. Location of Lake Phelps. 2 There was little archaeological investigation of the lake over the course of the next 21 years. Most of the work that was done involved the inspection of the canoes that remained submerged in the lake. These early archaeological investigations resulted in the designation of two archaeological sites by the OSA, 31WH12 on the northern shore and 31WH13 on the western shore (Figure 2). From these locations, 5829 prehistoric artifacts and 23 dugout canoes, 19 of which were radiocarbon dated, were recovered. The analysis of these items showed human activity at the lake beginning as early as the Late Paleoindian/Early Archaic period and lasting through the Late Woodland period. Unfortunately, a generalized culture history was the only result of the early investigations. While the early work generated a large amount of data, its analysis has been incomplete. The archaeological investigations of the 1980s focused primarily on the canoes. Surveys and the controlled collection of artifacts were designed primarily based on canoe locations, or surveys were conducted while searching for new canoes. A complete evaluation of the prehistoric activity at Lake Phelps was never done, as it was not the primary concern at that time. The analysis that was done was often not reported or not made widely available. A handful of agency reports and two pamphlets generated for Pettigrew State Park are the only documentation available from these archaeological investigations. Each report was written independently, and data from other surveys or investigations were often not integrated. Additionally, the results of many of the archaeological investigations were never published. Of those that were published, often the methods of collection and analysis were never made clear. The purpose of this thesis is to collect and reanalyze the current body of work from Lake Phelps, including data from the Claggett and Phelps surveys. Site reports, personal interviews, and field notes have been used to 3 Figure 2. Location of state archaeological sites. 4 reconstruct and reanalyze the archaeological investigations of Lake Phelps conducted over the last 25 years. This thesis will include the methods of collection