UNCA to Host Talk on Local Archeology

UNCA Asheville will host a talk on "Recent Excavations at the Berry Site, Burke County, North Carolina" by David Moore at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in UNCA's Owen Conference center. The event is free and open to the public.

The recently discovered Berry site is formerly the native town of Joara. The area has yielded evidence of a 16th century Spanish occupation and is thought to be the site of the 1566 Fort San Juan. The fort is the earliest European settlement in the interior of the United States.

Moore, who holds a doctorate from the UNC Chapel Hill, is a professor of anthropology at Warren Wilson College. He is the director of excavations and the field school at the Berry site in Burke County. Moore is the author of "Catawba Valley Mississippian: Ceramics, Chronology and Catawba Indians" in addition to numerous journal articles on the Berry site.

The talk is co-sponsored by UNCA's Classics Department and the American Institute of Archeology.

For more information, call Laurel Taylor, UNCA adjunct professor of classics, at 828/251-6466.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Laurel Taylor, UNCA Adjunct Professor of Classics, 828/251-6466
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526