UNC Asheville will host a talk by David G. Moore, Warren Wilson professor of anthropology and archaeology, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center. In his talk, "The First Lost Colony: Recent Excavations at the Berry Site," Moore will discuss his work at this noted Burke County archeological site. The event is free and open to the public.

The Berry Site, a 12-acre plot of land just north of Morganton, was home to an ancient American Indian town and later the location of a Spanish fort built by explorers trying to get to Mexico in search of silver and gold. The fort was burned and destroyed in 1568 when relations between the Spaniards and the native peoples ended tumultuously. Berry Site offers a rare opportunity to study remains of what is possibly the first European settlement in the interior of North America, alongside the remains of a native town.

Moore has led excavations at the site and conducts a summer archaeology field school there for students. He has helped secure funding to continue research at the site from the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Moore, who holds a doctorate from UNC Chapel Hill, was featured on UNC-TV's "Exploring North Carolina," which aired an episode on the Berry Site in 2008.

The talk is co-sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Classics Department and the Archaeological Institute of America. For more information contact Laurel Taylor, UNC Asheville adjunct professor of classics and president of the WNC Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, at 828/251-6290 or ltaylor@unca.edu.