Native Americans in the Tar River Valley

Native Americans in the Tar River Valley. . , Research conducted by the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University has revealed that Native Americans inhabited locations along the Tar River from about 11,500 to 3000 years ago. Archaeologists have located over 20 sites along the stretch of the river that runs through Pitt and Edgecombe counties., In some places the archaeological remains are minimal. In others archaeologists have discovered locations that were intermittently occupied for several thousand years. At these sites archaeological remains are satisfied in layer-cake fashion with some of the oldest artifacts lying almost three feet below the ground surface., The archaeological remains recovered thus far include pottery fragments, stone tools, and food remains. These artifacts suggest that economic resources of the river like stone and riverine food were a major attraction for settlement., Archaeologists have yet to determine the exact nature of these occupations, but it appears that the early inhabitants of the Tar River were living in small family groups practicing a nomadic hunting and gathering way of life, moving in response to the seasonal availability of resources., Much work remains to be done, but it is clear that these sites along the Tar River can provide a glimpse into the past lifeways of some of the earliest inhabitants of what we now call North Carolina.