Native Americans At Laurel Hill

Native Americans At Laurel Hill. . The investigation of the Laurel Hill property by the College Of William and Mary's Center for Archaeological Research in 1993, revealed the presence of Native American activity on the crest during the Archaic and Woodland periods (c. 12000 BC to 900 C.E.). This site appears, from the recovered artifacts, to have been occupied and reoccupied by the Paleo-Indian and Archaic Native American groups exploiting the resource rich Ararat River valley to the north. The Paleo-Indian peoples may have used this site on high ground above a water source, the Ararat River, as a hunting campground. The Archaic peoples were hunter-gathers and the majority of artifacts found are from this period. , Thus, this prehistoric site appears to have been the site of intermittent Native American activity spanning a period of some thirteen thousand years ending with the Woodland period c. 900 C.E. There was no evidence of occupation in the Late Woodland period, c. 900 to 1600 C. E. , The Native American site extends approximately 300 feet north and south and approximately 60 feet east and west of this point. The site was defined by the recovery of prehistoric lithic tools and projectile points through controlled surface collection methods. Photographs of the recovered artifacts are shown here. , This sign is a gift of , Mrs. Pat Gwyn Woltz of Mount Ary, Nofth Carolina , In Loving Memory of John Elliot Woltz Husband and , Dr. Robert Vance Welch, Great Grandfather , Surgeon, C.S.A. Medical Corps. .