The Warren Wilson College/Western Piedmont Community College Archaeology Field School, near Morganton, will host its 2008 Field Day on July 12 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Archaeologists will be on hand to discuss the highly significant Berry Site, which dates to the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. The site is thought to represent an ancestral Catawba Indian town as well as the location of Fort San Juan, the earliest European settlement in the interior in what is now the United States.

Visitors will be able to view the 2008 excavations as well as Spanish and Native American artifacts from the site. Events and demonstrations will include Catawba Indian pottery-making and crafts, and primitive technology from basketry to flint knapping. There also will be opportunities to play the chunkey game and to shoot a Cherokee blowgun. Children are welcome to attend.

For more details or for directions to the Berry Site, contact Mary Charlotte Safford at 828-438-6198 or msafford@wpcc.edu, or David Moore at 828-713-7520 or dmoore@warren-wilson.edu. Or click here.