Spatial Analysis of Activity Areas at the First Charles Town Settlement in North Carolina

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Bowers, N. (2020). Spatial Analysis of Activity Areas at the First Charles Town Settlement in North Carolina. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Charles Town, North Carolina was an inhabited settlement just to the south of Wilmington, and was occupied from 1664-1667 and has only seen one major excavation, conducted by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the 1980’s-90’s. In this thesis I have analyze the locations of artifacts found at the site to determine the activity that took place in different areas. Several Methods were used, but the main one is density mapping. This analysis will give a look into how early colonial settlements prioritized activities and spatially arranged their sphere of influence inside and just beyond the colonial settlement while being first established. Objects of concern are what they brought with them, where they worked, what they were doing, and how items of importance were kept within the colony. What was discovered was the more likely use of the structure found within, such as how the main building was used for a dwelling place and as a storage area, as well as how outside the colony was used as a dumping ground. A few of the artifacts found are various historic ceramics, iron fragments, and a few musket balls. My analysis shows that previous assertions on specific buildings did not have strong evidence to support it. As mentioned before Structure A served as both a barracks and a storage house, but this only adds to the previous assumption on the building. Other buildings, such as Structure B has a completely different meaning, as it was previously thought to be a gun emplacement, but instead shows stronger evidence for being a watchtower. Structure C in my findings shows evidence for being a dwelling for a single person, maybe up to five individuals. When concerning the outside areas, I found that the northern part of the colony was used as a work area/relaxation point. While the south and east part of the colony seems to be the dumping grounds for broken ceramics and fire refuse. Finally, the center of the colony seems to be used as a traversing ground, being void of any clear meaning as most telling artifacts were found outside the courtyard.

Details
Author

Bowers, Nicolas

Title

Spatial Analysis of Activity Areas at the First Charles Town Settlement in North Carolina

Physical Description

1 online resource (78 pages) : PDF

Date

2020

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Charles Town, North Carolina was an inhabited settlement just to the south of Wilmington, and was occupied from 1664-1667 and has only seen one major excavation, conducted by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the 1980’s-90’s. In this thesis I have analyze the locations of artifacts found at the site to determine the activity that took place in different areas. Several Methods were used, but the main one is density mapping. This analysis will give a look into how early colonial settlements prioritized activities and spatially arranged their sphere of influence inside and just beyond the colonial settlement while being first established. Objects of concern are what they brought with them, where they worked, what they were doing, and how items of importance were kept within the colony. What was discovered was the more likely use of the structure found within, such as how the main building was used for a dwelling place and as a storage area, as well as how outside the colony was used as a dumping ground. A few of the artifacts found are various historic ceramics, iron fragments, and a few musket balls. My analysis shows that previous assertions on specific buildings did not have strong evidence to support it. As mentioned before Structure A served as both a barracks and a storage house, but this only adds to the previous assumption on the building. Other buildings, such as Structure B has a completely different meaning, as it was previously thought to be a gun emplacement, but instead shows stronger evidence for being a watchtower. Structure C in my findings shows evidence for being a dwelling for a single person, maybe up to five individuals. When concerning the outside areas, I found that the northern part of the colony was used as a work area/relaxation point. While the south and east part of the colony seems to be the dumping grounds for broken ceramics and fire refuse. Finally, the center of the colony seems to be used as a traversing ground, being void of any clear meaning as most telling artifacts were found outside the courtyard.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Archaeology

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Activities
Barbados
Charles Town
North Carolina
Space

Subject Area

Anthropology

Advisor(s)

Ogburn, Dennis

Committee Members

May, Alan
Houck, Charles

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Bowers_uncc_0694N_12652

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2349