Archaeology of the Tillett Site: The First Fishing Community at Wanchese, Roanoke Island
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Date
1984
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Authors
Phelps, David Sutton
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Abstract
The local inhabitants of Wanchese call it "Thicket Lump", a name at once remarkably specific in its description and quite ignominious in the lack of recognition of the origin point of a local tradition. The ignominy is not intended, however, for the Tillett site, or "Thicket Lump", today is nothing more than a drowning, remnant hammock supporting a thicket of yaupon and cedar surrounded by marsh, and hardly anyone would recognize it as the first known fishing community at Wanchese. Nevertheless, some 1500 years ago, when sea level had risen sufficiently to create the saline sounds and marshes around the south end of Roanoke Island, people of a culture previous to our own took advantage of this hammock beside the marshes and began to fish in the sounds and collect oysters and other shellfish from nearby beds. Thus began the traditional livelihood associated with the community of Wanchese, a dependence on fishing that has endured through at least two different cultures and has recently achieved a high point with the planned development of a major fishing port and seafood processing facilities. This report presents the results of an archaeological investigation of the Tillett site and the Native American cultures that occupied it during its first 1100 years of existence. It is perhaps appropriate that the archaeological research at Fits first ticking community was stimulated by the expansion of Wanchese Harbor to enhance further development of the modern fishing community.
The Tillett site is also interwoven with other aspects of Roanoke Island history. The last Native American inhabitants of the site were probably members of the Carolina Algonkian Roanoke society, the same people whom the first English explorers visited on Roanoke Island in 1584. The Roanokes also figured prominently in relations with the English colonies of 1585 and 1587 established near what is now Fort Raleigh on the north end of the island. When the first museum was completed at Fort Raleigh it was artifacts and other material excavated from the Tillett site that were installed in the displays typifying the Carolina Algonkian culture. It is thus appropriate that the site be recognized for its contributions to knowledge of 16th century and earlier Native American culture during America's Four Hundredth Anniversary celebration.
Description
Published by the Archaeological Laboratory, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Economics, East Carolina University. Appendices by R. Dale McCall, Kenneth C. Hartsell, Paul R. Green, Jeannette Runquist, and Camm C. Swift.