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Crab Orchard Archaeological Site

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The Crab Orchard Archaeological Site is located in the mountainous area of Southwest Virginia near Pisgah, on the Clinch River, about four miles west of Tazewell, in Tazewell County. Taking its name from a grove of crab apple trees found in the valley by the first English settlers in the 1770s, the site shows the location of a Virginia Indian town that dates to between ca. AD 1400 and 1600 during the Late Woodland Period. Excavations in 1971 and 1978 uncovered evidence that the settlement was surrounded by a palisade, or tall wooden wall, and contained approximately fifty houses, each typically with a central hearth along with occasional storage pits. Outside the palisade was a long, irregularly shaped, semi-subterranean structure probably used as a communal meeting space. Ceramics, stone tools, beads, and numerous human burials were also found at the site. Perhaps distinctive for its size—the town's population may have been 400—Crab Orchard nevertheless resembles other known Indian settlements throughout Virginia. The purpose of the palisade is uncertain, but may have been to protect the Indians from their enemies or from wild animals. It may also have been symbolic of the town being the home of an important leader or chief.
Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:02:46 EST

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