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
Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:02:46 EST