Warren Wilson archaeologist unearths clues to past

[Adsos Letter]

Source: Black Mountain News
by Mark Vanderhoff, Staff Writer

David Moore is helping to change the way we look at early American history.

The Warren Wilson archaeology professor and two of his colleagues have unearthed a Spanish fort believed to be the earliest European settlement in the interior of the United States, an accomplishment that recently won them a rare History Award Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Marcia Copper, a state DAR official who nominated Moore, said the fort could have changed the course of history – if it had not been destroyed by Indians.

“If that settlement would have been successful, it’s highly likely we’d be speaking Spanish right now,” she said. “As it was, because of the Catawba Indian uprising, the Spanish decided not to push it, and that opened the door for the English.”

The fort was built near present-day Morganton in 1567 - 40 years before Jamestown. Its captain, Juan Pardo, likely passed through the Swannanoa Valley that year - two centuries before the Valley’s first settler arrived.

Although Pardo’s foray was short-lived, it may have been more helpful in opening the New World than previously imagined.

Link: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091209/BLACKMOUNTAINNEWS01/912090308/1119

[rockymountaindem]

1. Very interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[aquart]

2. You're back!

[Adsos Letter]

3. I am...sporadically...but whenever I can find something that I think might tickle people's interest

and be a nice break from the sturm und drang of our daily politics. :D

:hi:

[aquart]

4. I'm very ticklish.