UNC Asheville Hosts Talk on "Excavations at Cullowhee Mound"

UNC Asheville’s Classics Department will host a talk on "Excavations at Cullowhee Mound" by Jane Eastman, director of the excavation, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, at UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library Whitman Room. The talk is free and open to the public.

During the talk, Eastman will describe the excavation process of a Cherokee village on the campus of Western Carolina University. The excavation, which began last year, centers on the former location of the Cullowhee Mound that existed on campus until 1956 when is was leveled to make room for an academic building and parking lot. Students enrolled in the 2003 and 2004 Western Carolina University field schools conducted test excavations in the village and around the mound. Students and researchers uncovered evidence of the village and several other occupations that date as early as 3,000 BCE.

Eastman is an assistant professor of anthropology and director of Cherokee Studies at Western Carolina University. Her research focuses on Native American societies of the southeastern United States, particularly community organizations, gender relations, pottery analysis and culture contact studies. Eastman is an active member of the Cherokee Language Revitalization Committee and serves as president of the North Carolina Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association.

This event is co-sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America.

For more information, call Laurel Taylor, adjunct assistant professor of classics, at 828/251-6290.

Media Contacts:

• Laurel Taylor, UNCA Adjunct Assistant Professor of Classics, 828/251-6290
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526