Excavation of Fort San Juan, 1567-1568, the First European Settlement in the Interior of the United States

Help to discover evidence of Fort San Juan, one of the most important 16th-century colonial forts in the United States. Students will gain hands-on experience in archaeological field techniques including excavation, wet and dry screening, record keeping, and mapping. Fort San Juan was built at the Native American town of Joara in January 1567 and destroyed 18 months later in May 1568. Over the past 18 years, archaeologists have identified the remains of Fort San Juan, five burned buildings constituting the Spanish town of Cuenca, the remnants of the late Mississippian period mound at Joara, and additional evidence of the Native town of Joara. What was life like for these Spanish soldiers living among Native Americans? What happened to the Spanish soldiers who lived there? How did the Native Americans react to this foreign presence? This summer we plan to tackle these questions by investigating a burned Native American structure as well as continuing our investigations inside and around Fort San Juan.