Upper Saratown, also known as Upper Sauratown, is an archaeological site from the Late Saratown phase in North Carolina. The site is located on the Dan River in Stokes County and was occupied by the Sara people. Excavations were conducted at the site each summer from 1972 through 1981 by archaeologists from the Research Laboratories of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina. Of all the Late Saratown sites, it is the most thoroughly excavated.Ward, H. Trawick and Davis Jr., R. P. Stephen. (1999). Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 248
Original Inhabitants The Sara Indians moved to the Dan River drainage within the Piedmont region around 1000 A.D.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 19 They occupied the village of Upper Saratown during the first half of the Late Saratown phase (also known as the Late Contact period), between A.D. 1670–1710.Research Laboratories of Archaeology. n.d. The Contact Period in the North-Central Piedmont. Retrieved April 3rd, 2011, from http://rla.unc.edu/ArchaeoNC/time/contact_NCPied_L_Sara.htm. The Sara were thought to be Catawban-speaking people and a census in 1715 put their population at one hundred forty men and three hundred seventy women and children. However, these numbers most likely came from sources other than the tribe itself.Webster’s Online Dictionary. n.d. Extended Definition of Saura. Retrieved April 3rd 2011, from http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Saura?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Saura&sa=Search#922 The Sara was a group whose authority was in the hands of town councils instead of chiefs. Harmony and balance were an important part of their worldview. They participated in an event where the main focus was restoring balance called the busk, or green corn ceremony. When it was time to collect new maize, house foundations were cleaned and old or worn items, such as clothing or pottery, were done away with. The busk most likely began before the Contact period but the Sara celebrated world renewal by feasting, relighting the sacred fire, and participating in other rituals. Busks during the Contact period tended to focus on bringing the community together as a single unit.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 18 The physical layout of the community was made up of circular houses, which could be inhabited by up to two hundred to two hundred fifty people at once, within a single, stockaded village. However, community patterns changed by the end of the seventeenth century and communities began to consist of widely dispersed households.Ward, H. Trawick and Davis Jr., R. P. Stephen. (1999). Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 250 The Sara used bows, made from locustwood, and arrows, made from river cane, for any and all hunting that they did and worshiped a main god as well as a number of smaller deities.Maus, Jim. (2010). The Saura Indians of Rockingham & Stokes Counties, NC. Retrieved April 3rd 2011, from the Jim Maus Artifacts site: http://www.jimmausartifacts.com/saura-indians/. Evidence from the pottery also seems to suggest that other neighboring tribes might have joined up with the Saura at the Wiliam Kluttz site and formed a diverse community.Ward, H. Trawick and Davis Jr., R. P. Stephen. (1999). Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 250
Upper Saratown Pottery Pottery from Upper Saratown is called the Oldtown series. The Oldtown series is a combination of Late Saratown pottery from Upper Saratown and the William Kluttz site Characteristics of the Oldtown pottery include a paste that would have been tempered with sand and if touched, would have felt smooth. The interiors of most vessels were mostly smooth. However, burnished pottery would have been burnished inside and out. Sherds were most often between four and eight mm thick and vessels shaped like a restricted neck jar were the most common form found at Upper Saratown.Diachronic Research Foundation. (2009). Native American Pottery in South Carolina. Oldtown Series. Retrieved April 3rd 2011, from http://scnapr.info/pottery%20website/series%20and%20types/E%20Oldtown%20series.html Most exterior vessel surfaces were smoothed and burnished, followed by net impressing. Most pots from the Late Saratown phase were large and used mainly for either cooking or storage. Also found, typically embellished with incised lines and punctuations, were cazuela and hemispherical bowls.Research Laboratories of Archaeology. n.d. The Contact Period in the North-Central Piedmont. Retrieved April 3rd, 2011, from http://rla.unc.edu/ArchaeoNC/time/contact_NCPied_L_Sara.htm. A large quantity of big potsherds that were pieces of larger vessels were discovered and the evidence seemed to suggest that these large vessels were purposely smashed. Miniature vessels were also found in pits that had more than one use. Since these small vessels typically were included in a burial context, it seems likely that these vessels were destroyed in a community event that took place in a time of death and social disruption.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 23
Roasting Pits, Diet, and Domestic Assemblages Late Saratown occupations at Upper Saratown were characterized by large roasting pits or earth ovens. They were usually three feet deep and across and filled with food remains and other domestic refuse. Typically, these features were close to the stockades near the edge of the village and were thought to be used to prepare enormous quantities of food for ritual celebrations. Basic subsistence was an equal share of wild and domestic food resources. There is no proof that animals from Europe played any part in subsistence during the Contact period.Ward, H. Trawick and Davis Jr., R. P. Stephen. (1999). Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 251 Maize, frequently thought to be part of the life of Southeastern tribes, was unevenly distributed but definitely plentiful and a part of the life of the Sara. The majority of the grain was left to dry and stored so that it lasted for a long time. It could have been used in stews, bread, or used for fuel. Beans were also abundant but poorly preserved archaeologically. Squashes and gourds could have been added to soups and stews and were often modified into containers and dippers. Seeds, such as sunflower and sumpweed, were also present in samples from Upper Saratown.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 25 They were usually mashed up and added to stews or bread. The most bountiful seeds were peach pits. The Spanish brought the fruit into Florida in the sixteenth century and it was quickly adopted, even by those who had no interaction with Europeans. It was assumed that the plant was native to the Carolinas by the mid seventeenth century. Watermelon seeds were also introduced in a similar way. Seeds from grapes, persimmons, and maypops were also discovered at Upper Saratown.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 32 The growing season extended into the early fall and was long enough so that the crops could have been staggered. Though the Sara were mainly an agricultural people, they also made good use of wild nuts. Nuts were usually collected in the fall and served as additions to other foods in the winter. Hazelnuts ripened quickly while acorns and hickories took more time to ripen. Hazelnuts and acorns had to be gathered as soon as they hit the ground since they were a favorite for many of the local, indigenous animal species. Hickories had protective shells which allowed them to be gathered in a more leisurely fashion. The domestic assemblage from Upper Saratown was made up mostly of maize and nuts. Fruits made up the next highest part of the assemblage while beans and various seeds made up the smallest part.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 30 & 31, 34 & 41 During the Contact Era, the Sara worked to maintain their identity by sticking to familiar foods and keeping the domestic food assemblage relatively unchanged.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 45
Trade Prior to the Late Saratown phase, trade was limited to native intermediaries who only swapped goods within trade networks. The lack of exposure to Europeans made the Saura unprepared for introduced diseases following contact. However by 1670, traders from Virginia started journeying out into the country in search of new markets so the Sara experienced a huge rise in English-made items.Ward, H. Trawick and Davis Jr., R. P. Stephen. (1999). Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 248 & 254 They provided English traders with pelts and in return, received goods such as copper bells, tools, guns, and glass beads.VanDerwarker, A. M., Scarry, C. M., and Eastman, J. M. n.d. Menus for Families and Feasts: Household and Community Consumption of Plants at Upper Saratown, North Carolina. Twiss, Katheryn C. (Ed.). (2007). The Archaeology of Food and Identity, Occasional Paper No.34. Southern Illinois University. p. 19 However, because the Occaneechi tribe was in a dominant position over the Saura, controlled access to firearms and used intimidation tactics, they had the power to determine which items actually reached the Sara so archaeologists found the items more commonly identified as artistic media such as the beads and bells and not so much in the way of tools and weapons.Ward, H. Trawick and Davis Jr., R. P. Stephen. (1999). Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 248 & 254
Diseases, Death and Mortuary Patterns