Presentation on the Catawba Indians at
EJF Annual Meeting, July 21

Dr. Brett Riggs, from the Research Labs of Archaeology (RLA) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present a program on the Catawba Indians at 6:30 PM, July 21, in Leviton Auditorium on the campus of Western Piedmont Community College.  The RLA has been engaged in a long-term research project on the Catawba and Riggs and his colleagues have been the first to successfully identify several of the earliest Catawba towns in South Carolina.  In this exciting and important presentation, Dr. Riggs will also discuss how the Indians of the 16th century Catawba valley, such as those who lived in Joara, may be linked to the Historic period Catawba Indians.

Dr. Riggs is renowned for his work with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as well as with the Catawba.  He has been instrumental in identifying the individual homesites of Cherokees who were forcibly removed from western North Carolina during the Trail of Tears.

The annual meeting and Dr. Riggs’s talk will begin at 6:30 PM in Leviton Auditorium and a reception will follow in Hildebran Hall. For directions to Western Piedmont, go to http://www.wpcc.edu.  For more information, call 828-439-2463 or email exploringjoara@att.net.