Time Before History is the first comprehensive survey of the Native American cultures that inhabited North Carolina through the arrival of the first Europeans. Probably because of its diverse topography, which ranges from Atlantic seashore to Appalachian Mountains, the state had an impressive variety of early inhabitants: the ancestors of the modern Cherokee, Catawba, and Tuscarora.
Authors Trawick Ward and Stephen Davis are research archaeologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with vast experience in the local archaeology, and they have produced a regional survey for both the professional archaeologist and the general reader. It is an irresistible story of 10,000 years of history beginning with the first Americans. We learn how hunting and gathering slowly gave way to agriculture and permanent settlements. We see the introduction of pottery and other technologies and their impact. We discover how trade brought new ideas and lifestyles. And we learn how pioneering archaeologists have worked to unravel the story. Illustrated stories of the early excavation projects dramatize the thrill of discovery.
The archaeology of this region has a significance that extends far beyond the boundaries of North Carolina.—Mark Michel