Native American and Spanish Ancillary Structures - Warren Wilson ...

Moore, and Rodning 2006:5).
The Berry site in the western Piedmont of
North Carolina represents the sixteenth-century native
Mississippian town of Joara, one of the largest native
towns in western North Carolina at that time (Best and
Rodning 2003). In 1567, Pardo directed the construction
of Spanish Fort San Juan at this location. With the aid
of the native villagers, Pardo’s soldiers built a fivestructure
fort immediately north of the town’s mound.
The five structures were in a circular arrangement
around what was possibly a plaza. The plaza area
contains both postholes and features, but no identifiable
structures. Relations between the villagers and the
Spanish soldiers were cooperative in the beginning, as
evidenced by native architectural design elements in the
Spanish structures, but the fort was short-lived; the native
villagers burnt the fort down in 1568 after the Spanish
wore out their welcome (Best and Rodning 2003).
The belief that the Berry site is the location of
Fort San Juan comes from the architectural style of
the five structures and the presence of certain Spanish
artifacts that were not typically used as trade items, like
lead shot, nails, and Spanish ceramics (Beck, Moore,
and Rodning 2006:9). Ethnohistoric documents
suggest that domestic structures at Pardo’s forts were
larger than native domestic structures, but built in a
similar style, which fits the description of the structures
at the Berry site (Beck, Moore, and Rodning 2006).
The Berry site includes three different
occupational areas: the Native American village,
located in the south area of the site; the mound, located
in the center; and Fort San Juan, in the northernmost
area (Figure 1). Upper Creek, a tributary of the upper
Catawba River, runs along the east side of the site. Most
of the excavations have taken place north of the mound,
in the fort area of the site. Distributions of artifacts
indicate that the site extends farther south and west than
excavations have explored, so the whole extent of Joara
has not been discovered. The village may be located
both north and south of the mound, with Fort San Juan
being built in part of the village, as opposed to outside
of the village.
Mississippian Town Design
Mississippian towns usually include five
different spatial elements: plazas, mounds, boundaries,
gates, and domestic units (Lewis et al. 1998:11,
Gougeon 2007:150). Plazas, distinguished by their lack
of any built environment, are no less important than
the structures that surround them (Gougeon 2007:146,
Figure 1: Berry Site Map
Lewis et al. 1998:11). The term plaza indicates
“positive outdoor space,” meaning that this space has a
definite shape and is partially enclosed by surrounding
structures (Gougeon 2007:147). Plazas are areas that
have been purposefully left empty, as opposed to “left
over space,” which is empty space between structures
in which it is impractical to build another structure
(Gougeon 2007:147). Archaeologically, plazas may be
the least interesting part of a town to study because of
the lack of artifacts and features, but they represent one
of the most important parts of the town. According to
Lewis et al., “the majority of social life is acted out on .
. . the plaza, not in the structures” (1998:12).
Mounds are ritual structures included in larger
Mississippian towns. They are large earthen structures
made from dirt taken from borrow pits and are usually
built near the plaza. There are two different types of
mounds: platform and burial. Platform mounds are
more common during the Mississippian period, but
they may contain some burials as well as being used
as platforms for building (Boudreaux 2007). Houses
of important leaders, religious structures, charnel
houses, and public meeting buildings are located