Governor Proclaims Archaeology Month 2022

WHEREAS, archaeology illuminates the conditions and cultures of the inhabitants of North Carolina, including people whose stories remain obscure due to their social or economic circumstances; and

WHEREAS, archaeological research can provide opportunities to honor and celebrate the history and heritage of the more than 122,000 North Carolinians who identify as American Indian people in our state, who have lived in the geographic area of North Carolina for more than 14,000 years; and

WHEREAS, North Carolina's Office of State Archaeology (OSA), part of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR), in partnership with the academic community, federal and state agencies, and independent consultants, serves all North Carolinians by recording and preserving information on more than 55,000 archaeological sites representing all cultural groups and time periods of North Carolina’s human history; and

WHEREAS, the OSA’s Research Center is the steward of millions of artifacts, including stone tools, cannonballs, buckles, buttons, and bowls; and

WHEREAS, for more than fifty years, the OSA has operated an Underwater Archaeology Branch at Kure Beach, and an archaeology branch at the NCDNCR’s Western Office in Asheville more than forty years; and

WHEREAS, the OSA has also partnered with East Carolina University to operate the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory in Greenville for nearly twenty years to conserve, explore, document, and recover archaeological remains from the La Concorde/Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck site; and

WHEREAS, the OSA assists communities with recording and caring for historic cemeteries and is working to create a digital database of all cemeteries in North Carolina;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim October, 2022, as “ARCHAEOLOGY MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.