UNC founder's home found in South Carolina
June 15, 2006Artifacts found at a South Carolina site indicate it was the home of the University of North Carolina's founder, William Davie.
But UNC archaeology students and faculty conducting the excavating say the artifacts contradict local lore that Union troops burned the house in 1865.
The excavation uncovered parts of the home's foundation, which researchers determined was 40 feet wide, and from chimney to chimney, about 45 feet long -- rather large for a house built during the early 1800s, the researchers said.
"Those house dimensions, in combination with the artifacts that we found there ... lead us to confidently assert that it is William Davie's home," said Brett Riggs, a UNC staff archaeologist.
But the researchers did not find any evidence suggesting a fire.
"We would expect masses of charcoal and burned window glass, and we just didn't encounter that," Riggs said. "It's possible that such evidence was obliterated, but we really doubt it."
After a final research report is completed all artifacts will be transferred to the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
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