NPS Host Archeological Excavations and Exhibit Opening

Date: October 5, 2011
Contact: Outer Banks Group, 252-473-2111

The National Park Service Outer Banks Group, in partnership with the First Colony Foundation and Friends of the Outer Banks History Center, announces the opening of a new exhibit, "Beneath the Sands: Past and Present Archaeology at Fort Raleigh" on Monday, October 10, 2011 at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site near Manteo, North Carolina.The exhibition is presented as part of Roanoke Colonies Archaeology and History Week and is made possible by support from the Percy W. and Elizabeth G. Meekins Charitable Trust.Other activities of the week will include a weeklong series of events with theatre, symposium, and archaeological research at Roanoke Island Festival Park.

Superintendent Mike Murray announced that many of the artifacts, on display for the first time, show how scientific analysis of these objects, when combined with historical context, can provide clues to what may be America's greatest historical mystery.

Roanoke Colonies Archaeology and History Week includes a week-long professional archaeological search for evidence of Sir Walter Raleigh's colonies and Algonkian Indian habitation on Roanoke Island, with an interactive educational classroom without walls, and a public symposium focused on new discoveries.Two of the nation's pre-eminent historical archaeologists, Dr. Eric Klingelhofer and Nicholas Luccketti, will direct and train selected Dare County high school students and adult volunteers in field excavations.

The original play, "Shepherd of the Ocean" will be presented on Monday evening, October 10, by Elizabeth R & Company (www.elizabethr.org) at Roanoke Island Festival Park and begins at 7:00 p.m.On Tuesday-Friday, noted archaeologists and historians will present free public programs on the latest research on the Algonkian Indians of North Carolina, theories on the disappearance of Sir Walter Raleigh's "Lost Colonists", the settlement of Roanoke Island after the disappearance of the "Lost Colony." and the scientific search for the archaeological remains of the Roanoke colonies.Programs will be presented at the Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo at 7:00 pm.

For more information, see www.firstcolonyfoundation.org or www.obhistorycenter.ncdcr.gov or contact the park headquarters at 252-473-2111.