Abstract
The Outer Banks of North Carolina are comprised of several islands that run alongside the mainland. These islands have access to estuaries and smaller bays, which host a rich marine habitat, thereby having a diverse collection of prehistoric to historic archaeological sites. One island is called Cape Creek, where many archaeology studies have found a vast number of Indigenous artifacts including thousands of pottery sherds, or pieces, which archaeologists have sorted into defined categories. This study focuses on pottery sherds from an excavation that took place from 2009 to 2017 by archaeologists from the University of Bristol. Using these previously documented categories, the research analyzes over 300 sherds from this recently-excavated assemblage, estimating their age and identifying the cultures that most likely created them. The results mostly match previous excavations, but new materials and decorations in the ceramics reveal previously undocumented complexities in the Indigenous communities who lived here long before European contact.