[CPProt.net] Archaeologist pledges – again – to return ring

[Ton Cremers]

Archaeologist pledges - again - to return ring
By CATHERINE KOZAK, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 11, 2006 
Last updated: 1:21 AM


After being thwarted repeatedly by ill health and hurricanes, retired 
East Carolina University archaeologist David Phelps said he will 
return a priceless 16th-century gold signet ring to the school by the 
end of January. 

Phelps had last assured the school that he would bring the ring and 
other artifacts from his digs at the site of the Croatan chiefdom in 
Buxton back to the university in December.

T he veteran archaeologist said that bad weather at his Florida home 
hindered his travel plans. He has had the ring since 1998.

"Hurricane Wilma hit our area in November just when my move back into 
the house was planned," Phelps said in an e-mail Tuesday, "and not 
only delayed that, but forced me to cancel participation in a 
symposium at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Columbia, 
S.C."

Regarded as one of the most significant archaeological finds of early 
American history, the 10-carat gold ring depicts a prancing lion, an 
indicator of English nobility.

The ring and a 16th-century gunlock found in Phelps´ excavations at 
Croatan may be the first finds linking the English who sailed to the 
New World in the 1584- 87 Roanoke Voyages and the Native Americans.

Sir Walter Raleigh´s Lost Colony, 117 men, women and children, 
disappeared without a trace in 1587, leaving a clue, "CROATOAN," 
carved in a post near the settlement. Historians have speculated that 
at least some Colonists may have fled to Croatan, the ancient capital 
of the only permanent Native American community on the Outer Banks.

Phelps has said he held on to the ring to conduct further research on 
it, taking it with him when he moved to Florida in 2000. Other 
artifacts were sent out for conservation.

Charles Ewen, director of the Phelps Archaeology Lab at East Carolina 
University in Greenville, said that Phelps has made repeated 
assurances through the years to return the ring and to provide an 
inventory and loan forms for the missing items.

"It´s sort of a pattern," he said. "It´s always something. David has 
never really answered to me. I´ve never been his supervisor. I have 
no stick to beat him with. He has always been very agreeable."

After Ewen didn´t hear from Phelps in December, he contacted him to 
say he was handing the matter over to the administration and legal 
departments.

"Well, he was stunned that I would do something like that," Ewen 
said. "He said, 'You know you´re getting all that stuff back.´ I 
said, 'No, I don´t.´"

Phelps retired as director of the university´s Coastal Archaeology 
Office in 1996 but maintained some affiliation. Today, his connection 
is solely as emeritus.

Renowned as an expert on early Native American archaeology in 
northeastern North Carolina, Phelps first did a test excavation at 
Croatan in 1983. Assisted by a team of volunteers, he undertook 
several digs at the site after a 1993 storm exposed Native American 
midden, or refuse. Finds included a workshop area, bone jewelry, 
coins and pipes. The ring was found during the last dig in 1998.

Phelps has not yet submitted his field notes, documented the 
artifacts or published a report on his findings, all critical to the 
academic record of a project.

"No one is more frustrated than myself," Ewen said.

Alan White, dean of ECU´s Thomas Harriot College of Arts and 
Sciences, said he´s concerned about the prolonged time the artifacts 
have been absent but is not worried that they´ll disappear.

White, who has been dean since August, said that there have been 
discussions about "a number of options" that can be taken if the 
items are not returned. He declined to elaborate. When he spoke last 
week with Phelps, he said, "What I heard was pretty close to an 
explicit promise that he would be here at the end of January."

"So, yeah, if it comes to February, and we haven´t heard from him, 
we´ll be inquiring about it," White said.

As is the practice in the field, unless Phelps abandons the site, no 
other archaeologists would be likely to pursue further work on the 
project.

"What´s going to happen with the Croatan site next, I have no idea," 
Ewen said.

Phelps, who is in his mid-70s, said he intends to come back.

"Yes, I am in the planning stage to do further work at the component 
we have been working at Croatan," he wrote in the e-mail, "because of 
the importance of the 17th century workshop on that parcel that 
requires at least one more field season to complete."


Reach Catherine Kozak at (252) 441-1711 or cate.kozak at pilotonline.