Archaeologists estimate from artifacts excavated in and around Port Royal that the area was inhabited as early as 11,000 years ago. When the English arrived, tribes united in a confederacy ruled by Powhatan occupied the area, and about 400-600 members of the Nantaughtacund tribe claimed the Port Royal area. The tribes called the river Rappahannock, meaning "alternating stream," in recognition of the ebb and flow of a tidal river. John Smith mapped the Rappahannock as far as Port Royal in 1608, and white settlers began to settle in the area about 1650 under Colonel John Catlett, who was killed in a raid in 1670. By 1700, few Native Americans remained, but their heritage lived on in the names they bestowed and the countless artifacts they left behind.