Located on the western shore of North Creek at the northwest end of Grand Turk, the Coralie site is the oldest archaeological site in the Bahama archipelago. It is also the best example of an Ostionan colony in all of the West Indies. The site, located on the property of Coralie Gardens, is within 20 yards of North Creek. About 300 yards to the west is a sand beach above a shallow tidal flat (less than 3 feet deep) which extends for about 500 yards to the barrier reef beyond which the sea drops to 7,000 feet in the Turks Island Passage. "North wells," a seasonal source of potable water for the past 300 years, is about half a mile south of the site. It is likely that this low lying area in which water collects today provided a relatively permanent water supply for the original inhabitants.

The shore of North Creek is lined with red mangroves and sea purslane, the ocean shore is predominantly sea grapes, and the dune itself is covered by dense acacia thorn brush and cacti, especially prickly pear. The present environment, however, is a poor reflection of the past. Archaeobotanist Dr. Lee Newsom's study of wood charcoal from the site has revealed several trees that are today rare or absent from Grand Turk. These include wild lime, ironwood, Celastraceae (bittersweet family), and Palm trunk wood. Buttonwood, which today grows along the margin of the North Creek, was also present in the charcoal samples. Moreover, clear growth rings of varying width and morphology are visible in charred wood samples, reflecting an annual rainfall regime of alternating wet and dry seasons.

The Coralie site was discovered in 1992 when prehistoric potsherds were exposed on the ground surface by land clearance for a housing development. To define the boundaries of the site 35 test pits were dug. These tests revealed a high incidence of sea turtle and other animal bones, pottery, and mollusk shells in low frequency distributed over a 40 (east-west) by 150 (north-south) square yard area covering more than 2 acres. The archaeological deposits have been protected by burial under 15 to 25 inches of soil "overburden." Although we obtained one relatively early radiocarbon date (AD 900) from charcoal recovered in a test pit, it was only after we began to open larger areas of the site that I realized that this was a colony dating to the initial ceramic-age settlement of the Bahamas. Between 1995 and 1997 more than 250 square meters have been excavated in nearly contiguous units. Ten radiocarbon dates these excavations indicate that the site was occupied from about 1200 to 800 years ago (cal AD 705 and 1170).