The rich human history of South Carolina from its earliest days to the present Adam King's Archaeology in South Carolina contains an overview of the fascinating archaeological research currently ongoing in the Palmetto state featuring essays by twenty scholars studying South Carolina's past through archaeological research. The scholarly contributions are enhanced by more than one hundred black and white and thirty-eight color images of some of the most important and interesting sites and artifacts found in the state. South Carolina has an extraordinarily rich history encompassing the first human habitation of North America to the lives of people at the dawn of the modern era. King begins the anthology with the basic hows and whys of archeology and introduces readers to the current issues influencing the field of research. The contributors are all recognized experts from universities, state agencies, and private consulting firms, reflecting the diversity of people and institutions that engage in archaeology. The volume begins with investigations of some of the earliest Paleo-Indian and Native American cultures that thrived in South Carolina, including work at the Topper Site along the Savannah River. Other essays explore the creation of early communities at the Stallings Island site, the emergence of large and complex Native American polities before the coming of Europeans,the impact of the coming of European settlers on Native American groups along the Savannah River, and the archaeology of the Yamassee, apeople whose history is tightly bound to the emerging European society. The focus then shifts to Euro-Americans with an examination of a long-term project seeking to understand George Galphin's trading post established on the Savannah River in the eighteenth century. A discussion of Middleburg Plantation, one of the oldest plantation houses in the South Carolina lowcountry, is followed by a fascinating glimpse into how the city of Charleston and the lives of its inhabitants changed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Essays on underwater archaeological research cover several Civil War-era vessels located in Winyah Bay near Georgetown and Station Creek near Beaufort, as well as one of the most famous Civil War naval vessels—the H.L. Hunley. The volume concludes with the recollections of a life spent in the field by South Carolina's preeminent historical archaeologist Stanley South, now retired from the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina.

CAMDEN: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA BACKCOUNTRY represents a unique longitudinal study of 25 years of a single site from the colonial era. It uses the distinctive methodology of historical archaeology to investigate behavior associated with a temporal process of change, thereby illuminating the adaptive behavior of colonists. It is also an important study methodologically because it employs a systematic approach to the investigation of large, complex sites using a combination of documentary and material evidence.

Featuring contributions by leading scholars, this book goes beyond conventional archaeological studies by placing the description and interpretation of specific sites in the wider context of the landscape that connects them to one another.

With this clever new look at Lowcountry history M. Patrick Hendrix demystifies archaeology and takes readers on a fast-paced romp through more than 50,000 years. Drawing on the results of archaeological studies at a wide variety of sites, Hendrix discusses key finds and sets them in context with an accessible, entertaining style. The discovery of a mineralized mastodon bone from Edisto Island offers a glimpse into the Paleoindian period; the brick and earthen fortifications that protected Colonial Charleston make clear how vulnerable early Colonists felt. Slave cabins, ?colonoware? pottery, and the remains of foods found on the Lynch Plantation in Christ Church Parish demonstrate the continuation of West African customs that was seen on many early rice plantations; ceramics found at the Miles Brewton house illustrate the extreme wealth enjoyed by some eighteenth-century Charlestonians. Early work on the H.L.Hunley indicated immediately the technological sophistication of the vessel; recent work on Morris Island underscores the tremendous historic significance of this barrier island and has contributed to recognition that it should be protected. With a missionary zeal to preserve the integrity of sites during the explosive growth of the twenty-first century, Hendrix is sure to inspire in readers his conviction that knowledge of our past illuminates our future.