Excavations and analysis of archeological materials from along a kilometer of the primary terrace of the lower Santee River are summarized. The terrace margin, which overlooks Mattassee Lake, a tributary channel within the river swamp, was initially tested using systematically dispersed half meter units. Three block units and a series of test pits were subsequently opened and document use of the area from the Early American through the historic era. An extensive assemblage was recovered, including over 88,000 pieces of debitage and stone tools, 27,354 sherds, almost a metric ton on cracked rock, and lesser quantities of fired clay, charcoal, steatite, bone fragments, baked clay ball fragments, historic glass, ceramics, beads, and other artifacts. Artifact stratification occurred in several areas. Eighty-four features were encountered and excavated, the vast majority being remains of probable aboriginal fire hearths. Project research focused on assemblage documentation and interpretation. The stratigraphic and spatial distributions of the artifacts, coupled with taxonomic analyses and the results of 15 radiocarbon assays, are used to advance a sequence for local projectile points and ceramics, providing the basis for subsequent synchronic and dischrnoic analyses of the assemblage. Originator-supplied keywords: Archeology, Prehistoric, Cultural resource management, Southeast South Carolina, North American Indians.

This volume provides a comprehensive, broad-based overview, including first-person accounts, of the development and conduct of archaeology in the Southeast over the past three decades. Histories of Southeastern Archaeology originated as a symposium at the 1999 Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) organized in honor of the retirement of Charles H. McNutt following 30 years of teaching anthropology. Written for the most part by members of the first post-depression generation of southeastern archaeologists, this volume offers a window not only into the archaeological past of the United States but also into the hopes and despairs of archaeologists who worked to write that unrecorded history or to test scientific theories concerning culture. The contributors take different approaches, each guided by experience, personality, and location, as well as by the legislation that shaped the practical conduct of archaeology in their area. Despite the state-by-state approach, there are certain common themes, such as the effect (or lack thereof) of changing theory in Americanist archaeology, the explosion of contract archaeology and its relationship to academic archaeology, goals achieved or not achieved, and the common ground of SEAC. This book tells us how we learned what we now know about the Southeast's unwritten past. Of obvious interest to professionals and students of the field, this volume will also be sought after by historians, political scientists, amateurs, and anyone interested in the South. Additional reviews: "A unique publication that presents numerous historical, topical, and personal perspectives on the archaeological heritage of the Southeast."—Southeastern Archaeology