Posted on 04/14/2006 2:18:09 PM PDT by blam
Archaeologists find 10,000 years of history at Lowcountry site
12:51 PM EDT on Thursday, April 13, 2006
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Archaeologists reviewing a site for a highway bridge over the Combahee River have found nearly 10,000 years of history art the location.
The archaeologists are reviewing the site before work begins to build a wider bridge to take U.S. 17 across the river, which marks the boundary between Beaufort and Colleton counties.
The new bridge will be named for Harriet Tubman, who in 1863 led black Union soldiers on a raid that freed 700 slaves from plantations in the area, destroyed the plantation buildings and took the slaves back to the Union outpost on Hilton Head Island.
But there is plenty of other history in the area. Archaeologists found a sunken ferry that was commissioned by the Colonial Assembly in the early 1700s to carry travelers across the river as well as a British haypenny from 1690. The oldest find at the site appears to be an arrowhead that may be close to 10,000 years old.
"The historical events that have occurred here and the fabric and flow of history -- this is very broad. Obviously its been a place that people have been to for many, many, many years," said Eric Poplin, vice president of the Charleston office of Brockington and Associates Cultural Resources Consulting.
The firm was hired by the state Department of Transportation to examine the site before construction begins.
The archaeologists also are trying to collect enough evidence to get the area listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would prevent any project using federal money from arbitrarily destroying the site, said Wayne Roberts, chief archaeologist for the Transportation Department.
The state has known the historical importance of the site for at least two decades and reduced the size of the project to minimize the impact, Roberts said.
Further down the river is even more history -- large mounds of odd-colored dirt and old bricks mixed with scattered bits of debris. They were batteries designed by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to fend off Union gunner ships traveling along the river.
Along the river, some soldiers who served in the same infantry that was part of Tubman's raid are buried in a graveyard, though Poplin said it isn't clear if those soldiers participated in the raid.
Part of the main roadway through the area, known as Kings Highway, still exists as a dirt path. It once connected Charleston to Beaufort and Savannah, Ga., and was a major route during the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
Poplin gave a tour of the site Wednesday to six members of the Hilton Head Island Chapter of the Archaeological Society of South Carolina .
"We just came to listen to the story of the ferry," Jean Guilleux said. "And we got more than we bargained for."
Don't forget that the Topper Site in South Carolina has been dated at 50,000 years old.
lol...definitely helps to have a PhD when differentiating the historically important mounds of dirt from your everyday dirt.
That said, it is an interesting article.
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Interesting find! I would not be surprised if those people are Cro-Magnon man. Indians had to been Caucasian originally.
Close to my stomping grounds. Cool.
I have read that Indians have O-type blood and moist earwax, which is seen Caucasians and Negroes. I have read some Indians have the same rate of Rh-negative blood as Basques, Celts, Guanche, and Berbers. Among them, Mayans, Incas, and Mapuches.
Moist earwax? Did not realize it came any other way? You mean some people have dry earwax?
I guess that would explain some puzzling things, like ear candles.
My mom's ancestry is part Ojibwe. Now I'll have to ask my siblings and kids whether they have dry earwax or moist earwax.
Looked it up -- 95% of East Asians have dry, 97% of Europeans and Africans have moist. Native Americans mostly have dry.
I am Asian myself and I do have dry earwax. My understanding is that Asians did not come until 6,000 to 7,000 years ago.
This tribe has the highest % of the 'X-gene' found only in Europeans and American Indians.
I used to live just a few miles from the Combahee (rhymes with "Gumby").
That area has a lot of charm, but the biting insects are so thick and fierce down there, they must be experienced to be believed. I'm still amazed that the settlers were able to tough it out down there.
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