CCU students gets hands-on experience at archaeological dig
by Prufer
Bryan Canter, a junior transfer student at Coastal Carolina University, has participated in archaeological digs in Israel and at Hampton Plantation, located south of Georgetown. But his first prehistoric archaeological dig was at the Anne Tilghman-Boyce Reserve on the Little River Neck that overlooks Waties Island.
“It was a great experience,” says Canter, an interdisciplinary studies major. “It helps you to develop an appreciation for how much detailed work it takes to document archaeological sites accurately, because you only have one chance to get it right.”
For the four-week Maymester field school, Carolyn Dillian, associate professor of archaeology/anthropology, took eight students to the reserve to excavate a prehistoric, Native American encampment on the Little River Neck in Horry County.
Students in Anthropology 395 participated in all aspects of the dig, from excavating with trowels, shovels and brushes; to recovering and recording artifacts and features; to analyzing and processing artifacts in the laboratory.
The site is a place where Native American people camped while harvesting oysters and clams from the adjacent wetlands. Much of the site is made up of living and working areas used by prehistoric people almost 1,200 years ago.
“We pulled up bags and bags of clam and oyster shell from a prehistoric shell midden, which was essentially a huge trash pile,” says Canter. “Every one of those shells was left behind by people who harvested the clams and oysters by hand, hauled them up to the camp site, heated them over open fires, removed the meat and preserved it as food for the tribe. The vast amount of shell, found in layers that tended to indicate single seasons at a time, gave us a real appreciation for the amount of effort it would take to harvest clams and oysters by hand back then."
Artifacts that were found included stone tools, pottery, animal bone, fish bone and shell. “Students gained valuable excavation experience and an outstanding hands-on archaeological opportunity,” says Dillian. More than 20 boxes of artifacts were taken away from the site, and Dillian will spend the summer processing the items.
In addition to Canter, students who participated in the field school included Rebecca Heise, Mason Higgins, Jason Jones, Justin Kiser, Kaylan Norton, Kyle O’Neil and Rachel Whyte.
