Andy White Anthropology
  • Home
  • Research Interests
    • Complexity Science
    • Prehistoric Social Networks
    • Eastern Woodlands Prehistory
    • Ancient Giants
  • Blog
  • Work in Progress
    • The Kirk Project >
      • Kirk 3D Models list
      • Kirk 3D Models embedded
      • Kirk 2D images >
        • Indiana
        • Kentucky
        • Michigan
        • Ontario
      • Kirk Project Datasets
    • Computational Modeling >
      • FN3D_V3
    • Radiocarbon Compilation
    • Fake Hercules Swords
    • Wild Carolina >
      • Plants >
        • Mosses
        • Ferns
        • Conifers
        • Flowering Plants >
          • Grasses
          • Trees
          • Other Flowering Plants
      • Animals >
        • Birds
        • Mammals
        • Crustaceans
        • Insects
        • Arachnids
        • Millipedes and Centipedes
        • Reptiles and Amphibians
      • Fungi
  • Annotated Publications
    • Journal Articles
    • Technical Reports
    • Doctoral Dissertation
  • Bibliography
  • Data

A Ceramic Assemblage from Allendale County, South Carolina

11/15/2017

11 Comments

 
In the week before SEAC, I had the students in my South Carolina Archaeology class sorting sherds in my lab. As the first part of a group/individual ceramic project, they were getting some experience identifying vessel portion, kind of temper, surface treatment, and decoration in sherds from a surface collection from Allendale County, South Carolina (the Larry Strong collection -- the same one I used to get some data for this Kirk paper). For the second part of the project, I'm going to supply them with the combined data and ask them to: (A) match the groups to named ceramic wares using information on excellent sites such as this one; (B) create a graphic depiction of change through time in temper, surface treatment, and the frequency of decoration; and (C) address in writing several questions linking the pottery to patterns of social/technological change. 

I'm posting some quick images of most of the rim sherds (and some decorated non-rims) here so they will be able to look at them without coming back to the lab repeatedly while they're working on their projects. I know that some of you will know what these types are -- please don't deprive my students of the joy of discovery!

​Also - hi students!
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, plain surface, no decoration.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, plain surface, incised decoration.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, plain surface, punctate decoration.
Picture
Non-rims: sand tempered, plain surface, punctate decoration.
Picture
Non-rims: sand tempered, plain surface, punctate and incised decoration.
Picture
Rims: fiber tempered, simple stamped surface, no decoration.
Picture
Rims: fiber tempered, plain surface, no decoration.
Picture
Non-rims: fiber tempered, plain surface, incised decoration.
Picture
Non-rims: fiber tempered, plain surface, punctate decoration.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, complicated stamped surface, no decoration.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, simple stamped surface, no decoration.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, simple stamped surface, incised decoration (on lip and interior).
Picture
Example of incised decoration on interior rim of simple stamped sherd.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, check stamped, no decoration.
Picture
Rim: sand tempered, check stamped, incised decoration (on interior).
Picture
Decoration on interior of rim shown above.
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, cord marked surface, no decoration (these are the "thin" cord marked sherds).
Picture
Rims: sand tempered, cord marked surface, no decoration (these are the "thick" cord marked sherds).
11 Comments

Broad River Archaeological Field School: Day 6 (2/17/2017)

2/20/2017

2 Comments

 
On of the main questions in play over the last couple of days in the field concerns the nature of Zone 2, the dark zone of sediment present immediately beneath the plowzone. I vacillated on whether it was a second, buried plowzone or an intact, prehistoric cultural deposit (i.e., a thin midden). Because I wasn't sure either way, I erred on the side of excavating it as though it was an unplowed deposit, having the students shovel skim and piece-plot.

This Friday, we finally got to the bottom of Zone 2 in two of the block units (Units 4 and 6). Lo and behold . . . plow scars. So it looks like Zone 2 has been plowed after all. 
Picture
The base of Level 5 in Units 4 and 6, with sediment zone boundaries scribed with a trowel. The dark, linear, parallel stains were caused by pentration of a plough into the lighter zone beneath. It appears as though plowing went in two directions at different times.
Calling Zone 2 a "plowzone" doesn't end my questions about it. For one, there are subtle lenses within the zone (visible in profile) that seem inconsistent with a plowzone and need to be explained.  For two, the variable nature of the boundary between Zones 2 and 3 suggests that, if Zone 2 was originally accumulated as a surface midden, there is the distinct potential that unplowed pockets of the midden remain intact. For three, we need to explain the origin of all the lighter sediment that was somehow deposited on top of Zone 2, burying it and shifting the modern plowzone upward. While I'm not sure we'll be able to answer those questions this field season, I am happy that we've recovered what appears to be a nice little assemblage of Mississippian-age ceramic and lithic debris. 

We're removing the last remnants of Zone 2 with a shallow level (Level 6, about 5 cm in depth) intended to get rid of the plowscars and level the units off at an even 75 cm below datum. As of the end of the day on Friday, Level 6 was in progress in Units 4 and 6. Unit 5 was finishing up the last of their Zone 2 level (Level 4 in that unit).
Picture
Work in progress in the block.
With Zone 2 removed, we'll now be able to press downward and get a look at what's beneath it. In the wall left by the original machine cut, two good-sized pit features (Features 4 and 5 in the profile drawing) originate in Zone 3. Intact cultural features (i.e., hearths, postholes, pits) should be relatively easy to discern against the fairly light matrix of Zone 3.​
Picture
Profile of machine cut showing Zone 3 and locations of Features 4 and 5 which originate in Zone 3.
With work just beginning below Zone 2, it already looks different. In Unit 6, the top of Zone 3 has revealed a couple of large (golf ball-sized) pieces of fire-cracked rock and a charcoal-rich stain that could be the top of a cultural feature. We'll learn more about Zone 3 during our next day in the field.

Meanwhile, in the "downstairs" portion of the site, we finally opened Unit 7 (Jim Legg could not join us, so work on Unit 9 was paused). Unit 7 is a 1m x 2m unit placed to investigate what, if anything, is beneath the deposits exposed in the machine cut.  While the short answer, so far, is "not much," the deep sediments are not sterile: there was at least one piece of fire-cracked rock in the second level of Unit 7. I'm not anticipating we'll run into a heavy prehistoric deposit, but at this point we don't have any data about what's down there other than a single exploration I did with a 3" bucket auger.  A few more levels in Unit 7 have the potential to tell us quite a bit, as even a relatively sparse occupation will probably be detectable in levels from a 1m x 2m unit.
Picture
Work begins on Unit 7. Elevations for this unit are controlled the old-fashioned way, using a notched stake, line level, and string.
2 Comments

Broad River Archaeological Field School: Day 5 (2/10/2017)

2/13/2017

7 Comments

 
We had another sunny Friday with highs in the mid-50's. I saw a bee over the weekend, so it looks like the worst of another brutal South Carolina winter is behind us.

As I wrote last week, my hope for this Friday was that we would end the day being able to say with some confidence whether Zone 2 (the dark zone beneath the plowzone) is a buried plowzone or an intact cultural deposit. Unfortunately, I still don't have definitive evidence either way.  Based on the day's work, however, I'm now leaning more toward the idea that we are, in fact, dealing with an unplowed prehistoric deposit.

If Zone 2 is a buried plowzone, we'll expect to see some evidence of plowing (e.g., plow scars or plow-truncated features) at the interface between the base of the zone and the underlying sediments. We're not to that interface in any of the block units yet, however.

Because I don't know what Zone 2 is, I had the students excavate it using a shovel-skim/piece-plot methodology. Shovel-skimming involves using shovels to carefully remove thin (e.g., 1/4" to 1/2") slices of sediment. This technique allows you to leave larger artifacts in place as you find them and keep an eye out for changes in sediment color and texture that could be associated with cultural features such as hearths, pits, or postholes. I had the students leave artifacts in place as they encountered them, marking them with a piece of orange flagging tape stuck in the ground with a nail. When the floor became too cluttered with artifacts, artifacts were piece-plotted (mapped individually) and removed. All the sediment that was removed with shovels was passed through 1/4" screen to catch smaller artifacts that weren't detected during the shoveling.​
Picture
Shovel-skimming and piece-plotting of Zone 2 in the block units. Pieces of orange flagging tape mark artifact locations.
If Zone 2 turns out to be a buried plowzone, our careful excavation of it will have been largely an educational exercise (shovel skimming and piece-plotting are techniques that the students need to learn regardless, so that's fine). If it turns out to be an intact Mississippian midden deposit, however, I'll be happy that we excavated through it in a way that may help us learn something about its formation. The deposit has produced several rim sherds and at least one fragment of a pipe bowl. So far, there has been no sign of features originating within the deposit.
Picture
Rim sherd in situ. The rim edge is facing toward the top of the photo.
One of the pieces of information that has me thinking that Zone 2 may be a prehistoric midden is the view now available in the wall of Unit 9.  Last week, I pointed at a small section of the base of Zone 2 and noted that it was more abrupt than one would expect in a naturally-formed sediment zone. On Friday, however, I took another look at the Unit 9 wall that Jim Legg is working on and it appears that that abrupt "straight" segment is more the exception than the rule. There also appear to be thin horizontal lenses of sediment within Zone 2, the presence of which seems inconsistent with a plowed deposit.
Picture
West wall of Unit 9, excavation in progress.
As shown in the photo, the excavation of Unit 9 is now down into the portion of the profile where lamellae become visible. These lamellae -- thin layers of clay-enriched sediment -- become thicker and more pronounced with depth in the profile.  They are formed by the movement and accumulation of clay particles (here is an online article to get you started if you want to learn more about lamellae). Jim's excavation has yet to produce any diagnostic lithic artifacts (he's below the depth at which we're still expecting to find pottery) or evidence of intact features. He'll be down to the depth of what I think is a Middle/Late Archaic zone in a few more levels.
Picture
The weekly photo showing the excavation of Unit 9 in progress.
7 Comments

    All views expressed in my blog posts are my own. The views of those that comment are their own. That's how it works.

    I reserve the right to take down comments that I deem to be defamatory or harassing. 

    Andy White

    Follow me on Twitter: @Andrew_A_White

    Email me: andy.white.zpm@gmail.com

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Picture

    Sick of the woo?  Want to help keep honest and open dialogue about pseudo-archaeology on the internet? Please consider contributing to Woo War Two.
    Picture

    Follow updates on posts related to giants on the Modern Mythology of Giants page on Facebook.

    Archives

    January 2023
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    March 2021
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    3D Models
    AAA
    Adena
    Afrocentrism
    Agent Based Modeling
    Agent-based Modeling
    Aircraft
    Alabama
    Aliens
    Ancient Artifact Preservation Society
    Androgynous Fish Gods
    ANTH 227
    ANTH 291
    ANTH 322
    Anthropology History
    Anunnaki
    Appalachia
    Archaeology
    Ardipithecus
    Art
    Atlantis
    Australia
    Australopithecines
    Aviation History
    Bigfoot
    Birds
    Boas
    Book Of Mormon
    Broad River Archaeological Field School
    Bronze Age
    Caribou
    Carolina Bays
    Ceramics
    China
    Clovis
    Complexity
    Copper Culture
    Cotton Mather
    COVID-19
    Creationism
    Croatia
    Crow
    Demography
    Denisovans
    Diffusionism
    DINAA
    Dinosaurs
    Dirt Dance Floor
    Double Rows Of Teeth
    Dragonflies
    Early Archaic
    Early Woodland
    Earthworks
    Eastern Woodlands
    Eastern Woodlands Household Archaeology Data Project
    Education
    Egypt
    Europe
    Evolution
    Ewhadp
    Fake Hercules Swords
    Fetal Head Molding
    Field School
    Film
    Florida
    Forbidden Archaeology
    Forbidden History
    Four Field Anthropology
    Four-field Anthropology
    France
    Genetics
    Genus Homo
    Geology
    Geometry
    Geophysics
    Georgia
    Giants
    Giants Of Olden Times
    Gigantism
    Gigantopithecus
    Graham Hancock
    Grand Valley State
    Great Lakes
    Hollow Earth
    Homo Erectus
    Hunter Gatherers
    Hunter-gatherers
    Illinois
    India
    Indiana
    Indonesia
    Iowa
    Iraq
    Israel
    Jim Vieira
    Jobs
    Kensington Rune Stone
    Kentucky
    Kirk Project
    Late Archaic
    Lemuria
    Lithic Raw Materials
    Lithics
    Lizard Man
    Lomekwi
    Lost Continents
    Mack
    Mammoths
    Mastodons
    Maya
    Megafauna
    Megaliths
    Mesolithic
    Michigan
    Middle Archaic
    Middle Pleistocene
    Middle Woodland
    Midwest
    Minnesota
    Mississippi
    Mississippian
    Missouri
    Modeling
    Morphometric
    Mound Builder Myth
    Mu
    Music
    Nazis
    Neandertals
    Near East
    Nephilim
    Nevada
    New Mexico
    Newspapers
    New York
    North Carolina
    Oahspe
    Oak Island
    Obstetrics
    Ohio
    Ohio Valley
    Oldowan
    Olmec
    Open Data
    Paleoindian
    Paleolithic
    Pilumgate
    Pleistocene
    Pliocene
    Pre Clovis
    Pre-Clovis
    Prehistoric Families
    Pseudo Science
    Pseudo-science
    Radiocarbon
    Reality Check
    Rome
    Russia
    SAA
    Sardinia
    SCIAA
    Science
    Scientific Racism
    Sculpture
    SEAC
    Search For The Lost Giants
    Sexual Dimorphism
    Sitchin
    Social Complexity
    Social Networks
    Solutrean Hypothesis
    South Africa
    South America
    South Carolina
    Southeast
    Stone Holes
    Subsistence
    Swordgate
    Teaching
    Technology
    Teeth
    Television
    Tennessee
    Texas
    Topper
    Travel
    Travel Diaries
    Vaccines
    Washington
    Whatzit
    White Supremacists
    Wisconsin
    Woo War Two
    World War I
    World War II
    Writing
    Younger Dryas

    RSS Feed

    Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly