Archaeology at South Adger's Wharf: a Study of the Redan at Tradd Street
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Archaeology at South Adger’s Wharf: A Study of the Redan at Tradd Street By Nicholas Butler Eric Poplin Katherine Pemberton Martha Zierden The Walled City Task Force Archaeological Contributions 45 The Charleston Museum October 2012 Prepared for the City of Charleston and Mayor Riley’s Walled City Task Force Table of Contents Chapter I: Introduction . 1 The Walled City Task Force . 2 The Walled City . 2 The Present Project . 4 Research Issues . 5 Chapter II: Historical Background . 9 Early Charleston . 9 Charleston’s Colonial Defenses . 13 Eighteenth Century Charleston . 17 Charleston’s Colonial Markets . 23 Charleston’s Commercial Waterfront . 27 Chapter III: Fieldwork . 35 Site Description . 35 Excavations in 2008 . 36 Stratigraphy: Trench 1 and Unit 1 . 41 Trench 2 . 46 Trench 3 and Units 3 and 4 . 49 Stratigraphic Summary . 50 Fieldwork 2009 . 51 Stratigraphic Sequence . 53 Features and Horizontal Patterning . 58 Deep Excavations . 63 Chapter IV: Cultural Materials . 67 Laboratory Methods . 67 Analysis . 68 The Material Assemblage . 69 Olive Green glass . 69 Coarse Earthenwares . 70 Utilitarian Stonewares . 77 Table and Tea Ceramics . 79 Colono Ware . 90 Bottle Glass . 94 Pharmaceutical Glass . 95 Table Glass . 96 Other Kitchen Items . 98 Architectural Materials . 99 Arms . 100 Clothing . 101 Personal Items . 103 Furniture . 104 ii Tobacco Pipes . 105 Activities . 106 Ecofacts . 108 Zone 10 Assemblage . 108 Organic Materials . 110 Chapter V: Architecture of the Walled City . 115 Architecture of the Tradd Street Redan . 120 Granville Bastion . 125 Granville Bastion to Ashley Bastion . 126 The Half Moon Battery . 128 Carteret Bastion . 131 City Gate and Johnson’s Ravelin . 133 Summary . 134 Chapter VI: The Lower Market . 137 Provisioning the City . 138 Evidence of the Market . 143 The Beef Market Assemblage . 145 The Beef Market and Lower Market . 147 The Faunal Evidence . 151 Chapter VII: Development of the Waterfront . 157 The Urban Waterfront . 157 Anatomy of a Wharf . 160 Archaeology of the Waterfront . 163 Site Formation Processes . 164 Waterfront Refuse . 165 The Waterfront and Sanitation . 167 Chapter VIII: Conclusion The Tradd Street Redan and Walled City Task Force . 171 South Adger’s Wharf and Urban Archaeology . 173 References Cited . 177 Appendix I: Timeline of Walled City Events, by Nic Butler . 201 Appendix II: Forensic Evaluation of Brick, by Denis Brosnan . 211 Appendix III: Faunal Analysis, by Sarah Bergh and Elizabeth Reitz . 233 Appendix IV: The Wall from Granville to Ashley bastions . 287 iii List of Tables 1. Excavation Units and Features, 2008 . 40 2. Units Excavated in 2009 . 54 3. Stratigraphic Sequence . 57 4. Summary of 2009 Features . 63 5. Quantification of Materials from Zones 3 through 9 . 111 6. Quantification of Materials from Zone 10 . 113 7. Bone and Artifact Density . 146 8. Market and Residential Artifact Assemblages . 147 9. Relative Frequency of Ceramic Types . 149 10. Relative Frequency of Ceramics and Glass . 149 11. Relative Frequency of Commensal Species . 154 12. Comparison of Waterfront Assemblages . 165 List of Figures 1. Inset of the Crisp Map of 1711 . 1 2. Charles Town Harbor 1739 by Bishop Roberts . 1 3. 1785 Plat showing the redan and the Lower Market . 4 4. Location of South Adger’s Wharf site . 8 5. The Crisp Map of 1711 showing the Carolina Coast . 9 6. St. Augustine, Florida in 1763, by William Jeffries . 10 7. The Grand Modell . 12 8. The Boyd map of 1686 . 13 9. “An Exact Prospect of Charles Town,” 1739, H. Toms . 14 10. Siege of Charleston, 1781, by Henry Clinton . 16 11. Ichnography of Charleston, 1739, Roberts and Toms . 18 12. View of Charles Town, 1774, by Thomas Leitch . 20 13. Ichnography of Charleston, 1788 by William Petrie . 21 14. Close-up of the Tradd Street Redan, 1739 . ..