LIFE IN THE PEE DEE: PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC RESEARCH ON THE ROCHE CAROLINA TRACT, FLORENCE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA CHICORA FOUNDATION RESEARCH SERIES 39 Front Cover: One of the most interesting artifacts from Chicora's excavations at 38FL240 is this small, stamped brass "circus medallion." The disk shows the profile of an elephant, surrounded by the announcement that the "GREAT EASTERN MENAGERIE MUSEUM AVIARY CIRCUS AND BALLOON SHOW IS COMING." The Great Eastern Circus was only in operation from 1872 through 1874, under the direction of Andrew Haight, who was known as "Slippery Elm" Haight, due to his unsavory business practices. The Circus featured a young elephant named "Bismark" -- probably the very one shown on this medallion. In 1873 the Circus came to Florence, South Carolina, stopping for only two days -- October 18 and 19 -- on its round through the South. It is likely that this brass token was an advertisement for the circus. In this case it was saved, probably by the child of a tenant farmer, and worn as a constant reminder of Bismark, and a truly unusual event for the small, sleepy town of Florence. LIFE IN THE PEE DEE: PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC RESEARCH ON THE ROCHE CAROLINA TRACT, FLORENCE COUN1Y, SOUTH CAROLINA Research Series 39 Michael Trinkley Debi Hacker Natalie Adams Chicora Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 8664 • 861 Arbutus Drive Columbia, South Carolina 29202 803/787-6910 Prepared For: Roche Carolina, Inc. Nutley, New Jersey September 1993 ISSN 0082-2041 Library of Congress Cataloging -in -Publication Data Trinkley, Michael. Life in the Pee Dee: prehistoric and historic research on the Roche Carolina tract, Florence County, South Carolina / Michael Trinkley, Debi Hacker, Natalie Adams. p. cm. -- (Research series / Chicora Foundation; 39) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Florence County (S.C.)- -Antiquities. 2. Excavations (Archaeology)- -South Carolina--Florence County. 3. Indians of North America --South Carolina -- Florence County --Antiquities. I. Hacker, Debi. II. Adams, Natalie, 1963- . III. Roche Carolina, Inc. IV. Title V. Series: Research series (Chicora Foundation) ; 39. F277 .F5T75 1993 975.7'8401- -dc20 93-33726 CIP The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48 -1984. Q) If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. -- Chinese proverb 11 ABSTRACT This study reports on the archaeological data recovery excavations undertaken at two sites, 38FL240 and 38FL249, in Florence County, South Carolina for Roche Carolina, Inc. These two sites, previously identified eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places may be avoided by initial construction efforts, but the decision was made to conduct the necessary work, simply to ensure that there would be no loss of significant data as the plant grows. Site 38FL240 represents a late antebellum slave settlement which continued to be occupied during the postbellum and into the early twentieth century by tenant farmers as a nucleated settlement. Three structures, thought to represent a continuum of architectural styles and temporal episodes, were examined using broad block excavation techniques to maximize data recovery. The goal of the research, to explore the transition from slavery to tenancy, was only partially successful since so much of the early occupation had been "swamped" by the later tenant occupations and episodes of rebuilding. In spite of this difficulty, the site supported the decline in edged and annular wares from slavery to freedom, an increase in the diversity of personal and clothing artifacts, and possibly the rejection of tobacco as a tool of power and racism during slavery. The excavations were also useful in revealing the lifestyle of early tenant farmers in the upper coastal plain of South Carolina. The faunal study revealed greater diversity of meat cuts in slavery than in freedom, although the cuts were uniformly of low status, such as jaw and jowl. Examination of landscape and yard areas revealed patterning and an indication of sweeping. This site, situated on a sandy ridge which has not been plowed since site abandonment, was also compared to two tenant sites, 38FL235 and 38FL269, more typically set in plowed fields. Techniques including survey level shovel testing, close interval shovel testing, and complete surface collections are compared in an effort to better understand site formation and degradation processes in the sandy soils of the Upper Coastal Plain, as well as the ability of various archaeological techniques to predict research value. More significant findings include the inability of traditional shovel testing practices to accurately establish site boundaries, and the importance of a large sample when creating pattern analysis. Site 38FL249 is a Middle Woodland (ca. A.D. 500 based on a radiocarbon date) Native American site situated on a sand ridge overlooking the backwaters of the Pee Dee swamp. The initial survey found material both in plowed fields and into the woods lines. Excavations emphasized exploration of the deposits in the woods, finding that while more intact, even here there was evidence of plowing. A dispersed pattern of excavations revealed that the initial survey had accurately plotted the site core, and that this core did represent the most intact area of the site, producing large quantities of ceramics and lithics, ethnobotanical remains, and calcined bone. Of particular importance is the detailed analysis of pottery and lithics from this site -- one of the few such Middle Woodland sites investigated in this area of South Carolina. The ceramics revealed three primary assemblages -- Wilmington, Yadkin, and Cape Fear or Badin, based on a detailed macroscopic analysis of the paste. Incorporated into the study was an equally detailed analysis of the fabric and cordage present on the wares. Lithic analysis included exploration of raw materials used, the types of debitage present, and the variety of formal and informal tools present. Materials identified range from Early Archaic Palmer to Woodland triangular forms. III The research at these two sites is primarily important for its comparative value, providing researchers with base-line data from an area of South Carolina for which there has been very little intensive scientific investigation. Recommendations are offered for additional research in the region. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables Vll List of Figures viii Acknow ledgements Xl In trod uction 1 Background Goals Compliance and the Public's Interest in the Past Research and Methodological Issues Curation Natural Setting 9 Physiography Geology and Soils Climate Floristics Paleo -En vironmental Reconstruction Prehistoric and Historic Overview 17 Previous Research in the Vicinity Prehistoric Archaeology Historic Synopsis Implications Research Strategy and Methods 46 Prehistoric Research Orientation Analysis of Pottery Analysis of Lithics Behavioral Implications Historic Research Orientation Overview of Historic Research Excavations Strategy and Methods Investigations at 38FL235 and 38FL269 Educational Component Laboratory Methods and Analysis On the Nature of Analysis Prehistoric Pottery Lithics Historic Artifacts Conservation Ethnobotanical Studies Faunal Studies v Prehistoric Archaeology at 38FL249 81 Stratigraphy and Findings Pottery Wilmington/Hanover Yadkin Badin/Cape Fear Minority Wares Comparing Counts and Estimated Vessel Equivalents Horizontal and Vertical Patterning Functional Analysis Other Ceramic Artifacts Lithics Introduction Biface and Tool Analysis Lithic Debitage Synthesis Radiocarbon Dating Subsistence Synthesis Historic Archaeology at 38FL240 142 Archaeology, Stratigraphy and Features Structure 1 Structure 2 Structure 3 Landscape Features Subsistence Background Faunal Materials Ethnobotanical Materials Artifacts Dating, Patterns, and Status Lifeways from Slavery to Tenancy Conclusions 186 38FL249 38FL240 Sources Cited 190 Vl LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Generalized Paleo-Environmental reconstruction 13 2. 1856 Inventory and Appraisement of James S. Gibson 32 3. Cotton and tobacco in Florence County from 1900 through 1930 35 4. Systems of tenure 39 5. Average income of Chatham County, N.C. farmers 51 6. A verage income of Atlantic Coastal Plain tenant farmers 51 7. Comparison of pattern analysis from controlled surface collection and excavation units 62 8. Mean ceramic date for 38FL235 63 9. Comparison of pattern analysis from controlled surface collection and shovel tests 67 10. Mean ceramic date for 38FL269 68 11. Depth of Stratigraphic Zones at 38FL249 84 12. Pottery recovered from Locus 1 excavations at 38FL249 86 13. Comparison of estimated vessel equivalents and counts 98 14. Stratigraphic occurrence of ceramics by counts at 38FL249 99 15. Stratigraphic occurrence of ceramics by counts at EU 15 and 16 99 16. Hafted biface metric data 104 17. Mean metric data for hafted bifaces 106 18. Triangular point metric data 109 19. Mean metric data for triangular points 110 20. Bifaces and biface fragments 110 21. Vertical location of end scrapers 115 22. Vertical location of used flakes 115 23. Fire cracked rock 118 24. Major types of debitage at Locus 1 119 25. Major types of debitage at Locus 2 120 26. Major raw materials at Locus 1 120 27. Major raw materials at Locus 2 121 28. Project point raw materials 121 29. Lithic materials at Locus 1 122 30. Reduction stages of Locus 1 quartz debitage 124