Announcements:

2009 Fieldwork

In 2009 we plan to be at the site between March 9 and March 20. This is subject to adjustment so please check back later.

2008 Fieldwork - Its all over

Fieldwork will begin March 10 and end March 21, 2008.   This year we will break out of our traditional mold of sampling with two meter squares and excavate a four meter block to the base of the topsoil to try to expose enough features to trace out a house pattern. Our Public Day will be Saturday, March 15. Our educational focus will be on Archaeology and Primitive Technology.

This Year's Demonstrators:

Fuz Sanderson
 
Day long presentation focused on the interpretation of the prehistoric use of natural resources, specifically those items that do not survive the archaeological record. Demonstration includes; friction fire materials, pitch sticks, soapstone materials and other natural resources.
 
 
Keith Grenoble
 
Demonstrates prehistoric pottery manufacture, firing and use in cooking. Archaeological sites rarely produce whole vessels and the public interpretation of the site benefits greatly from seeing replicas of ancient pots and their use.


Bobby Southerlin

Demonstrates and teaches pottery making, with opportunities for hands on experience.
 

Scott Jones
 
General demonstration of primitive technologies. Demonstration will focus on interpretation of archaeological record, activities include: Flint knapping, Stone axes, Woodworking, Stone tool hafting and Atlatl.
 

Tom Ray
 
Demonstrates Catawba Indian fishing techniques

 SEAC Grant

In 2007 we were honored to receive a grant from The Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) to assist with our public education efforts. Our grant report can be found at the link.

Site Introduction

The Kolb site is located in the Great Pee Dee Heritage Preserve in Darlington County South Carolina. The site lies on a cutoff channel of the Great Pee Dee River. This meander was cut off by a land owner in the 1870’s, not by natural forces , so for most of its history it was on the main river channel.

Location:
Its dry sandy soils are just slightly higher than all but the worst of floods, yet it is not so far above the river as to make access difficult. For people living off the land it is an ideal spot, and it was revisited for thousands of years. The rich bottomland soils also drew historic period farmers, while the forests drew loggers, hunters and fishermen.

Archaeological Work History:
The site was was found and recorded in 1973 by a local high school student, Ernest “Chip” Helms. There is a good lesson here, because many people collect artifacts from sites, but few bother to properly record them with the State Archaeologist’s office. As a result, when the Great Pee Dee Heritage Preserve was obtained by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ Heritage Trust Program (HTP) in 1992 it was already known that several interesting sites were to be found there. Chip Helms approached Christopher Judge, the HTP archaeologist at the time, about conducting excavations at this and other sites on the preserve. In 1997 historical and archaeological investigations began in earnest at the Johannes Kolb site, 38DA75.

Research Goals:
When sites are being destroyed every day by modern land use it is difficult to justify destroying one for pure research purposes by excavation - because even the most careful archaeological excavations do, in fact, destroy sites as we study them. Yet we still have much to learn about the archaeology of South Carolina, particularly in inland areas such as this that have received little attention. Balancing these needs we chose to take a statistically valid sample of the site and all its resources, thus leaving well over 80% of it intact and available for future researchers. All excavations have been conducted by hand - not through the use of heavy equipment - so our destruction is limited to areas two meters on a side at the most.

Another important goal of the project was to provide a learning experience both for participants and visitors. Students from University of South Carolina, College of Charleston, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Memphis, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, William and Mary, Vermont College, and others have been encouraged to participate, and many have gone on to conduct graduate work and have careers in the field. Participation has been open to high school students and adult volunteers as well. Visitors from the local community and from around the nation have also joined us. From the first a staff member was designated as site tour guide, but by 1999 the need had grown til we were forced to hire someone full time just to explain the site to visitors. We have had the site open to visitors virtually every day that we have worked there, but our middle saturday public day has been the biggest draw, with as many as 500 people coming out to see the site, and watch demonstrations of pottery and stone tool making, and re-enactments of Native American and Colonial life. Chip Helms and our many friends in the community have put on a barbeque and provided music and entertainment each public day, insuring participation.

In our opinion our work at the Kolb site has been a resounding success. Our student and adult helpers have been enthusiastic, and we believe they have come away with a positive experience. Opportunities for the public to visit archaeological sites in South Carolina in general are few, but in the Pee Dee region this is the only place where kids and adults can see archaeology in action on a regular basis. So in terms of this being a positive, educational experience we feel that we have done a good job.

For more information and directions to the site, please visit our volunteers page.

If you have questions or comments please contact Carl Steen at diachronic@aol.com, Chris Judge at judgec@gwm.sc.edu or Sean Taylor at taylors@dnr.sc.gov. We can be contacted by mail at PO Box 50394 Columbia SC 29250 and by phone at 803-929-0294. For more information on the Diachronic Research Foundation go to http://diachronic.us