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As part of the FCM’s Tenth-Anniversary Celebration, the Archaeological Institute of the Pee Dee has organized a series of lectures on Saturday, October 12, 2024. The lectures will take place in the museum Multi-Purpose room, located on the first floor in the education wing. This lecture series will be a great way to learn more about local history and the archaeologists at the forefront of exciting discoveries in our area. Learn more about the guest speakers and the topics that will be discussed below.
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Archaeological Lectures
October 12, 2024 @ 10:00am - 3:45pm
Free
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Title: “Searching for Marion’s Camp on Snow’s Island.”
Biography: Steven D. Smith is a Research Professor at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. He has over 40 years experience in historical archaeology, largely focused on military sites of the American Revolution in the South. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including, Partisans, Guerillas, and Irregulars: Historical Archaeology of Asymmetric Warfare, 2019 (edited with Clarence R. Geier), University of Alabama Press, and Francis Marion and the Snow’s Island Community, United Writers Press, 2021, Leading Like the Swamp Fox: The Leadership Lessons of Francis Marion, Casemate Publishers, 2022 (co-author with Kevin Dougherty), and The Battles of Fort Watson and Fort Motte, 1781, Westholme Press, 2024.
11:15 AM – 11:45 AM
Title: Landscapes of Commensality: The Archaeology of Gullah Geechee Foodways from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to the Great Migration
Biography: Jodi A. Barnes is a Heritage Trust Archaeologist at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources who strives to learn about the past and share that knowledge with the public. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University in Washington, DC, and her Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies and B.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina. Her current research focuses on the archeology of a Gullah Geechee fishing village, and the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage sites in Georgetown County.
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Title: A Survey for the 1526 Shipwreck of Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón’s Capitana
Abstract: Over the years, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology has undertaken several underwater archaeological projects related to colonial endeavors, shipping, naval warfare, and other maritime activities in the Pee Dee region. One long-term project is the continued search for the wrecked flagship of the Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón expedition, an early Spanish endeavor to colonize North America. The Capitana, one of six vessels used in a failed settlement attempt by the Spanish Crown to gain a foothold in the New World in 1526, was lost when it grounded and sank approaching the coastline of South Carolina, believed between Winyah Bay and the Santee River Inlets. This illustrated presentation will discuss the ongoing efforts by the Institute to search for this early 16th-century shipwreck along with other unfortunate casualties along the Pee Dee coastline.
Biography: James Spirek is the State Underwater Archaeologist and Head of the Maritime Research Division at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Employed there since 1996 and holding his current position since 2012, Jim’s responsibilities include managing and studying the maritime archaeological legacy residing in the lakes, rivers, and coastal waters of South Carolina. He has participated in numerous projects documenting a diverse range of sunken prehistoric and historic watercraft, Colonial and Native American sites, Civil War warships and blockade runners, and other underwater archaeological remains in state waters. Jim is currently leading two maritime archeological prospecting ventures searching for shipwrecks off Port Royal Sound and the Santee River Inlets. Jim received his B.A. in History from George Mason University in 1987 and his M.A. in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University in 1993.
1:45 PM – 2:15 PM
Title: “Data Recovery Excavations at the Florence/Gamble Hotel”
Abstract: In September 2023, Aghatech Industries LLC conducted archaeological investigations at the original site of the Florence Hotel (c.1860-1893). Built by the Northeastern Railroad Company in 1860, the plan was for the Hotel—the largest wooden building in South Carolina during its time—to attract railway travelers to buy town lots. The plan succeeded: lots were bought and developed, and from them, the city of Florence came into being. This presentation details the archaeology conducted to recover the lost history of the Hotel, and especially the back lot of the Hotel, where enslaved Africans and later African American free persons labored to provide guests with horse and carriage transport, clean clothes, and bed linens, baths and shaves, and meals that made the Florence Hotel the “best eating house South of the Potomac”.
Biography: Dr. Andrew Agha has been practicing archaeology in South Carolina and the southeast since 1997 and is currently CEO of Aghatech Industries LLC. He has worked for various private and public entities and institutions and has taught Anthropology at the University of South Carolina-Columbia, the College of Charleston, and Coastal Carolina University. His main research deals with how colonial Carolina origins were influenced and shaped by experimental scientific agriculture, where the intersection of early English sciences, enslaved Africans, and English “country estate” development during the 1670s and 1680s created Carolina’s “plantation society”.
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Title: “Interpreting the Copperhead Bluff Site, a Mississippian Period Site on Great Pee Dee River, Florence County, South Carolina”
Biography: Christopher Judge has studied Native Americans in South Carolina for over thirty-five years. The lens that informs my research is the anthropological archaeology of precontact cultures. Additionally, Judge has conducted oral history research in living Native American communities throughout South Carolina. Currently, he is the Assistant Director of the Native American Studies Center at USC Lancaster, teaching anthropology and archaeology courses. Judge holds B.A. (1983) and M.A. (1987) degrees in Anthropology from USC Columbia.
3:15 PM – 3:45 PM
Title: Archaeological Excavations at the Copperhead Bluff site in Florence
Abstract: Archaeological excavations at the Copperhead Bluff site in Florence County recovered fragments of a small Native American ceramic vessel. As a primitive technology experiment, Southerlin has produced replicas of what he interprets the whole vessel to look like. Southerlin will briefly discuss digging and processing the clay, reconstructing a design image on a wood paddle, forming the clay into a specific vessel form, and firing the finished vessel.
Biography: Bobby Southerlin grew up in North and South Carolina and graduated from Spring Valley High School near Columbia. Southerlin completed his undergraduate studies at the University of South Carolina and graduate work in Southeastern Archaeology at the University of Georgia. In 2003, he founded the Cultural Resources Management firm Archaeological Consultants of the Carolinas. Inc. in Clayton, North Carolina, soon after partnered with Dawn Reid. Southerlin, now retired, is still involved with selected field projects and volunteer work occasionally. He enjoys primitive technology experiments, especially making replicas of Native American pottery from the Carolinas.
The Florence County Museum anniversary weekend has been made possible through the incredible support of our volunteers, members, contributors, and our primary media sponsor Post and Courier Pee Dee.
