Shell mound dilemma: Dig it up or let it erode
The Post and Courier
David Jones, an archaeologist with the State Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism, inspects Spanish Mount, an Edisto Island shell midden that has severely eroded in recent years.
The Post and Courier
The shadow casts by archaeologist David Jones points to a piece of Indian pottery in the Spanish Mount shell midden on Scott Creek.
EDISTO ISLAND - Sometimes, the best way to preserve something is to destroy it.
Shell middens and rings are the greatest structures that remain from the state's earliest inhabitants and date back between two to four millennia.
They contain mostly oyster and clam shells but also pottery fragments and animal bones. No one is quite sure whether they began life as temples or mere trash heaps or something in between.
Christopher Judge, an archaeologist who teaches at the University of South Carolina-Lancaster, says the state has about 15 separate shell sites, ranging from middens (or piles) to horseshoe-shaped structures to rings.
"There's a great debate on whether Spanish Mount is a ring or a midden,"
Judge says. It's an important distinction because middens appear to be little more than trash heaps, while rings show an architectural element that signifies something greater than simply a dumping site.
"The question becomes is this garbage, or are they building their midden from nearby middens?" Judge asks. "Is the landfill being utilized for architectural material?"
Today, only a small portion of Spanish Mount remains. The rest has eroded into Scott Creek.
David Jones, an archaeologist with the PRT, has been observing the site since September 2000, watching it disappear before his eyes. The pile once was 20 feet high but now is about 12 feet.
"In the course of five years, the face had moved back 14 feet in the center and 7 feet on each end," he says. A few years ago, the state built a wall and walkway to try to stabilize the mound and to give the public a chance to view it close up. That project cost about $100,000.
Jones estimates that about a half a pickup truck of shells erode each year. Before the wall was built, the site lost three or four times that much in a year. He says the state soon might decide to excavate what's left. While such a move ultimately would destroy Spanish Mount, it also would preserve an archaeological record of it.
Judge knows how Jones has wrestled with the question of what to do. "It is a very tough decision," Judge says. "I would not want to be in his shoes."
Fortunately, nothing is imminent, partly because the agency doesn't have the estimated $300,000 for an archaeological dig. (Perhaps this can be considered one upside to a lean state budget).
So people will have plenty of time to visit the site, which can be reached from a trail beginning at the new Edisto Interpretive Center.
If the erosion continues — or speeds up — an archaeological dig will look even more appealing. And Judge says it could yield some important finds.
"The beauty of these sites to me is that they provide not only a cultural time capsule from 3,000 to 5,000 years ago but also an ecological time capsule," he says.
The soil's pH level has helped preserve organic material. "You get fish scales up to antlers preserved because of this," he said. "For the first time in the prehistory of South Carolina, we get a wide variety of things preserved that let us learn more about these societies."
When the archaeologists are done, though, nothing would be left — nothing, that is, but a record of what once was.
Still, that might be better than nothing.
As Jones takes a close look during a recent visit to the site, he focuses on its gleaming white wall and notes, "You can see some shell is still falling from it."
Robert Behre may be reached at 937-5771 or by fax at 937-5579. His e-mail address is rbehre@postandcourier.com, and his mailing address is 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403. 937-5771 or at
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Comments
groover (anonymous) says...
My thoughts are to record what the mounds have to offer and leave the rest up to nature. That is what the Native Americans would want anyway. Why can't we leave this small mound alone? We took everything else from them.
March 3, 2008 at 7:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
prettywoman2457 (anonymous) says...
I just don't understand why any state that find things like this would keep it. I agree Groover, but why can't these places give the land back instead of disgracing it. Let the real Native Americans record and perserve what the mounds or middens have to hide. Its very obvious that money will be made from the relics and some smart butt will impose his views and history will be dictated again by white people. I once visited Charlestowne...at that time there was a big dig going on and it was interesting to see what the findings were, but I didn't see any real Native Americans, therefore, I assumed they were robbing and have felt that way since....thus, I have never returned and refuse to visit "State" parks or any place that has a history of Indian settlements to honor my ancestors of the real Native Americans.
March 3, 2008 at 8:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
It's a trash heap, for crying out loud. Let it go.
March 3, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
Why hasn't the mound eroded during the last 2,000 years? Say what you will about global warming, the water has not risen enough in the last century to cause erosion to speed up to the levels mentioned in the article. Is there some other cause?
March 3, 2008 at 8:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
summervillemom (anonymous) says...
Shell mounds and middens have special significance to those who study native flora of the lowcountry. It would be very unfortunate if this one was destroyed.
March 3, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BeefNBeanBurrito (anonymous) says...
"That is what the Native Americans would want anyway. Why can't we leave this small mound alone? We took everything else from them."
That's the lamest, whiniest thing I've ever heard. We need to study the mounds and record all the data we can before they are lost for good, not whine over what some animist primitives would've wanted.
March 3, 2008 at 11:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
Please disregard PalmettoMan's comments above. He is an idiot.
March 3, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
prettywoman2457 (anonymous) says...
How many native Indians do you see having input in these places? I know that they are here and educated enough to participate or even shed some light on the mysteries from stories told from generation to generation!! The relics that are recovered, again the white man takes and makes money off the Native Indians.
March 3, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
strongjohn10856 (anonymous) says...
Shell middens and other refuse deposits hold more than just shell - everything Natives made and/or used ended up in the midden. There are a lot of unanswered questions about native life in the past - how they made use of the natural resources available to them is just one of the research topics that specialists are concerned with (although it is an inportant one). And it is worth noting that a lot of Native people are involved in archaeological research and support it. Native perspectives are often integrated into archaeological interpretation by the current generation of scholars.
March 3, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BeefNBeanBurrito (anonymous) says...
scnative4ever,
Maybe re-read my comments, I couldn't disagree more from the whining hippie prettywoman2457.
March 3, 2008 at 2:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Spunky_Monkey (anonymous) says...
A part of history 3-5,000 years old?
Please save this or what's left of it!
How amazing is something that is this old and still surviving?
Everyone deserves to see this type of history in person.
March 3, 2008 at 2:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
Global warming? Do you realize that the little ice age started less than 1000 years ago? Before that greenland was green, they grew grapes there. The world was far warmer then than it is now, and these piles of shells and pottery shards survived that.
I'm all for stopping global warming and finding a way to toss us back into a global cold spell...it would kill far more of the idiots who believe in global warming, as cold kills more people and food crops than warm ever will.
March 3, 2008 at 6:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MartinAVanderHorst (anonymous) says...
Before anyone places judgment on this particular site, please head to the State Park at Edisto and walk the trail to this historic mound. You'll walk through the woods along the creeks and marshes and thoroughly enjoy the natural beauty of the area.
Shell mounds are and were located throughout Earth. There are countless amounts of them all over the coastlines of all the worlds waters. Some do signify sacred sites, however the majority are simply dump areas/middens. Excavators can take core samples out these mounds and extract information relative to both anthropological and marine/aquatic life interests. This one at Edisto is famous primarily because of it's location. Other mounds in Georgia and New England were much larger, but they tended to blend in better with berms/bluffs along the water's edge. This one was used as a navigational landmark by natives, explorers, and settlers. It is known that as late as the early 1900s people were still using this midden as a shell repository. Because of the continual use of the site over maybe thousands of years, there was little erosion. With the advent of 20th century technology and growth, there was no longer a need to dispose of oyster shells and other broken items in pits along the coastline.
As one of the previous posters alluded to, if the representatives of local native tribes felt this was a divine site, they would most definitely be heavily involved with this debate over excavation. Additionally, the researches and archaeologists carrying out these affairs are highly trained and respectable people. They have no monetary interest in the site. They want to preserve what is there - physically or documentary. I am sure they have consulted with native groups to come to whatever conclusion is fit for the future of the mound.
Until then, I recommend going to your local library or an online research site and reading more about these interesting middens throughout the world. And, as I started out with, take a day trip to Edisto State Park and enjoy the oyster mound in person. It's certainly worth it.
March 3, 2008 at 7:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rollo (anonymous) says...
White Point Gardens.
Anyway, let nature work its' way, and document what it uncovers.
March 3, 2008 at 9:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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