Chicora's recent work at the small shell midden 38CH1693 is highlighted on our client's web site. Included is additional information about Thom's Creek people and their life along the South Carolina about 1500 B.C. The web pages provide information on the data recovery, including the complete text of Chicora's report. To visit the web site:

Go to the Carolina Park web site.

In the middle of the page, click on "Master Plan" -- then click on "The Natural History of Carolina Park.

Some Chicora Research Series reports are now available on-line as pdfs. Converted summary or conclusion chapters are available for our survey work at Jehossee Island (Aiken's famed rice plantation), at a small eighteenth century overseer's settlement, at the nineteenth century Jervey and Youghal plantations (two different reports), at the Roupelmond Plantation site on St. Helena's Island in Beaufort County, and at Liberty Hall -- a small interior rice plantation during the eighhteeth century. Complete reports are, of course, still available either for purchase or through various libraries; these pdfs, however, provide quick access to information that may be of interest to other professionals as well as the public. Links are available on our Research Series page.

Chicora Foundation archaeologists have recently completed data recovery at three tenant sites on the Longtown tract near Killians, SC in upper Richland County, SC. The work involved excavation of two early twentieth century privies and one mid-century well at three different tenant settlements. Work is now progressing on the report and thousands of tenant artifacts are being examined, classified, and tabulated for the study.

This 180 page report is currently available Research Series 68 at a cost of $75.

Eighteenth Century Plantation Overseer Research now available

Chicora Foundation has just published a data recovery report on investigations at modern Belle Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, Charleston County, South Carolina. One topic was exhaustive research on the development of eighteenth century plantation overseers in South Carolina, tracing the origins and nature of early white overseers. This research has been made available on our Context Page if you would like to look at it immediately. The full report, however, also explores the artifacts typical of an early overseer settlement and, in particular, discovers that the abundance of Colono ware -- a slave made pottery -- falls midway between what is typically found at slave settlements and what is found in the settlements of white owners. The report is published as Research Series 64 and is available for $55 plus s/h.

Archaeological Work at Tranquil Hill Plantation

In Dorchester County Chicora archaeologists identified the location of Tranquil Hill Plantation -- including a main house, extensive garden, and slave settlement. While additional historical research is necessary, this plantation appears to have been active during the eighteenth century, but was largely abandoned by the Civil War. Historical research is exploring family papers, Colonial newspaper advertisements, plats for the property, and the chain of title. We have already identified a period watercolor of the structure that provides exceptional architectural details.

Data recovery excavations have been completed and a management summary of the investigations is available. We are presently cataloging the collections and conducting preliminary analysis -- with the final report expected during the Summer of 2005.