Pee Dee residents dig into past
Rebecca J. Ducker/Morning News
Sean Taylor, an Archaeologist with South Carolina DNR helps Sara Rolfe and Adrian Street identify artifacts found at the Johannes Kolb site near Society Hill as South Carolina Department of Natural Resources held their annual archaeological fieldwork on Saturday. This year’s fieldwork started March 9 and will end March 20.
DARLINGTON — Egypt, Europe and South America aren’t the only places where 11,000-year-old artifacts can be discovered.
DIGGING THE PAST
USC undergraduate student Matthew Carey removes dirt from a dig site as volunteers Catherine Byrd (right) and Philoma Skipper assist in finding artifacts.
Lab Director for the Kolb site, Andrea Palmiotto throws a shovel fun of dirt into a sifter while searching the site for artifacts on Saturday.
A volunteer sifts through dirt finding bricks, bones and pieces of glass at the Johannes Kolb site near Society Hill Saturday.
Sean Taylor, an Archaeologist with South Carolina DNR helps Sara Rolfe and Adrian Street identify artifacts found at the Johannes Kolb site near Society Hill.
Morning News Photos by Rebecca J. Ducker
Archaeologists, students and Pee Dee residents have descended upon a cache of archaeological discoveries at the Johannes Kolb site located on the Great Pee Dee Heritage Preserve near Society Hill.
Volunteers are engaged in two weeks of archaeological fieldwork and have already made some amazing discoveries, said Florence resident and University of South Carolina graduate student Erika Shofner.
On Saturday, Shofner discovered a Savannah River projectile point— a triangle-shaped stone tool likely used more than 5,000 years ago by early hunters.
“This point was probably a the end of a long spear,” she said.
The point was common among the first inhabits of South Carolina and predates the bow and arrow, said Shofner.
Most residents are not aware of the amount of history the state has, she said.
“South Carolina itself has such an interesting past. People got here about 12,000 years ago, and they’ve been here ever since,” she said. “I kind of fell in love with all the things I’ve found here. People think you have to go to Egypt and Africa, but we have things right here.”
More than 250,000 artifacts have been discovered at the Kolb site since 1997 when the first digs took place, said Tariq Ghaffar, a volunteer excavator and Camden Military Academy English teacher.
“This is what we rewrite our national history by,” he said. “This site represents every cultural episode in history.”
Some 18th century components have been found at the site, said Ghaffar. This is significant, because people living in the area during that time didn’t own a lot. Darlington County was remote and far away from the the Charleston harbor where ships brought goods from Europe, he said.
Several artifacts dating back more than 3,500 years have been discovered at the Kolb Site, said Ghaffar.
“We are not talking about people who are primitive,” he said. “We are talking about people with thousands of years of technology ... these people had knowledge that we don’t.”
Discoveries of material from the Woodland Phase including some of the first American pottery has been found at the site, Ghaffar said.
“We have different types of decorations on them ... they sometimes would carve elaborate designs,” he said.
The volunteers began their field work Monday and will conclude Friday. The site is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
School groups wishing to visit can contact Sean Taylor, S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Heritage Trust archaeologist, at (803) 734-3753 or (803) 238-1354 or at .
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