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AIKEN COUNTY RAMBLER, Thursday, January 21, 1982 - PagaArcheological SurveySilverBy KAY LAWRENCEFrom November 1979 through March 1980 an archeological in-was carriedvestigation Silver Bluff Carolina sideout at located oh the of the SavannahRiver just above Jackson - which has been little publicized.Every weekend, through cold and rain and even snow flurries, a group of dedicated volunteers carefully sifted through the soil on their hands and knees for artifacts.The result of their work, listing and analyzing Indian and Colonial relics, was published in October 1980 by the Institute of Archeology and Anthropology of the University of South Carolina.Silver Bluff has one of the most colorful histories of anv site in thiscountry, and piecing together facts about the occupation of the bluff(believed to date to 8,000 B.C.) isvital not only to South Carolina, but also to the nation.The site is recognized by most historians as the area visited inMay of 1540 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto after a grueling march with his army up through the tangled jungles ofw-Looking Downriver from Silver BiuffSite of George Walt Joseph Displays (from I) Neck of Dark Green Bottle,Galphin's Trading Post in Mid-1700s.Delftware, Pipe Bowl and Indian PotsherdFlorida and (ipnrp*iaAt the heart of the Silver Bluff research was J. Walter (Walt) Joseph of Aiken, chairman of the Aiken County Historical Commission. A superintendent at the Savannah River Plant, he has long been recognized as an amateur ar-rhpnlmnst who rareftillv nlots eachwith the fingers and any dirt clods carefully broken up. Even the smallest fragments of relics went into collection bags and were labeled with a site number and signed and dated by the collector.:oidered on fine costumes. And there were bits of Oriental porcelain found in the rubble.toRecommended for future studiestire Silver Bluff waterfront determine what prehistoric evidence may have eroded from the bank, and extension of the landto areas where out-A total of 9,090 artifacts wereby the Institute of Archeology’ is an underwater survey along the en-surveybuildings are known to have existed on the Galphin plantation.f f *} QQn
Newspaper Details
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken, South Carolina, US
Thu, Jan 21, 1982
Page 20
Full Page
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SC, USA 05 Dec 2022
Other Publications Near Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken Daily Mail
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken County Register
Aiken County Journal
Aiken Standard
