Information Session 2: UNC Summer Archaeological Field School

We at the UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology are pleased to announce that the 2024 UNC Summer Archaeological Field School will be held during Summer Semester II (June 24 – July 19, 2024) in Charleston, South Carolina. The founding of Charles Town in 1670 and the establishment of the Carolina colony forever altered the history of the southeastern United States. Fueled by local and trans-Atlantic demand for trade goods, hides and furs, and enslaved laborers, this economic engine created a wholly new landscape connecting American Indian communities with Europeans and Africans living throughout the Atlantic world.

Investigations this season will focus on two important archaeological sites — the original 1670 colonial Charles Towne settlement and St. Giles Kussoe, one of the earliest plantation sites in the Carolina colony (ca. 1674-1685). Our project explores a number of research questions associated with the first decades of the colony including:

-How were these communities laid out with respect to living and working areas?

-What sorts of plants were early settlers experimenting with as they sought to establish a stable cash crop (e.g., watermelon, rice, ginger, citrus)?

-How did the inhabitants of the community materialize their identities through foodways, pottery production, and architecture?

Students will help answer these questions while learning the fundamentals of archaeological field techniques. This summer, our methods will include archaeological excavation, as well as remote sensing with ground-penetrating radar and magnetic gradiometry.