Ye Pleasant Mount: 1989 1990 Excavations - Open site which ...

Table 2, Continued. Artifact Summary, Shovel Tests.
Artifact Description Count
Chert undiagnostic flake tools I
Chert chipped debris 94
Quartz chipped debris -l
TOTAL 361
The Indian Town
The Indian town at Mount Pleasant measured 360 m x 200 m as defined by the
presence ofhistoric Indian ceramics in shovel tests. It is irregular in shape, hugs the bluff
line, and centers around two deep gullies, each containing natural springs. The
combination of a majestic view, sources of pure drinking water, well-drained soils, and
ready access to the Savannah River all combined to make this a choice site for human
settlement
The artifacts most commonly found in the town were Indian pottery, European tobacco
pipe fragments and dark green wine bottle glass. Indian pottery found includes plain,
incised, and notched applique jars, and plain and incised bowls. Both shell and sand
tempered vessels were found, although sand tempering was more common. Many ofthese
artifacts provide clues as to when this area was occupied. Clay tobacco pipes are an
example of one type of time-sensitive artifact A method, developed by archaeologist J. C.
Harrington, later modified by Lewis Binford and Kathleen Deagan, for dating clay pipe
stems is useful for dating sites from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Noel Hume
1985:299). A sample of 22 tobacco pipe sterns collected from the shovel tests yielded a
pipe stem date of 1723 using the Binford method. Although this sample is small, it
suggests that the age of the village post-dates the Yarnassee War (1719). By the end of the
war, the Appalachicolas had left the region. The Yuchi were documented as living on this
site in 1736, but they may have moved into the area shortly after the Yamassee left the
region. We suspect that most ofthe village debris is associated with the Yuchi occupation.
Trader Point (Area A)
Trader Point is a narrow point ofland flanked by steep slopes on three sides. The most
extensive excavations at Mount Pleasant have focused on this area. Work performed there
is described in Chapter 4. This area was initially identified as an artifact-dense area when
Shovel Test 103 cut through a rich eighteenth-eentury midden deposit. Trader Point
25