Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

4The boreal forest was gradually replaced by a northern hardwood type that was dominated byhemlocks, oaks, hickories, beeches, birches, and elms. Other conifers (pine and spruce) were alsowell represented in this forest type. Prairies were interspersed throughout the hardwood forest.These conditions peaked in occurrence between 12,810 and 9,500 B.P. according to pollen corestaken from White's Pond (Watts 1980). The forest vegetation changed from a patchy occurrence,which had characterized the previous period to a more homogeneous appearance.The Post-Glacial Period extends from 10,000 B.P. to the present. This period witnessed yet furtherwarming and the advent of the modern climates. Oak-hickory forests dominated the region duringthe early Post-Glacial Period. Open prairie like land decreased in area during this period, andhardwood forests with oak and hickory dominant reached its maximum extent. Between 6,000and 5,000 B.P. increased moisture brought about by increased precipitation and an increase insea level (60 m mean sea level to 1 m mean sea level) led to the development of coastal saltmarshes, interior wetlands, and river floodplains.From 5,000 B.P. onward the pollen record does not register environmental change, suggesting theappearance of a "modern" environment by this time (Sassaman et al. 1990). The environmentfrom ca. 4,000 B.P. to the present has been characterized by a slight cooling trend with decreasedprecipitation. The extensive oak-hickory forests of the earlier period were beginning to decrease inextent by the time of historic contact, and the percentage of pine in the southern forests increased.Stands of pure yellow pine, that may have been at least partially maintained as subclimaxvegetation through aboriginal burning, were noted in areas of the Coastal Plain by early settlers(Wharton 1978).HISTORIC ENVIRONMENTTHE GREAT PEE DEE RIVEREnvironmental conditions that would have existed during the occupation of the plantation areillustrated by a number of historic accounts and more modern studies. The Yadkin-Pee Dee Riversystem has its origin in the North Carolina mountains near the town of Blowing Rock and emptiesinto Winyah Bay near Georgetown. It is just below the fall line that the Yadkin becomes the GreatPee Dee and is navigable to that point. There the town of Cheraw developed as a trading centerwith overland access to the North Carolina trading centers of Cross Creek, Salem, and Salisbury aswell as South Carolina locales such as Camden and the Catawba Nation. Due to the large amountof fresh water that flows into Winyah Bay near Georgetown, salt water does not penetrate into theGreat Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers. However, tidal movements affect the Pee Dee as far up asthe junction of Pee Dee and Bull Creek (Michie 1990:11). The Yauhannah Bluff site is locatedalong a riverine ecosystem based on waters with less than 0.5% ocean-derived salts and may becharacterized as freshwater.In 1843 Edmund Ruffin noted that the river edges of the Great Pee Dee were tidal swamp in anatural state, containing thick forests of tupelo, gum, cypress, and maple. He stated that the“liability of these lands to be inundated, prevent their being safe enough for rice culture; & no oneseems to think that land is worth embanking for any other crop. Thus the immense extents ofswamp lands above regular & full tides, or where exposed to freshes, on the Peedee as of all otherrivers of S.C. will probably remain a nuisance for a century to come, & held at scarcely any value