Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT YOURHANEY PLANTATION221Anderson et al. (1982: 316) notes that there may be some confusion with both Savannah and PeeDee types. In the Yauhannah Bluff collection, one curvilinear complicated stamped sherd wasidentified as possible Ashley. It was distinct from other complicated stamped wares by the width ofthe lands, which averaged 4 mms. The paste was sandy and there was no smoothing orburnishing on the interior. Unfortunately, the sherd represents a portion of a vessel body and not arim element that could have provided distinctive information.The Ashley series dates to the protohistoric period and has been found in contexts dating from AD1600 to 1715. The one sherd from Yauhannah Bluff was placed in the Ashley category basedsolely on the width of the lands in the stamp design. Therefore, concluding the existence of aprotohistoric/historic Native American population at the site is highly tenuous.HISTORIC NATIVE AMERICAN POTTERYRelatively little is known about the pottery belong to historic Native America groups in the area.However, test excavations at Wachesaw landing in Georgetown County by Trinkley et al. (1983)identified pottery that they believed was historic Indian. The first type called Wachesaw wasinitially defined by Trinkley and Hogue (1979). This pottery is generally characterized by annularring construction with large quantities of rounded quartz sand grains in the paste and bold, sloppycomplicated stamping, bold simple stamping, corn cob marked, and roughly finished plain surfacetreatments. The only complicated stamped motif identified was the filfot cross. The simple stampeddesign is typically larger and bolder than the preceding Pee Dee simple stamped (Trinkley et al.1983: 30). Examples of Wachesaw pottery were examined first hand by Natalie Adams from atype collection located at the Charleston Museum. It was noted that the sherds are fairly thick andhard fired and and were very distinctive.The Wachesaw series is believed to represent pottery being produced by the Historic PeriodWaccamaw Indians, based on its apparent association with trade goods and burials excavated bythe Charleston Museum in 1930 and its context. It is believed that the Wachesaw have somelineal relationship to the Pee Dee Series. Based on available ethnographic information, theWaccamaw were not present in the Wachesaw area after 1730, so these wares date to the firstthird of the 18 th century. Trinkley et al. (1983: 32) note that there is insufficient data to determine iflate Pee Dee wares are partially contemporary with Wachesaw pottery.Another pottery type identified by Trinkley as historic Native American was a type he termed“Kimbel” (Trinkley 1981). The pottery was initially classified as the Catawba Series, but Trinkleylater believed that it was inappropriate to tie the wares to historic Catawba Indians. He noted thatthe pottery is somewhat similar to the plain and burnished pottery of the Caraway series defined byCoe (n.d.) from the site of Keyauwee in Randolph County, North Carolina. Trinkley describes thatpaste of the Caraway series as having very fine to fine sands, which surface treatments consistingof net impressed, brushed, check stamped, and complicated stamped. He notes that similar potterywas being produced by some Catawba groups on the Catawba River and Sugar Creek, by lateIndians in the Cheraw area, by Indians at the Yauhannah trading center, and at the Pedea Indianvillage on the Pee Dee River in Marion County (Trinkley et al. 1983). Unfortunately, they do notreference specific site collections or studies.