Native American Interactions during the Late Archaic Period
2022 South Carolina Archaeology Month Poster
During the Late Archaic period (5800-3200 B.P.) many Native American communities were part of wide ranging networks of exchange and rituality. These networks spanned what is now the United States from Georgia to the Great Lakes, and west to Louisiana. In South Carolina, Native Americans invented pottery and built rings made from oyster and clam shells. Archaeologists can trace these interaction networks through the spread of these artifacts and sites. Read on to learn more about Native American interactions during this period.
One of the best ways for archaeologists to trace interactions between communities in the past is through shared traditions. Sometimes these traditions are visible through people's crafts and the raw materials used to make them. In South Carolina, people made many different objects that they traded or took with them during interactions including soapstone slabs and projectile points. One of the most visible way to trace the connections between people, however, is through the pottery they made.
Native Americans living in South Carolina during the Late Archaic were the first to invent pottery in North America. This pottery, called Stallings, was tempered with plant fibers and featured wide openings, thick walls, and flat bottoms. This new technology was first invented on the coast near the Savannah River and quickly spread along the coast and north into the Savannah River Valley where they established the pottery's namesake site: Stallings Island.
Stallings pottery from the Savannah River Valley.
Stallings drag and jab decorated pottery from Stallings Island and other sites.
Not long after Stallings pottery was invented--or perhaps at the same time--Native Americans began using a new pottery technology. This new pottery was not tempered with fiber, but with sand. There were other differences as well: thinner walls, rounder bases, and more narrow openings are just a few of those differences. This sand tempered pottery was first documented at its namesake site near Columbia: Thom's Creek.
Thom's Creek vessels had different forms from Stallings, too. Many archaeologists think that this change in form reflects a change in cooking technology, from indirect to direct heat cooking. Thom's Creek vessels were made to be placed directly over a fire, whereas Stallings vessels were made to have hot soapstone slabs placed inside to heat liquids.
The people who made Thom's Creek pottery continued to decorate their pottery using some of the same styles as their neighbors and ancestors, however they also began using new methods and styles to decorate their pottery. Punctate pottery is one of the most common Thom's Creek decorations, but finger pinched is one of the most unique.
Both Stallings pottery and Thom's Creek pottery overlap in distribution in some areas of South Carolina. The people who made these two types of pottery clearly interacted with each in more than one way. These interactions are most apparent on the coast, where many shell rings were created by Native Americans between 4200 and 3800 years ago.
Shell rings were created by people dating as far back as 4200 years ago along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. These rings are typically made up of oyster and clam shells and can range anywhere from a few centimeters in thickness to more than a meter! Many archaeologists think that these were places where Native American communities periodically gathered to feast and socialize with their neighbors. The Fig Island Shell Ring Complex featured here is one of the largest in South Carolina. There are three main rings, but the largest, Ring 1, has as many as eight smaller rings attached to it! This complex of shell rings is so large it is visible in satellite imagery!
Shell rings were created by people living all along the Atlantic coasts of what are now Georgia and South Carolina and even as far away as the Gulf coast of present-day Louisiana!
