Digging Away in Botany Bay

No first-time visitor to Edisto Beach, SC should get away without a visit to Botany Bay. We enjoyed a wonderful week of vacation in Edisto Beach State Park and the only obstacle keeping us from Botany Bay was some iffy weather. By Thursday, all of that changed and we drove the four miles to see the place that had been recommended by everyone who visited before us.

The proper name for this scenic and tranquil area is Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area. It is an area that once held two plantations dating back to the 1780’s with a combined area of 4,687 acres. Long Staple Sea Island Cotton was the primary crop for the plantations from 1820 – 1860, but timber came from there as well. Presently, Botany Bay serves as a managed wildlife habitat and crops such as corn, sunflowers, millet, among others are planted there.

Helen (adorable wife) and I planned to take the driving tour of the plantation, but, when greeted by a volunteer at the entry we were told that there was an archaeological dig in progress on a shell ring within walking distance from the parking area. A television crew was filming the dig for an upcoming documentary on public television. We decided if it was good enough for television, it had to be good enough for two curious retirees.  We drove under a canopy of live oaks to the parking area.

After parking Bert (our truck) in the lot, we walked to the dig site with Kay and Bucky, a couple from Suffolk, VA who arrived at the same time. We enjoyed their company as we crossed a wooden bridge and walked along the scenic trail adjacent to the marsh. Up ahead we could see a lot of activity in progress as well as television cameras shooting away.

A “dig” accurately describes what was going on.  Young researchers were on hands and knees in a narrow trench of varying depths, carefully skimming the surface of the soil with specialized trowels. The soil and any contents were handed to another person and sifted through a screen then examined. Although the task was painstakingly slow, everyone involved was thoroughly engrossed in the activity and seemed to be having a lot of fun. I wanted to know more about the project.

Standing to the side of the trench was a young man engaged in the task of soil sifting. I introduced myself and asked him to tell me about his duties.  In the course of our conversation, I learned that he was a Ph.D. candidate from (where else) the University of Tennessee and had written a Master’s thesis on Shell Rings. I can only give readers the Cliff Note version. 

Shell rings are composed of oyster shells, fish bones, turtle shells, and other discarded food waste left by Native Americans as far back as 4,500 B.C. Our Ph.D. candidate believes that the inhabitants were drawn to the area because the food was plentiful and readily available. They eventually congregated in this spot and set up tents with the intent to remain. Over time, the accumulated shells and bones grew into huge piles. Several theories attempt to explain what the shell rings represent. One is that the inhabitants perhaps assembled the shells into an art form that eventually identified the tribe—something akin to a totem pole. Another thought is that the ring had a ceremonial purpose.  Hopefully, the dig will uncover clues to the reason for gatherings of waste in rings as large as 20 feet high.  One of the supervisors told me that they found no weapons or stone implements inside the ring and no human bones either.  Only shells and fish bones so far and this was considered surprising. We left them digging away, but the activity was truly fascinating.

One reason for some urgency with this dig is that recent hurricanes had severely eroded the area around the shell ring, and had reduced the ring to one-tenth its original size.  We walked on the two-mile beach that stretched from Edisto Island to Sea Brook Island and saw evidence of the storms in the many trees on the shore. Shells, including conch shells, were everywhere.  Visitors had assembled them on the trees to share with visitors.

After walking the beach, we took the driving tour around Botany Bay, following the map provided by the volunteer at the entry. We saw no animal life other than a slow-moving groundhog but did see lots of songbirds including scarlet tanagers, and several herons, egrets, pelicans, and ospreys around the ponds and lakes created by dikes in the creeks.

 

 

Near the end of the tour, we drove alongside several areas once cleared for cotton planting. Trees had returned, but ferns now covered the forest floor. I thought the contrast made a nice picture. An indigo bunting flew by while I snapped away, but he was moving too fast to pose for me. Some wildflowers grew on the edge of the field which we cannot identify.  If any reader can provide a clue, please leave us a comment in the section below.

We had a very interesting day in Botany Bay and left the area thankful that, even in retirement, the learning never stops.  It’s time to be Easin’ Along.