Archaeology—Research Basic

Archaeologist Chad Long on Sunday, March 1, 2015, brought new information to the local community as he compared recent excavation findings at two sites—Historic Camden Revolutionary War Park and Ayers Town, a post-Revolutionary Catawba settlement in Lancaster County. Nearly 60 persons braved blustery weather to hear Long at the Historical Society program held at the Kershaw County School District Office Building. A professional archaeologist for the South Carolina Department of Transportation, Long and his family live in Camden.

Archaeology, Long said, can provide information not available by other means. He demonstrated, for example, how archaeology has lately revealed the influence of colonial potters in Camden on new design adaptations of traditional Catawba potters at Ayers Town. An active question-and-answer period followed the talk. Long also mentioned other local archaeological projects being planned as well. Conversation continued during refreshments and viewing of items from the sites.

Also of interest at the program was an exhibit case that Lon Outten brought from the Camden Archives with a display of even older Indian relics collected from plowed fields in upper Kershaw County, mostly in 1949. Centered in the case was a rare Deptford ax found in the 1920s in the vicinity of the Battle of Camden.

Historic associations between the Catawba people and earliest Camden settlers are memorialized in Camden’s Town Green statuary depicting colonial-era King Hagler (Haiglar) and Joseph Kershaw, and in the continued prominent presence in Kershaw County of iconic weathervane images of Catawba chief Haiglar, first raised in 1826 in Camden.

Society treasurer Lon Outen also presented for sale his new book, A History of Kershaw County Law Enforcement: 1792-1969, available in hardback or paperback.

About Joan and Glen Inabinet

Joan A. Inabinet and L. Glen Inabinet are co-authors of A HISTORY OF KERSHAW COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA (2011, University of South Carolina Press) and active in the Kershaw County Historical Society in Camden, S.C.