THE ARCHEOLOGY OE THE PIEDMONT REGION OE 

 SOUTH CAROLINA 



E]Y J. WALTER FEWKES, 



Chief, Bureau of Aiucricau Etliuohuiy 



The eastern horizon or boundary of the Mound lUiilder Culture of 

 eastern North America has been very Httle investigated l)y archeolo- 

 gists and, in spite of the fact that it presents instructive local variations, 

 the character of that portion of it which extended east of the Blue 

 Ridge is but slightly known. The archeology of South Carolina has 

 a very limited bibliography, few contributions having been made 

 during the present century, although the aboriginal tribes of the State 

 were interesting and important. However, one or two local collections 

 not reproduced in any publication indicate that this is a promising 

 area for the field worker. I was induced to visit the Piedmont area 

 of this State in the summer of 1927 by letters from the owner of 

 one of these collections, Mr. W. J. Thackston of ( ireenville, and the 

 results of my preliminary investigations are here given. Mr. Thack- 

 ston called my attention to several other collections made by residents 

 of Greenville and was instrumental in obtaining permission for me 

 to study and photograph them and descril)e them in print. He accom- 

 panied me on excursions to study and compare the mounds and other 

 major antiquities of the region, but no excavations were undertaken, 

 such work l)eing postponed until a time when more money would be 

 available. 



The majority of the objects here shown are in the very valuable 

 collection of Mr. Charles E. Schwing of Greenville, wdio afforded me 

 every opportunity to study his specimens and publish a preliminary 

 description of them, and I take this occasion to thank him and Mr. 

 Thackston, as well as many others who expressed the greatest interest 

 in the investigations and aided me in the work. In fact the kindness 

 shown me on this visit made this one of the hai^piest months of the 

 many I have spent in archeological research. I returned to Wash- 

 ington in the closing days of the fiscal year with a strong desire to 

 continue my explorations at this point and pursue them at other places 

 east of the Alleghanies. 



A fact that impressed me very strongly was that, while valuable col- 

 lections had been made in the Piedmont section, there is as yet no 

 attempt to correlate this material with corresponding material from 



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