Written by Ryan Gomez and Alex Cagle

Introduction

To start off the Summer 2026 field school season, USC’s Archaeology students began with a week of fieldwork out at Sesquicentennial State Park. As an introduction to field work as a whole, they were tasked with doing shovel testing out in the Park. The purpose of the testing was to get a better idea of possible Tenant Housing in the area that may have been indicated on historic maps of the park. The students learned how to do proper archaeological methods, such as the shovel testing itself, laying in coordinates to dig, as well as bagging artifacts and paperwork.

Landscape and Site Context

The bounds of what today is known as  Sesquicentennial State Park not only serve the public as an urban oasis but, beneath the surface, offer a largely undisturbed insight into both the natural and cultural history of the region, and its progression dating back to the prehistoric era. Dr. Kelly Goldberg and her Archaeology Field School Summer 2026 students analyzed this layered history through the actual layers of the soil and the evidence of history buried within the stratigraphy. (Stratigraphy is the study of layers of soil and dirt to understand the past, and it uses the law of superposition, which says that in most cases, the oldest layers are at the bottom and the newest layers are on top.)

Indigenous Land Use & Evidence

Sesqui sits on land which is thought to have been used by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years,  groups like the Congaree, Wateree, Catawba, and Cherokee, who were later displaced from the areas through colonial expansion and conflict. Archaeological evidence previously found on the grounds, such as tools and stone flakes, confirms this presence.

Plantation Ownership (Douglass Period)

The earliest confirmed presence of settlement of the land supported by a written record is by South Carolina planter James Douglass (1797-1878), who acquired the land at some point between 1825 and 1842. Through the labor of enslaved people, Douglass operated a farm that produced crops, dairy products, and timber, with mills powered by the creek. Records indicate Douglass enslaved at least 11 people in 1850 and 18 by 1860, who worked in agriculture and domestic roles.

Post-Emancipation Occupation (1872-1930)

Following emancipation at the end of the Civil War, many formerly enslaved people across the South remained near the land where they had lived and worked, continuing agricultural labor under new conditions of freedom and wage negotiation. While not directly documented, this pattern likely applied to Douglass’ plantation, which he is known to have retained until 1872, suggesting continued occupation by formerly enslaved people and their descendants for generations after emancipation. This interpretation is supported by historic maps showing lingering structural remains, early 20th-century aerial imagery, and burial evidence from an African American cemetery on or near the property, including 19th-century marked graves and additional unmarked burials that may predate them.

Field Goals & Methods

Summer 2026 Field School students sought to better understand this layered history, with particular attention to the post-emancipation period and the communities who lived and worked on the land between the end of the plantation era and the establishment of the park (1872–1930), supported by documentary and archival research. Building on this archival work, as well as previous archaeological investigations conducted by earlier field schools and other researchers, students were trained in and carried out standard archaeological survey methods, including pedestrian surveys and shovel test pits (STPs).

Pedestrian Survey

A pedestrian survey is a non-invasive method of archaeological survey where archaeologists walk across a landscape in evenly spaced intervals to visually inspect the ground surface for artifacts, features, and environmental indicators of past activity. It is conducted first because it helps identify areas of potential archaeological significance and guides where further investigation should be focused. Surface finds, visible features, and changes in soil or vegetation can all provide clues about what may lie beneath. The goal is to detect patterns or concentrations of material that may indicate buried archaeological deposits. Unlike excavation, it does not involve digging and relies entirely on careful observation and recording to inform later, more targeted methods such as shovel test pits or excavation units.

Field school students conducted multiple pedestrian surveys within the site, including systematic coverage of the associated cemetery to document visible grave markers, assess burial patterns for contextual understanding, and identify potential unmarked graves or other surface anomalies. Additional surveys across the broader site recorded several low, mound-like soil features that may represent areas of past disturbance or activity and warrant further investigation, like shovel test pits or larger excavation units.

Shovel Test Pits (STPs) & Artifacts

A shovel test pit is a small hole dug in an area suspected, for any number of reasons, to contain relevant historical activity. It is used to identify portions of a site with higher interpretive value, such as areas where a structure like a house site may have been located. The analysis of artifacts recovered from these pits, along with the pattern of positive and negative shovel tests across a landscape, allows archaeologists to refine the spatial understanding of the site. This helps narrow down likely activity areas before any large-scale, more invasive excavation, ensuring that archaeological efforts are focused where they will be most productive.

During fieldwork, students excavated up to 20 shovel test pits, many of which were positive and yielded artifacts consistent with a domestic site. Recovered materials included various types of glass fragments, such as probable windowpane glass, solarized glass, cobalt blue glass, and milk glass consistent with bottle or container use. Additional finds included sherds of whiteware and porcelain, some with painted decoration, as well as widespread coal and slag present across much of the site, indicating sustained human activity. A small number of animal bone fragments were also recovered, further supporting the interpretation of a domestic space where food was prepared and consumed. Other artifacts made of metallic material recovered were also directly indicative of agricultural and home-site activity, such as a portion of a chain, a piece of horse tack, and part of a metal stove cover. While these artifacts may not be individually significant on their own, their spatial distribution and context provide valuable insight into the history and layout of the use of the site.

Conclusion: Interpreting the Landscape

With the artifacts and information gained from this week of field work, there is a better understanding of the distribution of human evidence in the site that can be used to decide the next site to be worked on and/or the direction that archaeological work is to be taken at Sesqui. This is important to the overall goal of the work being done there, as there were several STP’s that had significant artifact distribution in them that can give further insight into the previous inhabitance and use of the space.

References

Brown, Kaley, et al. A Layered History: Interpreting Cultural Resources at Sesquicentennial State Park. 2019, scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=pubhist_books.