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Archives For November 30, 1999

Cultural Heritage in Conflict

By James Newhard
Posted on 28 November 2016 | 3:13 pm — 

natamroundtable2016The Archaeology Club and Archaeology Program are pleased to announce an upcoming roundtable discussion:

Friday, December 2, 4:30 – 6:00, EHHP Alumni Center.
“Cultural Heritage in the Age of Dirty Oil: Indigenous and Archaeological Concerns”. Free and open to the public.

 

Recent events in the Dakotas highlight the delicate balance between the desires for development and the needs for cultural and environmental protection. Often viewed as diametrically opposed forces, this need not always be the case. The evening’s discussion will focus upon recent conflicts in environmental and cultural heritage management as a way to see if and how greater dialogue and procedural reform can create a system built upon a shared notion of sustainable development.

 

Panelists will feature:

Dr. Eric Poplin, an archaeologist in Cultural Resource Management from Brockington and Associates,

Ms. Lisa Collins, the tribal administrator from the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians

http://www.charlestonmuseum.org/news-events/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_4651.jpg

Students working during the 2015 Lowcountry Field School. Photo: Charleston Museum

This summer’s field school collected data from several contexts within the Lowcountry.  Investigations included soundings at Rose and Hampton Plantations, and historic properties in the urban core of Charleston.  See the report from Martha Zierden at the Charleston Museum blog post for more details.

http://today.cofc.edu/2015/01/29/graduate-student-digs-old-charleston-city-wall-thesis-research/

Photo by Grace Beahm, Post & Courier

College of Charleston historic preservation student Justin Schwebler is literally in the trenches proving his thesis.

Schwebler, who will earn his Master in Science later this year, is tracking and analyzing the use of Bermuda stone in Charleston, South Carolina. His research showed the stone was used as the foundation of the city’s original sea wall, built in 1769, and he wanted to prove it.

With the help of his professors in the joint master’s program between the College of Charleston and Clemson University, a dig was organized to uncover portions of the wall.

On the first day of the dig, Bermuda stone was uncovered, though not in the area believed to be the original sea wall.

Schwebler explains, “The stone is soft – it can actually be cut with a saw – so it is very possible the stone crumbled away after its lengthy exposure to water and waves.”

READ: Learn more about the dig in the Post and Courier.

Photo by Grace Beahm, Post & Courier

Bermuda and Charleston had a strong trade relationship in the 1700s, with thousands of blocks of Bermuda stone coming into the Port of Charleston. That said, it’s now rare to find in the city, and even more rare in other U.S. locations.

“Bermuda stone is in at least two other notable places downtown,” Schwebler notes. “The ‘pink house’ at 17 Chalmers St. and ‘Pirate’s Courtyard’ at 145 Church St.”

 

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