Edisto Island, South Carolina . . . 4000 years ago

What has become clear is that tackling the pre and post contact history of  the continental USA must begin with exacting archaeology in the South East.  It simply was the natural go to place for every possible intruder as the living was possible alone.  Everywhere else was far more difficult and only attracted true comparables such as scots to Cape Breton or Norman French (Norsemen) to the St Laurence.  The South East was attractive to all.

Instead our whole accepted history has totally ignored trhis hugely rich history that consumed millions of lives.

As well we pick new information i have not seen before and need further support on..

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Edisto Island, South Carolina . . . 4000 years ago

 

December 27, 2015

Richard Thornton

 http://peopleofonefire.com/edisto-island-south-carolina-4000-years-ago.html

 

Fig Island Shell Rings National Historic Landmark on Edisto Island is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere.  Test digs obtained radiocarbon dates as old as 2110 BC.  The earliest construction was probably a century or more older.  Yet very few people in either South Carolina or the United States even know that this incredible vestige from the past exists.

Architectural analysis of the archaeologist’s reports on Fig Island quickly revealed that the complex was far more than a primitive piling of refuse left over from “Indian feasts.”  This is real architecture that contains sophisticated spatial and ritual functions along with use as an astronomical observatory.  

The prevailing theory of Southeastern archaeologists is that the South Atlantic Shell Rings were created accretionally by primitive peoples throwing their garbage behind their huts.  This theory is yet one more attempt to “dumb-down”  Southeastern Native American cultural history and is nonsense.

 

Site Plan based on drawing in “Archaic Shell Rings” 

by archaeologists Michael Russo and Rebecca Saunders, 

who carried out a survey of the shell rings on the South Atlantic Coast

 for the National Park Service between 2002 and 2004.

The virtual reality images created for this article are a follow up to an earlier article on POOF, ” The 4,000 year old Fig Shell Rings in South Carolina, a National Historic Landmark” (Dec. 8, 2015). 

 They are the creative works of the author, a registered architect, which are protected by an international copyright.

Special thanks go to retired College of Charleston professor, Gene Waddell, a POOF subscriber, who worked on the original archaeological dig here as a young man during  1971.  He informed me that late 20th century archaeological excavations had altered the appearance of the largest ring. Apparently the National Park Service survey team was unaware of this fact, or at least did not mention the fact in their report, recommending National Historic Landmark status. 

In keeping with the current desire of National Park Service archaeologists that the location of the ruins be kept confidential, the specific location of Fig Island will not be disclosed.  “Fig Island” is a place name that does not appear on any published map of Edisto Island.  However, it is the intent of these series of articles to make American citizens aware of the archaeological zone’s existence so that steps may be taken by the President and/or Congress to have it named a National Monument and incorporated into the National Park System.   It may well be eligible for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Three dimensional virtual reality site plan

The computer model below was created by the author-architect by converting the land survey done by archaeologists working on Edisto Island to a three dimensional digital file.  It is explained in the companion article, “The Ancient Architecture of Edisto Island.”

 

 

 

 

 

There is something “other-worldly” in the design of the Fig Island Shell Ring Complex. 

Shell Ring Complex 1 appears to be re-creation of a volcanic landscape. 

There are miniature craters, peaks and collapsed calderas. 

There were two platforms to the south of the “collapse caldera” 

that obviously once supported either temples or elite housing. 

 Note the multiple curving ramps that access the top of the shell structure, 

plus specific shell mounds of varying shapes.

 

 

 

 

The Pigeon Mountain Volcanic Range in Northwest Georgia. 

Note the extreme similarity of Fig Island Shell Ring Complex 1 

to the terrain in a cluster of volcanoes.

Radiocarbon dates obtained by the NPS archaeologists

Because of its enormous scale, it was impossible for the archaeologists to obtain the absolutely oldest radiocarbon date for Ring Complex 1.    Its size and complexity suggests that construction of Ring Complex 1 began around 2200 BC or earlier.

In 2013 Irish archaeologists confirmed an ancient legend of a “Great Flood” in the British Isles.   Between 2345 BC and 2325 BC, it rained continuously in the North Atlantic, forcing the aboriginal people of Ireland to abandon the island.   These were the peoples, who built the original stonehenges in the British Isles. It has recently been discovered that THE Stonehenge was originally built near the coast of Wales and then moved to the Salisbury Plains by a European people, who invaded the British islands after 2,200 BC.

[ I need real references here for both assertions as they may be seriously speculative as to dates.  1159 BC dates a twenty year span of collapsing harvests and that date is tree ring gold.   2345 BC through 2325 BC coincides with the initiation of the European Bronze Age cultural peak which supported the building of the Great Pyramid.  A better explanation happens to be sudden economic expansion that plausibly tapped Irish manpower and particularly Irish Giants.  - arclein ]

In 2009, Dr. Gordon Freeman of the University of Alberta  proved that the construction of stonehenges by an Asiatic people began in Canada around 3200 BC or earlier.  Since then, he has obtained significant evidence that the same proto-AmerIndian peoples built the original stonehenges in the British Isles.  These Asiatic Sea Peoples are the prime candidates for construction of the shell rings on the South Atlantic Coast.

[ A thousand year gap and another thousand year gap has to be filled by the expanding common sea culture of the Atlanteans who certainly supported astronomy for navigation - arclein ]

The shell rings on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia apparently were abandoned around 1800 BC.  The reason for this abandonment is unknown.

The cessation of construction may have been caused by a natural disaster like a Class Five hurricane or a tsunami.   In 539 AD,  an asteroid or comet, coming from a southeasterly tangent, struck the ocean between Florida and Bahamas.  The resultant tsunami obliterated the barrier islands of the Florida Atlantic Coast and left a debris ridge 5-16 miles inland on the Georgia Coast that is still up to 85 feet (26 meters) tall.  That means the tidal wave was at least 100 feet (32 m) tall.

[ again i need a proper reference here as this may again be touchy.  Was there a weather event as well?  arclein  ]

Ring Complex 1:  3950+/-50 years BP (1950 BC); 3860+/-50 years BP (1860 BC) and 3820+/-50 years BP(1820 BC).

Ring 2: 4010+/-55 year BP (2010 BC) and 4110+/-50 years BP (2110 BC).

Ring 3:  3990+/-50 years BP (1990 BC); 4030+/-50 years BP (4030 BC) and 4070+/-50 years BP (2070 BC.)

Cultural affiliation of the shell ring builders

Pottery fragments (potsherds) found in these shell structures are some of the oldest in North America.  They predate anything in Mexico.  The fiber tempered pottery styles have been labeled Stallings Island, Thoms Creek and St. Simons Island styles by archaeologists.  These are Native American pottery styles that have no cultural affiliation with any contemporary Bronze Age cultures in the Mediterranean Basin.  No skeletons have been unearthed at the site.

To date, no artifacts have been found at or in the vicinity of the Fig Island Shell Ring Complex that appear to come from contemporary Bronze Age cultures in Europe.   Rings or concentric rings were associated with the art, architecture and town planning of Bronze Age settlements on the coast of Ireland, France and Iberia, however.  There is nothing to suggest that this is anything, but very ancient American indigenous architecture.

[  The latest dates are coincidental with the abrupt rise of the global European Bronze Age cultures which may have stood off for five hundred years.   2400 BC as against 1900 BC.  Again these latter dates may be way off as well. The rise of the Bronze Age could well have forced abandonment of a coastal village -  arclein]

European bronze weapons and tools have been found at the mouth of the Altamaha River in Georgia, while some bronze axe heads have been found in mounds along the Oconee River, which is a tributary of the Altamaha River.   Also, a triangular, quarried stone temple, typical of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus between 2400-1800 BC was located at the Nodoroc Mud Volcano in NE Metro Atlanta, near a tributary of the Oconee River.

One possible explanation of the bronze artifacts found elsewhere is that the Atlantic Coast Shell Ring Culture collapsed as a result of detrimental contacts with European Bronze Age explorers.   The European Bronze Age was at its peak of cultural brilliance between 1800 and 1200 BC.   No bronze weapons were manufactured in Europe after around 500 BC.

In our next article in this series, we will explore the architectural details of the Fig Island Complex and explain how a virtual reality computer model is created.