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SCDNR News

Archaeological survey at Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve in Beaufort County open to public

December 2, 2024

The public is invited to view the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Heritage Trust archaeologists as they conduct an archaeological survey at Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve in Beaufort County. The archaeological survey will take place from Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, through Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025.

Free guided public tours of Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve will be offered daily at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. Each tour is limited to 15 participants, and pre-registration is encouraged. The public can register for guided tours here.

Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve is located on the edge of a marsh beside Skull Creek on Hilton Head Island in Beaufort County. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Heritage Trust Program along with the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreations and Tourism acquired this 3-acre preserve in 1991 to protect and preserve a cultural site constructed of discarded shells and other material left by the Indigenous people who once lived here. The Town of Hilton Head and SCDNR maintain joint ownership of this preserve that is managed by Heritage Trust.

This small preserve features an embankment made of shells measuring a little more than one meter in height and about 10 meters across. Radiocarbon (carbon-14) dating of charcoal from this site produced an approximate date of 1335 CE, a period known as the Irene phase (1300 to 1450 CE) of the Mississippian Period. This embankment is predominantly made up of discarded shells and also includes artifacts such as pottery sherds that bear unique decorations from the Irene phase. These pottery decorations include complicated paddle-stamped designs, incising, punctations, and appliques. Based on research from other Irene phase sites, the Green’s Shell Enclosure likely provided defensive protection for a village, with walls, palisades, and ditches. This site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Learn more about Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve in the story map Skull Creek Chronicles: Stepping into the Past at Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve.

From 2024 through 2026, the South Carolina Heritage Trust Program is celebrating its 50th anniversary. On Feb. 27, 1974, Gov. John C. West signed an executive order inaugurating the Heritage Trust Program and establishing the Heritage Trust Advisory Board. Following two years of lobbying, the South Carolina legislature passed the Heritage Trust Act, and the act was signed into law by Gov. James B. Edwards on May 25, 1976. This anniversary is a monumental milestone for a program that was the first of its kind in the entire nation to protect natural and cultural properties for current and future generations.

Learn more about the early history of the Heritage Trust Program in the story map The Heritage Trust Program: Acquiring the Past for the Future.