Pit 86: Level 1

Completed on October 16, 2015 by Clover Robichaud, Shannon Herin and Richard Sylvester, Jan Ciegler, DC Locke, Ann Fur, Sally Turner, Sarah Bobertz, and David Brinkman. After a great Explorers Club talk from archaeologist Dr. Al Goodyear on the earliest humans to inhabit South Carolina, we headed to Granby to complete pit 86. We were joined by new-comers Shannon, Richard, Sally, Sarah, and Ann. I had just met Shannon and Richard the day before. Richard grew up in the neighborhood and his brother still owns the family house which is in our target area for Fort Congaree II. For pit 86, we returned to the area near the Judas tree and it was a tough dig with all the tree roots. The big find of the level were several green wine bottle glass pieces which formed about 80% of the top of a bottle. Further research showed it was a top unique to English wine bottles of the time 1739 and 1751. This would make it, most likely, a bottle owned by the first Indian Trader, Thomas Brown who owned and lived on the land between the ferry road and just north of where Fort Congaree II would be built. Brown died in 1747. His death and land transfer would mark the beginning of Granby. The other level 1 find worth noting was a strange thin black material which appears to be old and man-made. We will need to have this examined by other experts.

Pit 86: Level 1 produced: 5 pieces of pottery, 13 pieces of glass, 2 Native American pieces, 3 nails, and 19 pieces of a mysterious thin black material.