New Radiocarbon Dates for Southeastern Fiber-Tempered Pottery

Abstract Excavations in the Savannah River swamp in southeastern South Carolina have uncovered a shell midden believed to represent the accumulation of a single occupation by Savannah River Archaic peoples. Two radiocarbon dates from the basal portions of this shell midden suggest an age for the associated Stallings Plain pottery of 2505 B.C. and 2515 B.C. A third radiocarbon date — A.D. 1450 — from the upper levels of the shell midden clearly reflects contamination derived from later occupations of the site. Nothing in the field evidence provides a sound basis for refuting the two early dates, but in view of their antiquity, firm acceptance must await independent corroborative evidence from other Southeastern sites.