The Banister Allen Plantation (38AB102) and Thomas B. Clinkscales Farm (38AB221): Data Recovery in the Richard B. Russell Multiple Resource Area, Abbeville County, South Carolina, Banister Allen Plantation (38AB102) and Clinkscales Farm (38AB221) Data Recovery 1977-1986

Summary

Historical and archaeological study of the Allen Plantation homesite (38AB102) and the Thomas B. Clinkscales Farm (38AB221) in Abbeville County, South Carolina was undertaken in conjunction with a broad range of cultural and environmental investigations associated with construction of the Richard B. Russell Dam and Lake on the upper Savannah River. Oral and written documentation indicate that the Allen Plantation was one of the more prosperous cotton plantations within the county during the antebellum and postbellum periods. The Clinkscales Farm site, although very poorly documented in written records, can be associated through oral documentation, architectural details, and artifact patterns with lower socioeconomic status occupations during the postbellum period. Two recently documented cemeteries at the Allen Plantation were tested and found to contain very poorly preserved skeletal and other organic remains, insufficient for in-depth study of demographic, cultural or nutritional/ pathological/stress (osteological) population characters. Comparison of the two domestic occupation complexes revealed patterned intrasite structure which is believed to reflect the larger settlement and economic trends associated with the fragmentation of the plantation system after the Civil War. A model for a Piedmont Refuse Disposal Pattern is proposed as applicable to antebellum and postbellum sites located in Piedmont and foothills areas of pronounced local topography.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): US Army Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, St. Louis District

Principal Investigator(s): Lesley M. Drucker

Sponsor(s): US Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District

Repository(s): US Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District

Prepared By(s): Carolina Archaeological Services

Submitted To(s): Interagency Archeological Services Division, NPS

Record Identifiers

Contract No.(s): CX 5000-0-4040

Notes

General Note: The digital materials in this collection were processed by the Veterans Curation Program (VCP), and include the archival photographs, finding aid, original investigation report, oversized material spreadsheet, photographic material spreadsheet, and scanned asset key. Additional digital materials held by the VCP include archives database, additional archival photographs, contract documents, correspondence, diagrams, document folder listing, guide book, initial data collection, maps, newspaper articles, notes, oversized document labels, photographic inventory, photographic material labels, photographic slide labels, project documents, records removal sheets, soil sample inventory sheet, and specimen catalog. For additional information on these materials, refer to the finding aid.

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