The Archaeology of a Gullah Geechee Fishing Village

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "First Steps on a Long Corridor: The Gullah Geechee and the Formation of a Southern African American Landscape" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Every place tells a climate story (Rockman and Maase 2017). In 2017, the storm surge and high tides from Hurricane Irma highlighted the ongoing erosion to South Island at the mouth of Winyah Bay in South Carolina. A turn of the 20th century plat shows that the artifacts – bricks, tablewares, cast net weights, and buttons -- eroding from the shore are from a Gullah Geechee fishing village that is in danger of eroding from the shore. In efforts to preserve cultural heritage in the midst of ongoing climate crises, archaeological research involving oral history and archival research helps to uncover an interrelated story of climate, fishing, and Gullah Geechee life.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• First Steps on a Long Corridor: The Gullah Geechee and the Formation of a Southern African American Landscape   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology