South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology - SCIAA

08/07/2026

Joseph (JJ) Lindler recently graduated from USC after completing his Master’s thesis, ‘Lithics, Lasers, & Legacies: New Methods on the Curated Materials from Nipper Creek (38RD18),’ this past May. The Nipper Creek Site, an Archaic Fall-Line site that was designated as the first SCDNR Cultural Heritage Preserve, was excavated in 1985 to determine its Indigenous occupational history. Lindler, through Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) - a technique that creates microscopic holes in solid materials to produce the material’s chemical and isotopic trace elements - tested select lithic debitage from the Early Archaic contexts of the Nipper Creek Site that were recovered in 1985 and compared them to known quarry sites located around the Southeast to determine the origin of the lithics used at the site. The results of his study showed that early Indigenous people at this site may have situated themselves at the center of several high-quality raw material sources, specifically those from the P*e Dee River Basin and the Uwharrie Mountains.

Lindler has been working at SCIAA since his undergraduate years at USC, when he first started work under Dr. Al Goodyear at the Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey (SEPAS) in 2018. By 2020, he became Lab Manager and Senior Research Assistant at SEPAS, where he helped create the Unidentified Small Lanceolate/Haw River Database and assisted in documenting Paleo points for the SC Paleo Point Survey, along with organizing and directing the re-analysis of some of the early excavations at the Topper site (38AL23). He also served as a Graduate Research Assistant for NAGPRA, primarily documenting collections, provenance research, and assisting with the rehabilitation and processing of collections. Lindler is now a Curation Assistant at SCIAA’s new curational facility, where he has been re-housing and re-curating materials primarily from South Carolina with the help of USC student interns.

Much of Lindler’s time at SCIAA has also been focused on public outreach and directing student research. He often gives lectures on SC archaeology around the state, most recently at the Chester County Library. He also volunteers with SCDNR’s Heritage Trust Program, collaborating with their archaeologists at various events. He has helped several students with research and guided student projects, such as the “NAGPRA and Training the Next Generation of Archaeologists: The Keowee Toxaway Re-Curation Project”, the “South Carolina Raw Material Database”, and “86 Years Later: Revisiting the First Fluted Points Recorded in South Carolina.”

Congratulations JJ!

08/04/2026

Chris Judge was recently appointed State Archaeologist this past May!

Judge received both his BA and MA from USC Columbia and taught courses on South Carolina archaeology at USC Columbia while working as the Heritage Trust Program Archaeologist from 1992-2006 before joining the faculty at USC Lancaster.

Judge first started in 1984, working under Dr. Chester DePratter as a graduate assistant researching the Indigenous communities Hernando de Soto encountered. In 1990, Judge became the first Heritage Trust Archaeologist at SCIAA, and transferred to SCDNR in 1992 following the report, ‘Acquiring the Past for the Future: The South Carolina Heritage Trust Statewide Assessment of Cultural Sites’ (1990) with Steve Smith, which provides a detailed overview of archaeological sites in South Carolina that should be acquired by the state. In 2006, Judge transferred to the Native American Studies Center, where he became Assistant Director in 2007. He also continued teaching at USC Lancaster, where he was recently awarded the title of Senior Instructor in 2025.

Much of Judge’s career and research has been focused on the Mississippian Period (900-1600 AD) in South Carolina, specifically in the Wateree region. From 1997 -2016, Judge was co-Principal Investigator of the Johannes Kolb site in Darlington, along with Carl Steen and Sean Taylor. Judge notes that the Kolb site has been one of his favorites to work on because of its extensive occupational history. Indigenous populations consistently inhabited the site from the Paleoindian Period through the Historic Period, until Johannes and Sarah Kolb acquired the land in the early 18th century. Judge has also extensively researched mound sites in the Wateree River Valley since the 1980s.

Congratulations Chris, we are so happy to have you!

08/03/2026

The Horry County Museum presents a program by Steven Smith on his new book The Battles of Fort Watson & Fort Motte, 1781 on Saturday, August 8th at 1:00 PM. In his book, Smith relates the history of four critical weeks from April 12 until May 12, 1781, in which the tide of the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War turned in favor of the Americans. The book focuses on General Francis Marion’s and Colonel Henry Lee’s capture of two key British forts, Fort Watson and Fort Motte, coordinating with Nathanael Greene in retaking the South Carolina backcountry. These posts defended the supply line between Charleston and the British-occupied villages of Camden and Ninety Six. Once the two forts were lost, the British had to abandon the backcountry and were confined to Charleston and ultimately abandoned the city in December 1782.
Steven D. Smith, is a Research Professor, Emeritus at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. He is the former Director of the Institute, and has over 40 years’ experience in historical archaeology, largely focused on military sites of the American Revolution in the South. He has conducted excavations associated with Francis Marion and American Revolutionary War battlefields including the siege of Fort Motte, Parker’s Ferry, Black Mingo, Snow’s Island, Camden, the siege of Ninety Six, and the battle of Williamson’s Plantation. He is the author or co-author of six books, including, Partisans, Guerillas, and Irregulars: Historical Archaeology of Asymmetric Warfare, 2019, University of Alabama Press, and Francis Marion and the Snow’s Island Community, United Writers Press, 2021. His latest book, coauthored with Colonel Kevin Dougherty, is entitled Leading Like the Swamp Fox: The Leadership Lessons of Francis Marion, and The Battles of Fort Watson and Fort Motte, 1781.
The program is free to the public and will be held in the Museum’s McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway, S.C. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email [email protected]. For more information about our programs, visit the museum website www.horrycountymuseum.org.

07/28/2026

Mark your calendars!

Join Archaeologist and Professor Emeritus, Dr. Chester DePratter, and State Underwater Archaeologist, James Spirek, at the Winyah Auditorium on August 13 to learn more about the search for the ‘Capitana,’ Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón’s flagship from his 1526 expedition!

RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpFDEDsaH2Rny4mRqDbHHYozQceueQn-hOCV0RU0Wyw5JIhQ/viewform?pli=1

The Maritime Research Division

07/27/2026

As some may know, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) recently proposed new changes to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) that could be detrimental to current historic and cultural sites.

For more information:

Since the enactment of the National Historic Preservation Act 60 years ago, Section 106 has been the foundational requirement for federal agencies to “take into account” the effects of their actions on historic properties and places. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has proposed rev...

07/23/2026

Our colleague, David Gordon, President of the Archaeological Society of South Carolina-Hilton Head Chapter received his PhD on July 17, 2026 from the University of Bristol in the UK. Congratulations Dr. Gordon!

07/20/2026

07/15/2026

Join State Archaeologist, Chris Judge, at the Camden Revolutionary War Visitor Center next Thursday for a lecture on the Congaree Indians and their possible connection to the Cofitachequi!

https://experiencecamdensc.com/event/thursday-talk-are-the-congaree-indians-descendants-of-cofitachequi/

07/02/2026

Ahead of July 4th and our Nation’s 250th celebrations, check out the following SCIAA publications about some of the most important and influential Revolutionary War archaeological sites in South Carolina.

The Camden Battlefield has recently made headlines again per the identification of Private John Pumphrey of the 7th Maryland Regiment who fought and died during that fateful battle in 1780. For more information about the archaeological history of the battlefield and the excavation process of the 14 soldiers found at the site, please follow this link: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sciaa_staffpub/394/

Snow’s Island, the probable location of Major General Francis Marion’s base camp, has been investigated by Dr. Steve Smith since the 1990s. Marion used the site and the area around it as his headquarters during late 1780 and early 1781 as he led his militia in guerilla attacks against the British around Georgetown and elsewhere along the coast. Smith has published extensively about the site, as well as a few books, such as “Francis Marion and the Snow’s Island Community: Myth, History, and Archaeology” (https://www.amazon.com/Francis-Marion-Snows-Island-Community/dp/1952248167). There are several free reports on Snow’s Island in our past Legacy publications that are available on Scholar Commons (link available in our pinned post).

As British General Lord Cornwallis headed north out of South Carolina to Virginia, Major General Nathanael Greene shifted his focus to South Carolina and Georgia. Greene ordered Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee to link up with Major General Francis Marion to focus their attention on the British in the Lowcountry. Eventually they reached Fort Motte and began a siege, which lasted from May 8th to May 12th, 1781. They successfully took the fort, but the Motte plantation was burned down in the process. As the legend goes, Rebecca Motte, whose other home in Charleston was occupied by the British, gave permission to either Marion or Lee to burn down the plantation, providing a flame-tipped bow and arrow to do so. For information about the archaeology of Fort Motte, read the following report by Steve Smith, Jim Legg, Tamara Wilson, and Jonathan Leader: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/anth_facpub/53/.

As our followers may know, these are only a few of the sites that have been investigated, so please see the following:

More on the Camden Battlefield:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sciaa_staffpub/384/
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/anth_facpub/56/

More on Snow's Island:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/anth_facpub/78/
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/1977/

Info on Blackstocks Battlefield:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=anth_facpub

Info on Star Fort at Ninety Six:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/leg/9/
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sciaa_staffpub/337/

Info on General William Moultrie's grave:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/archanth_books/126/

06/30/2026

For more info about Private John Pumphrey and featuring an interview with Jim Legg:

The remains of Revolutionary War soldier Private John Pumphrey have been identified through extensive DNA analysis, linking him to local relative Julie Strickland.