Everyone interested in archaeology of colonial South Carolina will be pleased to know about the exciting work now under way at the “Lord Ashley Site” on the upper reaches of the Ashley River. This rural site contains the remnants of St. Giles Seigniory, a fortified plantation established by Andrew Percivall in 1675 on behalf of his employer, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper. Percivall maintained this frontier outpost for only a decade, and Sir Anthony never visited the site, but the recently rediscovered remains of the plantation house and moat provide an unparalleled opportunity to study the earliest interaction between English settlers and Native Americans in South Carolina. The dig is being conducted as part of a bi-annual College of Charleston field school in historical archaeology.

Want to learn more about this fascinating discovery? The rural dig site is not open to the public, but everyone is welcome to witness the progress over the next few weeks by pointing their browsers to the official Lord Ashley Site blog: http://lordashleysite.wordpress.com. Principal investigator Andrew Agha and others digging at the Lord Ashley Site will give you first-hand accounts (and photographs) of what they find each day.