Dig it up!
Contributed by USC

USC is accepting registrations from volunteers to help excavate ancient archaeological sites along the Savannah River May 1- June 2.

The expedition will be led by archaeologist Dr. Albert Goodyear, whose discoveries at the Topper site in Allendale County have captured international media attention.

Volunteers will learn excavation techniques and how to identify Clovis and pre- Clovis artifacts in several prehistoric chert quarries. The cost is $416 per week ($350 is tax deductible) and includes evening lectures and programs, lunch and evening meals, a work book and a T- shirt. Lodging, which is not included in the fee, is available at a nearby camp site or in motels 30 minutes from the dig sites.

A $60 deposit is required, payable to the USC Educational Foundation and mailed to Dr. Albert Goodyear, S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA), USC, 1321 Pendleton St., Columbia, SC 29208. Volunteers can register online at www.allendale- expedition.net or by calling 803-777-8170.

Goodyear's search for a pre- Clovis culture, Ice Age man in S.C., began in Allendale County in 1998 when he found artifacts that dated back 16,000 years. In May 2004, volunteers who excavated the site were part of a monumental discovery. With their help, Goodyear dug through the Pleistocene terrace soil, some four meters below the ground surface, and found artifacts similar to the pre- Clovis forms he has excavated previously. Radiocarbon tests of carbonized plant remains in the surrounding sediment indicated that the artifacts were at least 50,000 years old, which placed humans in North America long before the last ice age, an explosive revelation in American archaeology.

Over the past nine years, Goodyear and his volunteers have amassed an impressive body of evidence that a pre-Clovis people existed, slowly eroding the long-held theory that man arrived in North America around 13,000 years ago.

For more information on Topper and SCIAA, visit www.cas.sc.edu/sciaa/sciaa.html.

Questions should be directed to the e- mail address:sepaleo@sc.edu.