June 2020
Archaeology News
 From the Army into Archaeology
Written by Larry Lane, SCDNR Archaeologist
& NPWE Program Participant
I began work with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Archaeology team at Parker Annex Archaeology Center (Parker Annex) in 2018 as a volunteer, processing artifacts in the lab and helping on field excavations. Archaeological job opportunities are limited in the Columbia area, but one way to gain hands-on experience and to learn more about the state’s archaeological sites is to volunteer with local archaeological offices. Through my volunteer work I have helped in the excavation of both historic and prehistoric sites, from early settlements of the indigenous people of South Carolina to sites related to the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
For the last nine months, I have worked as a full-time lab and field technician as part of the SCDNR Archaeology team under the Veterans Affairs (VA) Non-Paid Work Experience (NPWE) program. Under this program designed for disabled veterans, I work alongside professional archaeologists as I learn new skills and gain more experience that will help build my resume as an archaeologist. Under the NPWE program, I am a free employee to SCDNR and the VA pays me a monthly stipend. The additional money is one incentive for veterans to take advantage of the program, but the experience is much more valuable to me. This job placement is only open for positions with state and federal government agencies, which may seem limiting in some ways, but it is also a possible foot in the door for people interested in future government work.
Continue reading the article here.
 The SCDNR’s Archaeology Lab at Parker Annex
Written by Maggie Brousaides, SCDNR Archaeology Intern
At the South Carolina Archaeology Field Day last fall, I was introduced to several archaeological sites throughout the state, from Richland County where I go to college all the way to the coast down in Charleston. I left with a much greater appreciation for the artifacts and activities engaged in by local archaeologists along with a couple Archaeology Month posters: one in particular depicting the Pockoy site.
Until I began my internship focused at Parker Annex, I was only looking at an interesting picture of the Charleston coast. After a couple months in the lab, the most gratifying and yet simple aspect of the internship has been my newfound ability to look at the Pockoy poster in my room and see more than just a picture of a beach, but rather the setting in which the thousands of artifacts and shells, which my fellow interns and I wash and help sort daily, had spent thousands of years. Over the past forty years, millions of artifacts have been recovered with their final destination being the lab at Parker Annex.
Continue reading the article here.
 Thank You to our Lab Volunteers
The SCDNR Archaeology team would like to thank each of the 131 volunteers who assisted our team in the Parker Annex Archaeology Center lab this fiscal year. From July 2019 through March 2020, volunteers as young as six from across South Carolina, as well as Georgia, Florida and even Arizona donated nearly 950 hours of their time washing and sorting artifacts from the May 2019 Pockoy Island Shell Ring Complex excavations and other ongoing SCDNR Archaeology projects. Thank you all!
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