Edisto Island, SC: Part 2

There's only so much time one can spend searching for shark teeth on the beach before one's eyes begin to glaze over, so we went for a little walk to Spanish Mount, which is what they call the midden. A midden is code for "trash heap." Apparently ancient peoples were a little more particular about their trash heaps than we moderns are; shells went here, everything else went somewhere else. This midden was a little less specialized than others I've read about; archaeologists found animal bones and pottery shards mixed in with all the shells. Here is a picture of the pottery from the case at the interpretive center:

The trail was very pretty, with palm trees, live oaks, and plenty of spanish moss for atmosphere. Unfortunately for me, there were also plenty of mosquitos. I kept everyone entertained by doing my groovy little mosquito dance and smacking myself, muttering darkly every time I squished a full mosquito. That's just so nasty. Whose blood is that? Not mine. Gag, hurl, spew, blurghghph.

Thirty crazy dance moves and five hundred squished mosquitos later, we arrived at the "Mound of Mystery." According to the sign, the "Mound of Mystery" is thought to be about 4,000 years old. In 1809 the "Mound of Mystery" was 20 feet high and covered a half an acre of land. Now it is less than a tenth of that size. The park service stablized the"Mound of Mystery" in 2005 and provided a nice viewing deck. Please don't take any oyster shells, people. There are millions of shells for your enjoyment over on the beach.

Gazing upon the "Mound of Mystery:"

Here are some ancient oyster shells:

And here are some more ancient oyster shells:

And oh, would you look at that - even more ancient oyster shells!

There is only so much time one can spend gazing upon ancient oyster shells before one's eyes start to glaze over, so we indulged ourselves in a little summer home shopping:

 

There's only so much time one (I) can spend gazing upon other people's summer homes before one's (my) eyes begin to glaze over, so we headed back to the beach to look for more shark teeth.  I was much more careful with the sunscreen this time, believe me.

Comments

[Lynn]

Funny. We learned about ant middens this week. :P

[Melanie]

Cool! We learned about pack rat middens not too long ago. :P

[Melissa (party of 5)]

This is my first visit to your blog and I love it! Your story of eyes glazing over brings back memories of such trips we have taken...(aah, the joy of educational sightseeing).

Great pics and great posts. I just happened to stop to comment on this one but I loved the whole page. :)
Melissa