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Locating and Mapping Archaeological Rice Cultivation Artifacts Associated with the Gullah Geechee Tradition Using Visual Observations and Side Scan Sonar

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Abstract

Rice cultivation on southern plantation landscapes was a mainstay and major cash crop along the southeast coastal region of the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The workforce involved in growing rice was primarily enslaved Africans and freed African Americans of the Gullah Geechee culture, whose ancestors were forcibly brought over from West Africa, often due to their superior knowledge of rice cultivation. Today, in the tidal regions of major rivers from Florida to North Carolina, the vestiges of complex canal and waterway systems engineered for rice cultivation are still evident today. Within these systems, there are various wood-built, water-control structures in the form of structural dike supports, floodgates and sluices, levee repairs, bulkheads and boat landings. In this study, a combination of visual observations using non-motorized vessels, combined with a customized side scan sonar system designed specifically for shallow water surveys, was used to identify and map dozens of artifacts within the shallow canal and waterway systems of Eagles Island, North Carolina, where there is historical evidence of significant rice growing in the region. The study focused on the northern third of the island, where rice fields are essentially intact, and was designated Eagles Island Rice District. The results of the 2-year study identified 45 rice-related archaeological structures being discovered, in addition to a nineteenth century watercraft. The novel and effective survey techniques employed in this study can be adopted elsewhere within the southeastern United States to locate, map and preserve the knowledge and engineering expertise of the Gullah Geechee, upon whom the region’s economic success depended.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to recognize Neil Kirschner, Carl Keifer, and Charlie Heck of Belville Community Rowing for their equipment and support provided during fieldwork, as well as, Mike Miller-Jordan and Tony Chambers. Linda Carnes-McNaughton and Joseph Wilde-Ramsing reviewed our draft for content and flow, Susan Myers for copy editing. We also want to acknowledge UNC Wilmington’s Department of Environmental Sciences for access to survey equipment and post-processing software. Thank you to staff members of the NC Underwater Archaeology Branch during the permitting process; data collected during the EIRD study is available upon request from the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology, Underwater Archaeology Branch. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, ultimately improving an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch, Fort Fisher, NC, USA

    Mark Wilde-Ramsing

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Joni T. Backstrom

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  1. Mark Wilde-Ramsing
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  2. Joni T. Backstrom
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Contributions

MW-R: Research concept, data collection, data analysis, reporting, manuscript preparation, figure creation, and editing. JTB: Research concept, data collection, data analysis, reporting, manuscript preparation, figure creation, and editing.

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Correspondence to Mark Wilde-Ramsing.

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Wilde-Ramsing, M., Backstrom, J.T. Locating and Mapping Archaeological Rice Cultivation Artifacts Associated with the Gullah Geechee Tradition Using Visual Observations and Side Scan Sonar. J Mari Arch (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-024-09387-6

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