Previous Archaeological Research:

 

In 1998, Chris Clement of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA), on behalf of Historic Columbia Foundation, conducted limited excavation of the back yard area from 16 April to 7 May. Four excavation units were opened: two 10 x 10 foot squares and two 5 x 5 foot squares, or 250 square feet. Due to the manicured nature of the yard, topography and historic maps primarily directed Clement’s placement of the units. The 10 x 10 foot units were intended to explore the yard area behind the house, while the 5 x 5 foot units were intended to explore areas closer to the house (Clement, et al. 1999). A total of 8,410 artifacts and 7,076 grams of faunal material were recovered from all contexts during the course of excavations.

Although this archaeology demonstrated the presence of significant, intact deposits and offered some tantalizing clues about life in Columbia, both 10 x 10 foot excavation units (N536 E505 and N530 E555) were actually located within the 1906 Marion Street property boundaries and relate only indirectly to the Mann-Simons family. The 5 x 5 foot excavation units (N490 E560 and N490 E545) were located within the 1904 Marion Street lot. Unfortunately, due to limited time, the majority of the features encountered within the 5 x 5 foot units were not excavated. During analysis, the limited nature of the excavations created problems attributing patterns to people. Nonetheless, the 1998 archaeology does suggest that with further, systematic data collection, the Mann-Simons site has the potential to offer substantial insight into the lifeways of the Mann-Simons family and, accordingly, the diverse communities living together within the Columbia, South Carolina, area.

-Jakob D. Crockett