Green's Shell Enclosure

National Register Listing

Street Address:

Address Restricted (Beaufort County)

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817707018

Description and Narrative:

Green’s Shell Enclosure is one of 20 or more prehistoric shell structures located from the central coast of South Carolina to the central coast of Georgia. All are believed to date early in the second millennium BC, and contain some of the earliest known pottery in North America. They present one of the earliest records of sedentary life among people who must have existed entirely by foraging. These shell structures can yield valuable information about past inhabitants of the coast, with respect to their rich content of food refuse and relationships to modern environment. The enclosure consists of a semicircular ridge of shell 20-30 feet wide at the base and four feet high covering an area of nearly two acres. The shell ridge is open to Skull Creek and closed to the landward. The rim, comprised mostly of oyster shells, seems to be intact but the interior may have been plowed. Listed in the National Register August 7, 1974.

Period of Significance:

before 1400

Level of Significance:

National

Area of Significance:

Archeology: Prehistoric

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

August 7 1974

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