The Herald

The Charleston Post and Courier reports scientists have uncovered a floor believed to be up to 320 years old at Charles Towne Landing, the site of the first permanent English settlement in what was then the South Carolina colony.

The floor is the oldest archaeological remains found at the landing, now a state historic site, on the Ashley River. The floor, measuring roughly 12 feet by 15 feet, is made of tabby, a material of that time made of lime and oyster shells.

Scientists believe the floor, which is about 3 inches thick, dates to the 1690s, after the early colonists moved from the settlement site to the Charleston peninsula where the center of Charleston stands today.

Evidence of the tabby floor was first found last fall.

David Jones, the lead archaeologist for the South Carolina Parks Service, said the find was surprising. He said the floor was found on a bluff near the marsh in an area that had been explored more than 40 years ago.

At the time, scientists found some tabby remains but the dig was stopped just inches from where the floor was found.

Jones said the floor and other artifacts found near the site will help fill in the missing pages of what happened from the time the settlement moved to the Charleston peninsula in 1680 to the establishment of a plantation on the site about a century later.

The floor is now covered with a tarp but will be uncovered next month as archeologists return for more field work, when scientists hope to probe beneath the floor.

"We will not move the entire floor, but in two or three spots we will take a little sample out," he said.

Jones said that should help scientists better pinpoint the age of the floor.

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