Archaeologists unearth colonial bone comb at South Carolina historic site

Archaeologists working at Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site in South Carolina have unearthed a bone comb, WCBD and Archaeology Magazine reported. The historic location sits along the Ashley River, approximately 20 miles from the city of Charleston. [1]

Researchers suggest that the simple personal artifact may have been discarded by an inhabitant after too many of its tines broke off. The village of Dorchester was established in 1697 and was subsequently abandoned prior to the American Revolutionary War. [1]

English settlers originally established the Province of Carolina in 1663, which was later divided to create the Province of South Carolina in 1710. Early colonial settlement in the region expanded as frontiersmen from Virginia and plantation owners from Barbados moved into the territory. [2]

The archaeological site contains several other surviving structural elements from the colonial period. These remnants include a brick church bell tower, traces of the original log wharf, and the ruins of a fort constructed from oyster shell concrete. [1]