Edisto Beach State Park, Edisto Island, South Carolina
While they watch, dig through the wall and take your belongings out through it. Ezekiel 12:5
This morning was all about getting out to the sunrise. The start of the sunrise. That meant being up and out by 6:30am. Breakfast would have to wait. It was a long wait, out there in the low-forty degree temperatures! But it was pretty!
Heading out.
It’s too dark for the phone to focus well, but that’s the moon.
Of course, we could see it much better than the picture shows . . .
The moon, and that other bright spot is a planet!
Possibly Venus
Trying to capture the rainbow colors on the water.
He just looks chilled, doesn’t he?
Pelicans!
Going out for breakfast!
There it is!
It’s official!
Sunrise!
These are most likely cormorants.
They weren’t the right shape for pelicans or seagulls.
After lunch, it was back to Botany Bay, for a low tide walk.
Because the beach is so flat now, following hurricanes Irma and Matthew, the width of the beach changes pretty dramatically.
This is our same ‘entrance picture’ view like the ones we took the other day.
Look at all that sand!
Barnacles.
Neat to see them close up!
A live sand dollar.
At least for a moment. Or maybe not. I’ve since learned that they can only live for a few moments out of water . . . .
Can you find the birds?
Pretty well camouflaged! If they hadn’t been flitting about, we never would have seen them!
Trying to capture the barnacles on this tree.
It didn’t turn out so well . . .
Those aren’t old pilings. They’re the remnants of trees.
There were archaeologists down here collecting clay samples to compare with what they found at their dig site.
The orange stuff is terracotta clay.
Is that a cool picture, or what!?
Thanks, Blaine!
See the birds under the tree? They were eating something off it! Whatever grows in those barnacles, I suppose.
Another cool picture!
I thought this water/sand worn wood was beautiful!
People have laid conk shells on it. This is just one of them.
An archaeological dune buggy!
And we were blessed with another surprise! They happened to be having a tour of that dig site we came across the other day! So very interesting!
Waiting for the tour to begin.
This is Ken. Our tour guide.
Our 30-45 minute tour ended up being just that. 45 minutes. : )
Most of these people are volunteers. . . . I think.
A labeled discovery bag
A sample tool they made based on the things they found.
A sample of what they’ve discovered here.
The things in the box are authentic.
This is a sample of the shells they found that were used for axes or hoes.
The ones they found here (including this one) are about 4,300 years old!
The archaeologist gave us a demonstration.
He’s one of those people who figures out how things would have been accomplished with what would have been available at the time.
He took a piece of Live Oak (because it’s uncommonly hard and plentiful here) and pressed sand into it, sprinkled it with water and was able to begin sharpening a conk shell!
They also found these engraved pieces of deer antlers/bones.
This is called an atlatl – ‘a device used to achieve greater leverage and velocity for throwing a spear or dart. Atlatl’s typically consist of a board with a hook at the end to hold the spear or dart in place until released.’
Once again, this one was made from things that would have been found in the area.
They’re measuring this hole they dug.
Then they analyze what they found here.
This is a thermal print of the area where they’re working.
Unfortunately they only have one more week here, then they have to move on.
“State budget. But they’ll be back at a later date.”
This is the archaeologist who told us all about the tools, etc. He’s the one who made the conk-sharpener.
So . . . .
Did they find that cup when they were sifting dirt???? : )
They were open to volunteers, but we quickly determined this kind of work was not for us. The pace is just too slow. 😊
A bit more investigating the beach at low tide, and then we returned home. Blaine had a slide test to do.
We continued our own exploration of the area. : )
You can get at least a partial idea of how deep this channel is. Wow! Unexpected. This water runs between the ocean and the marsh area. I don’t know if it’s a named river or not.
That’s actually some kind of clay. I walked on it to get to the river. It was firm, but soft at the same time.
These guys are alive.
They’re mollusks called Pen Shells.
Probably not these particular ones, but it’s Pen Shells that form black pearls!
More God-sculpted wood!
It’s a good thing he thinks of these things ahead of time, because guess what?
The slide didn’t work.
After spending about an hour on it, he managed to find a way to operate it manually, by going into the control box and jumpering between two wire terminals. He’ll be requesting the wiring schematics from Holiday Rambler soon.
I had my own afternoon projects to work on.