Shell Ring
The Horr's Island site includes a shell ring, in which shell middens surround a central open space. A large number of shell rings from the Late Archaic period are found along the southern South Carolina and Georgia coasts, with a few scattered along the coast of the Florida peninsula and along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico as far west as the Pearl River. Shell rings were associated with the earliest known sedentary settlements along the coasts of the Southeastern United States.
The shell ring at Horr's Island was an elongated horseshoe shape. It is one of the few sites where a shell ring is definitely associated with ceremonial mounds. The shell ring was 160 by 100 meters, and the central area, or plaza, was 125 meters at its widest. The middens making up the ring were up to three meters high. The shell ring has been dated to between 4800 and 4200 Before Present.
Read more about this topic: Horr's Island Archaeological Site
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