Fig Island
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Fig Island
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| Nearest city | Rockville, South Carolina |
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| MPS | Historic Resources of the Late Archaic-Early Woodland Period Shell Rings of South Carolina, ca. 1,000-2,200 years B.C |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000585 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | March 29, 2007 |
Fig Island, also known as 38CH42, is an archaeological site on the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina, consisting of three shell rings. Shell rings are curved shell middens wholly or partially surrounding a clear central area or plaza. The site includes one of the largest and most complex shell rings in North America, and one of the best preserved circular shell rings.
More than 30 shell-ring sites are known along the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Florida. Almost all of the sites date from 4500 to 5000 years ago for the earliest, to about 3000 years ago for the latest. The Fig Island shell rings have been dated between 4400 years ago and 3600 years ago.
The Fig Island site is surrounded by a salt marsh on a peninsula extending from Edisto Island along the North Edisto River. The sea level on the South Carolina coast was as much as 1.2 meters lower when the Fig Island shell rings were built and occupied than it is now. The rise in sea level since then has led to the marsh expanding over what was probably dry land that connected Fig Island to Edisto Island in the past. The Fig Island rings cover an area of 300 by 275 meters.
Fig Island 1 is a large and complex shell ring structure, perhaps the largest and most complex in North America. The main structure is a large ring that reaches up to six meters high on the main ring, with steep sides. The base of the main ring is about 40 meters wide. There are at least five smaller rings attached to the main ring. One of the attached rings is entirely within another ring. An adjacent shell mound is attached to the main ring by a shell causeway or ramp. There is an unusual feature at the high point of the main ring, which local residents suggested was a Civil War gun emplacement dug into the shell. As is typical of shell rings, there was little or no evidence of shells or occupational debris in the "plazas" enclosed by the main and attached rings. The complex is 157 meters wide on its longest axis. Based on mapping and probing to determine the depth of shell deposits, archaeologists have estimated that the ring complex contains 22,114 cubic meters of shell. Fig Island 1 has been dated to between 4000 and 3500 years ago.
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