Gullah Society to work with City on human remains found at Harmon Field

Human bones found during city's drainage work in downtown
Charleston

Article in the Post and Courier, By Abigail Darlington adarlington@postandcourier.com
Mar 13, 2017 Updated Mar 14, 2017

Workers have uncovered human bones buried at Harmon Field near Burke High School in Charleston, making the discovery while preparing to install a new drop shaft near President Street for the crosstown drainage project.

The discovery Thursday on the 13-acre athletic field represented a collection of disassociated remains and an intact skeleton in the northwestern corner of the park, near President and Fishburne streets, said Susan Herdina, an attorney with the city of Charleston. 

The Charleston County Coroner's Office has been notified and construction has been halted while archaeologists with Brockington & Associates excavate the area, Herdina said.

"We don't know if any additional remains will be found or not," she said. "At this point, we don't know anything about heritage or anything because it's such a new discovery."

The archaeology firm, which has an office in Mount Pleasant, has been working with crews on the site since the drainage work began because other gravesites have been found in the area in recent years. In 2004, 341 grave sites were discovered beneath The Citadel's football stadium. Historians believe the area was used as a burial site in the 19th and early 20th centuries for sailors, Civil War soldiers and the city's indigent population. "When these remains were found, it was not unexpected," Herdina said.

Ade Ofunniyin, an adjunct professor of anthropology at the College of Charleston, has also been brought in to document and review the site, according to a statement the city released Monday.

Archaeologists will determine the scope of excavation work in the coming days and will advise the city on how to proceed. "We are planning on disturbing as little of the area as possible, to be respectful," Herdina said. A representative of the archaeology firm was not immediately available to comment.

Link to article in the Post and Courier