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Hardaway Revisited: Early Archaic Settlement in the Southeast

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To begin, Dr. Daniel's work is a repackaging of his doctoral dissertation. Dissertations in most doctrines are not meant to be a catalogue of prior work but, rather, a demonstration of original research to support the author's orginal analysis and/or conclusions.

Using several forms of analysis on the type, state, and condition of the artifact assemblage from the several Hardaway digs and other Carolina collections, Dr. Daniel proposes a pattern for early Archaic settlement that includes Hardaway as a central and highly valued "resource" center for quality stone, a necessity for the Archaic lifestyle.

Dr. Daniel also uses a detailed analysis of the occurrence of Morrow Mountain rhyolite artifacts across the piedmont of North and South Carolina as a basis for an alternative to the riverine band settlement theories proposed by his antecedants. He demonstrates that Morrow Mountain rhyolite is the predominant material found in Archaic lithics collections whose provenience crosses several major drainage systems in contrast to the expected upstream-downstream distribution.

In summary, Dr. Daniel has offered several possible new interpretations of data using solid research methods. His proposals are somewhat controversial and diverge from some earlier works. The prose is somewhat stiff for the casual reader, leaning toward Archaeological/academic jargon. But all in all, this is a valuable resource for understanding the Early Archaic era in the piedmont of North and South Carolina.

While Randolph Daniel tried to write a up-date on the Hardaway Site in Stanly County, North Carolina he definitely did not use all the data and information printed in Archaeological Journals throughout the years. The reader would be better off using the original works by Joffre Coe in 1964. Mr. Daniel could have done a much better job if he did more research in regards to the Hardaway culture.