Topper is an archaeological site located along the Savannah River in Allendale County, South Carolina in the United States. It is noted as the location of controversial artifacts believed by some archaeologists to indicate human habitation of the New World earlier than the Clovis culture, previously believed to be the first people in North America. Artifacts at this site may predate Clovis by 3,000 years or more. The primary excavation has gone down to the 50,000 B.C. level, searching for any other archaeological evidence. Until increasing challenges in the first decade of the 21st century to the Clovis theory based on this site and others, it was unusual for archaeologists to dig deeper than the layer of the Clovis culture, as they then believed that no human artifacts would be found older than Clovis.
Since the 1930s, the prevailing theory concerning the peopling of the New World is that the first human inhabitants were the Clovis people, who are thought to have appeared approximately 13,500 years ago. Artifacts of the Clovis people are found throughout most of the United States and as far south as Panama. The standard theory has been challenged in recent decades with the discovery and dating of pre-Clovis sites such as Monte Verde in Southern Chile, Cactus Hill in Virginia and Buttermilk Creek in Texas. To date, no consistent pre-Clovis cultural patterns have been established; the accuracy of these claims has been disputed, though that dispute is tipping in favor of the pre-Clovis understanding.
In 2004, Albert Goodyear of the University of South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology announced that carbonized plant remains, found as a dark stain in the light soil at the lowest excavated level at the Topper Site, had been radiocarbon dated to approximately 50,000 years ago, or approximately 37,000 years before the Clovis people. Goodyear, who began excavating the Topper site in the 1980s, believes that lithic artifacts at that level are rudimentary stone tools. Other archaeologists dispute this conclusion, suggesting that the artifacts are natural and not human-made. Other archaeologists also have challenged the radiocarbon dating of the carbonized remains at Topper, arguing that 1) the stain represented the result of a natural fire, and 2) 50,000 years is the theoretical upper limit of effective radiocarbon dating. Goodyear discovered the artifacts by digging 4 meters deeper than the Clovis artifacts readily found at the site. Before discovering the oldest lithics, he had discovered other artifacts which he claimed were tools dating around 16,000 years old, or about 3,000 years before Clovis.
The Allendale-Topper site welcomes lay people with an interest in archaeology to work at the site as volunteer archaeologists during each year's dig in late spring/early summer. They work in various field and lab roles on teams headed by professional archaeologists and graduate students, living at the expedition's campgrounds or in public accommodations at nearby Barnwell, S.C. They may join evening programs and discussions with visiting experts and researchers. Information and registration is available on the Allendale-Topper website.
