Press Release
Digging Savannah
http://diggingsavannah.wordpress.com
For release: 12 January 2015
WHAT: documentary film screening, Discovering Dave – Spirit Captured in Clay.
WHERE: Armstrong State University, Student Union Ballrooms
WHEN: January 22, 2015 at 6pm
Scrapbook Video Productions and the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program
are proud to screen their historical documentary film, Discovering Dave – Spirit Captured in
Clay.
In 2006, an archaeological crew from the Savannah River Archaeological Research
Program unearthed an unusual find. They were digging in a 1950 era trash midden in the
Savannah River Site (a Department of Energy facility in Aiken, South Carolina) and unearthed a
piece of pottery with the name 'Dave' and the date 1862. Immediately, they knew this was
special. After further study and painstaking caution in the unearthing process, most of the vessel
was reconstructed. But who was Dave?
Dave was a slave from the Edgefield District of South Carolina. Located in the western
Piedmont of the state, the land consisted of rolling hills, long leaf pines and deep, red clay.
Today, Edgefield is known as the home of ten governors, but in Dave's lifetime, the economy
was built on agriculture, where slaves, such as Dave toiled in the hot summer sun and damp
winter rains. A world of plantations and enforced labor.
Indigo, rice, and cotton were the main cash crops, but another industry was beginning to
flourish. With the discovery of a superior clay in 1809 by Dr. Abner Landrum, he and his
nephew, Harvey Drake, would revolutionize pottery-making in the Edgefield area.
During this time, there were nearly one quarter million slaves in the state, and now a
number of these would be part of this growing industry. By circumstance, one of these would be
Dave. Born into slavery around 1801, there is little documentation about the details of his life
and no photo to show his likeness. Like many others, Dave was a commodity, a tool to produce a
product. In this 49-minute documentary Dave’s life is examined as well as his wares, which
allow him to be “heard” over a distance of one hundred and fifty years.
Produced by filmmaker Mark Albertin of Scrapbook Video Productions and archeologist
George Wingard of the Savannah River Archaeological Research program over a period of two
and a half years, the film gives insight to the man known simply as Dave, through in-depth
interviews from artists, scholars, writers, historians and archaeologists.
Mark Albertin has produced numerous historical documentary films, most recently,
“Displaced – The Unexpected Fallout from the Cold War” and “War Stories – Augusta Area
Veterans Remember World War II.”
George Wingard is an archaeologist with the Savannah River Archaeological Research
Program. In 2006 staff of the SRARP uncovered a “Dave” vessel, giving inspiration to produce
the film.
Discovering Dave: Spirit Captured in Clay was chosen as an Outstanding Selection at
the Dixie Film Festival in Athens, Georgia and also at the Beaufort Film Festival in Beaufort,
South Carolina. It won first-runner up best documentary at the 2014 Myrtle Beach International
Film Festival, first-runner up best film and Most Inspirational Film at the Archaeology Channel
Film Festival held in Eugene, Oregon, and Best South Carolina Heritage Film at the 2014
Arkhaios Cultural Heritage Film Festival held in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Late January
2015, the filmed will be screened and judged at the San Diego Black Festival.
For more information contact George Wingard at 803-725-3724, visit
Facebook/Discovering Dave: Spirit Captured in Clay documentary, or contact Laura Seifert,
Digging Savannah Co-Director, at laura.seifert@armstrong.edu.
###