CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – According to a report in The Post and Courier, a team led by archaeologist Katherine Parker of the University of Tennessee found evidence of moonlight from the Prohibition era in the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina. Even though the activity has occurred in the past 100 years, few records of illegal activity would have been kept, Parker said. Five sites had yet to be identified in the forest, and Parker and his team members identified seven more. One of the best known locations belonged to the Villeponteaux family, which reportedly produced alcoholic beverages for distribution by gangster Al Capone. The researchers found concrete blocks dating from the 1920s, a metal barrel, a green garden hose and pieces of metal trash at the site. The presence of sheet metal and charcoal may still reflect the heating of the mash in a container, explained team member Jacob Broome. Parker thinks the site was probably used by other moonshiners after the Villeponteaux family. “We are hopeful that if this is possibly like a camping area where the people who are managing it would still be having fun while it works, then maybe we can find some more personal items, like buttons or combs and things like that,” Parker said. For more information on finding archaeological evidence for moonlight, go to “Alcohol through the ages: the moonlight era”.