This has been an exciting year for Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists. In case you missed it, here are a few of the highlights. Click on the images for a better view, and for a bit of text describing the action. Happy New Year!
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In Search of the Bray School.
Field School student Triszha Espina puts the final touches on last season’s plowzone checkerboard.
During the summer months excavation reaches its peak as Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeologists are joined by students in the annual summer field school held in conjunction with the College of William and Mary. This summer there are two excavations underway: the first is on the historic campus of the College of William and Mary (more on that in next week’s post). The second project, under the direction of Staff Archaeologist Mark Kostro, is focused on the Bray School, a 1760s school for African American children. In this blog post, Mark describes the Bray School project, and updates readers on progress to date. …
Throwback Thursday: The Robert Nicolson House
By Áine Cain
In the 1750s, a 26-year-old, up-and-coming tailor and merchant named Robert Nicolson built the Robert Nicolson House, a gambrel-roofed structure. He wasted no time settling down in Williamsburg. Nicolson set up a shop on Duke of Gloucester Street and married Mary Waters, and eventually the couple had seven children. The Nicolson brood included a future surgeon, mayor of Richmond, and a newspaper publisher….
Dead Men Do Tell Tales
Dry bones provide a surprising wealth of information about the human lives they once supported. Learn how experts suss out stories of origin, mortality, and survival from skeletal remains.
Read the story in the winter journal Colonial Williamsburg.
Mysteries Unearthed at the Armoury
Digging…and re-Digging…the Armoury
The re-exposed chimney base (top) and brick drain (right) for the Armoury kitchen.
Archaeologists, field school students, summer interns, and a few seasoned volunteers fanned out across the Armoury site in early June with a laundry list of tasks and questions to address before reconstruction begins. As many of you know, it was not an easy summer for outdoor work. Extreme heat and a lack of rain baked the soil…. and archaeologists alike. Nevertheless, the Armoury excavation attracted tremendous visitor attention, and steady progress was made toward ferreting out new information about the property and those who worked here.
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Welcome the new webcam
See archaeologists excavate Anderson’s armoury
Watch archaeology in action this summer during “Archaeologists At Work.” Archaeology staff members will excavate portions of the James Anderson site to search for underground evidence related to Anderson’s expansion of his blacksmithing operation into a high production armoury during the American Revolution.
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