by: Brooks McCabe During this summer’s excavations at the 1857 Slave Dwelling, Poplar Forest archaeologists unearthed what looked like an indistinguishable iron fragment. After some cleaning, the artifact had recognizable details, leading us to believe that this artifact was once part of a toy train. We researched toy iron trains from the early 20th century […]

By: Bella Kilper This past summer I had the pleasure of serving as the Summer Research Intern for the archaeology department at Poplar Forest. Having just graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Clemson University, this position was the perfect opportunity for me to continue utilizing my archaeological experience and gain new insights […]

by Erin Schwartz On July 14, Poplar Forest’s 32nd Annual Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology drew to a close. While students had learned many valuable skills in the field and in the lab, they further developed their creative and analytical skills in individual student research projects. Each student could choose an artifact they found or […]

By: Alyssa Moorman Week 6 has come to an end, and the Poplar Forest Archaeology Field School 2023 has officially been completed. The week started with a lecture on Industrial Slavery. The lecture highlighted the use of slavery in industrial settings, even in northern states. Enslaved laborers working in industrial settings often did so either […]

By: Taylor Gantzert At the beginning of the fifth week of Poplar Forest’s field school, students learned about the tools that archaeologists use to categorize and analyze the data collected in the field. Among the most important tools is a suite of computer programs referred to as GIS (Geographic Information Systems). These systems allow archaeologists […]

A Trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestowne by Nicole Finnigan While the focus of the first half of the week was on digging our units and learning about flotation, the second half of Week 4 involved a delightful and exciting two-day trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestowne. The first day of the trip […]

By Rose Hill (the happy Texan): In this week of the field school, we began each morning with a series of lectures by Dr. Proebsting on the topics of landscape archaeology and restoring Poplar Forest to the era of Jefferson’s residency. Our main goal in each of these lectures has been to understand the context […]

By: Gill Batt This week, field school started with a tour of Monticello on Monday. The group listened to a lecture and toured the house along with the grounds. The lecture given by Fraser Neiman, the Director of Archaeology at Monticello, was on the geoarchaeology of Monticello, specifically analyzing the Paw Paw Valley site. After […]

By: Cameron Cash This was an exciting week for the 2023 Archaeology Field School. Despite Monday’s inclement weather keeping us away from our 5 ft. x 5 ft. excavation units by the 1857 Slave Dwelling, the students were given a few fantastic lectures by Karen McIlvoy and Erin Schwartz. The students learned about the origins, […]

By: Catherine Haines The 2023 Archaeology Field School at Poplar Forest began by learning about the history of the property, the field techniques, and touring the lab. First, the students began excavating four 2 ft. x 2 ft. test units (as part of Stable Survey 2) to continue the search for Jefferson-era stables. During these […]

Ice houses are underground pits that stored ice or snow collected during the winter to provide chilled food and beverages throughout the year. These were common within elite society in eastern North America and western Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and were among Thomas Jefferson’s many interests. He observed ice houses in Virginia […]

Poplar Forest was excited to once again host its Field School in Historical Archaeology last summer through the University of Virginia. We welcomed five students who learned the skills and practices essential to historical archaeology as they complete their undergraduate degrees at a variety of schools, including George Mason, Kansas State, Wake Forest and the […]