Archaeology Blog

All Well and Good

Encountering Sulfate Reducing Bacteria at Jamestown April 12, 2024. Janene Johnston, Associate Curator, and Dr. Chris Wilkins, Senior Conservator. Archaeologists recovered a trove of interesting artifacts […]

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A person removes a wedge-shaped brick from the brick well ring

Understanding Bricks

Colonial Williamsburg helps translate the language of bricks March XX, 2024. Natalie Reid, Staff Archaeologist In October of 2023, Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists completed the excavation of […]

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Finding the “Greate Road”

Moving from terrestrial archaeology to maritime archaeology DATE XX, 2024. David Givens, Director of Archaeology, Mary Anna Hartley, Senior Staff Archaeologist, Sean Romo, Senior Staff Archaeologist. […]

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The spoon found in the Governor's Well

Dishing Up Data

Ongoing Analysis and Conservation of the Spoon from the Governor’s Well Excavations on the Governor’s Well uncovered many incredible artifacts, like a sword, two sword hilts, […]

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Four different types of buttons excavated at Jamestown

Working with “Old Stuff,” Part 2

Building the Jamestown reference collection for buttons Jamestown Rediscovery, Ava Geisel Jamestown recently said goodbye to Ava Geisel, who interned in Collections as part of her […]

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Working with “Old Stuff”

A collections intern reflects on her year in the Vault Jamestown Rediscovery, Ava Geisel Jamestown recently said goodbye to Ava Geisel, who interned in Collections as […]

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Artist's interpretation of African woman

Commemorating the First Africans

Revealing the contradictions of the past Author: Mark Summers, Public Historian & Director of Public & Youth Programs In late August 1619, the first Africans arrived […]

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A cropped version of a painting of Jamestown in the Civil War. The crumbling church tower stands in the middle. In front of it are earthworks.

Jamestown in the Civil War

Go beyond 1619: Black History at Jamestown Jamestown in the Civil War Today, many are familiar with the history of the first Africans forcibly brought to […]

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View of Lisbon from the Lisbon Castle

Jamestown Goes to Portugal

­­Every January, the Society for Historical Archaeology and the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, two international organizations for professional archaeology, sponsor the Conference on Historical and […]

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Dr. Raquel Fleskes sampling an early Jamestown colonist in the Bolnick lab at Beach Hall, University of Connecticut.

Do You Think You Know Who You Are?

­­This past week, Directors of Collection and Archaeology, Michael Lavin and David Givens, transported skeletal remains for ancient DNA (aDNA) testing to Dr. Deborah Bolnick’s Ancient […]

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Leah leads a group of DAACS attendees across the site

The Archaeology of Slavery

In 2019, I was offered the opportunity to apply to an NEH funded fellowship, the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) Summer Institute. This program […]

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Director of Archaeology David Givens, Preston Senderoff, and graduate student Stephanie Scialo inspect the sediment in the core sample.

What Lies Beneath the Swamp

This past Wednesday, members of the Jamestown Rediscovery team joined Dr. Will Ouimet of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Connecticut (UConn) and […]

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