Archaeology of Memorialization

Location: The Montpelier Foundation, 13384 Laundry Rd, Montpelier Station, VA 22957, USA

Season: January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024

Session Dates: MARCH LAB EXPEDITION (MARCH 17-22, 2024) EARLY APRIL EXCAVATION (APRIL 7-12, 2024) LATE APRIL EXCAVATION (APRIL 22-27, 2024)-COOKING AND ARCHAEOLOGY! MAY EXPEDITION (MAY 6-10, 2024) HIGH SCHOOL EXPEDITION (JULY 8-12, 2024) EARLY AUGUST EXPEDITION (AUGUST 4-9, 2024) MID AUGUST EXPEDITION (AUGUST 11-16, 2024) EARLY SEPTEMBER EXPEDITION (SEPTEMBER 1-6, 2024) LATE SEPTEMBER ALUMNI EXPEDITION (SEPTEMBER 15-20, 2024) EARLY OCTOBER EXPEDITION (SEPT 29-OCT 4, 2024) LATE OCTOBER EXPEDITION (OCTOBER 13-18, 2024)

Application Deadline: December 26, 2024

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: https://www.montpelier.org/archaeology

Program Type:
Field School, Volunteer

RPA Certified:
This project is an RPA certified field school

Affiliation:
The Montpelier Foundation

Project Director:
Matthew Reeves

Project Description:

What makes Montpelier a wonderful property for surveys and excavations is its relatively undisturbed condition. All of the sites we excavate have never been plowed–and most were abandoned in the 1840s, leaving the archaeological features in pristine condition.

The 2024 excavation season will focus on the Archaeology of Memorialization, where we will work to define the boundaries of the Montpelier Burial Ground of the Enslaved and build our understanding of how the ancestors memorialized their loved ones in this space. We are working closely with the Montpelier Descendants Committee in all aspects of these surveys and excavations. We have spent the past year conducting intensive surveys of the burial ground.

The LEARN Archaeology Expedition program has been operating at Montpelier for a decade-and-a-half, with many of the same volunteers returning year after year. We love to see new faces on our programs. All of the scheduled programs give participants actual excavation experience on an archaeological site working side-by-side with trained professional archaeologists. We have a staff of six archaeologists who work with participants both in the lab and in the field, which means you have personal interaction with archaeological staff and this allows you to work on sensitive features, artifacts, and deposits that normally one would not get to handle. You are treated as a member of the research team and we step you through the entire excavation process. While you are here at Montpelier, you will be engaged in lectures, and take tours of various archaeological sites on the property.

You can learn about all of our LEARN Archaeology Expeditions at the following link.

We also host a month-long university archaeology field school. For more information on this, please see our field school web page.

For more information contact us at dig@montpelier.org

Period(s) of Occupation: Colonial and federal period

Notes:
Through metal detector surveys, we have located potential fencelines, activity areas (a potential cook site), and artifacts that were possibly left to honor the ancestors. What is fascinating are the similar locations of fencelines that Montpelier’s metal detector technician Dennis Bjorklund has located and the extent of the periwinkle. Through Ground Penetrating Radar (NAEVA Geophsyics), we have located subsurface features that have the potential to give us a much better understanding of the arrangement of grave shafts/burials across the four-acre woodlot. In all of these surveys, we have kept our disturbance to the first foot of soil. The GPR survey has indicated that the graves are at least four feet deep, and any ground disturbance through surveys or 2024 excavations will be kept to a maximum of a foot in depth. This will help further reduce any chance of impacting possible burial-related features.

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 2 days

Minimum Age: 12

Experience Required: none. Participants living on the property who are under 18 years old need an accompanying guardian or parent. Participants under the age of 16 need to be accompanied by a guardian or adult.

Room and Board Arrangements:
Email us at dig@montpelier.org for housing options.