2022 Field School Week Two

By Kaitlyn Holmes

In our second week here at Poplar Forest, the field school started by listening to a very important and interesting lecture on historic ceramics. After the lecture, we all went out to resume the field work on our units and to also write, map, and take photos to have as important records for the site. We got to use the tools and skills that we’re being taught hands on and/or in the classroom. Learning about mapping and the importance of the landscape helped my digging partner Jackson and I discovered that to the west of one of the units that we were working on, there is an unusual landscape shape that might be a possible feature that has us all curious!

This week has had both scorching heat and rainy weather, but that hasn’t stopped us from more archaeology! We had time for all of us to do lab work such as cleaning the artifacts that we had found at the site that were digging. Students are finding different types of glass and ceramics, fence staples, led shot bullets, and a lot of nails! In addition, we are discovering features which look very promising at this site! We also had an invigorating tour of the house by Travis McDonald, the Director of Architectural Restoration at Poplar Forest, who explained to us the way that the house was restored and how they are preserving it.