2022 Field School Week Three

By Morgan Reeder

It was a busy week for the Poplar Forest field school! We started off by taking a field trip to Monticello on Monday. We had the opportunity to sit in and listen to a lecture by Dr. Fraser Neiman, the Director of Archaeology at Monticello. We also were able to talk with some of the field school students. They were kind enough to show us the area they were excavating this summer. We were then given a tour of Thomas Jefferson’s house and visited the reconstructed slave quarters and vegetable garden on the site.

Back at Poplar Forest, we continued working on our survey. This week, we finished up our initial 2x2ft units and found some pretty neat artifacts! Vessel glass, pieces of ceramics, nails, and lead shot just to name a few. After we finish up these units, our plan is to expand some into 5x5ft units. We also spent some time in the lab this week. We went over how to label and bag the artifacts and learned about the online database used to hold more information about each artifact.

Poplar Forest field school has reached its halfway point, but there is still a lot to be done! Stay tuned to hear what else we do!