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Excavation Programs 2009

The Montpelier Archaeology Department is active year round, doing everything from conducting surveys on the property, to excavating various sites, to processing artifacts in the laboratory. Its Archaeological Training Programs take the form of an expanded set of expedition programs, something that we are particularly excited about, as well as two University Field Schools.

Excavations in the 2009 field season will be focused on the "North Kitchen" area, or the site of the 19th century kitchen located on the 1837 insurance map that gave the department so much insight into the 2008 excavations into the domestic slave quarters of the "South Yard." The North Kitchen area has recently become an important locale for hands-on-history demonstrations of early 19th century cooking, food preservation, and general activities that took place in the kitchen. We hope that the 2009 field season will allow us to provide insight into not only the use of the kitchen, but insight into the lives of the domestic slaves who worked within its walls.

For our archaeology expeditions we have an intern facility, Arlington House, where volunteers stay. Please click on the link, right, for more information on Arlington House.

The dates for our archaeology expeditions are given in the descriptions of each of the programs below. For contacting us about our week-long programs at Montpelier, please use our contact form, selecting "Archaeology" as the contact department. Alternatively, please call Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology, at (540) 672-2728 x160.

Archaeological Expeditions

The "Archaeological Expeditions" program has been operating at Montpelier for a decade-and-a-half, with many of the same volunteers returning year after year. We are, however, keen to add new familiar faces to the program. All of the scheduled programs are designed to give participants actual excavation experience on an archaeological site working side-by-side with trained professional archaeologists. We have a staff of eight 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, take tours of various archaeological sites on the property, and of course get a tour of the mansion.

There are a total of eight Archaeological Expeditions programs in the 2009 field season:

The program schedule is as follows:

Participants in the Archaeologicla Excavation program stay at the Montpelier Archaeological Intern facility, Arlington House, an antebellum home located in Montpelier’s estate grounds.

University Field Schools

Montpelier has hosted one or more archaeological field schools for college students since 1987. For more information on these field schools, please click the link: University Field Schools.

For more information on any of these programs, please contact Dr. Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology at James Madison's Montpelier, using out contact form (selecting "Archaeology" as the contact department), or alternatively call at (540) 672-2728 x160.

The dates of the university field schools are subject to change, so please check with this page regularly, or alternately call Dr Reeves for the latest information.

Starting on April 4th, 2009, the Montpelier Archaeology Department's lab will be open to visitors on the weekends. This is not only an excellent opportunity for our visitors to see first hand how we process the artifacts we excavate from the many sites across the property, but also for volunteers to take part in this careful processing and analysis of Madison-era finds. Volunteers at the lab will be offered the opportunity to wash 18th and 19th century ceramics, glass, metal, and bone finds while learning how to identify these artifacts using our newly developed study collection. Volunteers will also be able to take part in the processing of soil samples, catalogue artifacts, and help interpret our artifacts to visitors.