Excavation Programs 2008

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 three forms: Work Study, Earthwatch Expeditions, and University Field Schools.

This year, we will open units in the "South Yard" of the mansion where the slave quarters for the Madisons’ house slaves were located. The homes of these slaves were razed in the 1850s and it was only in 2002 that an insurance map allowed us to understand the full extent of the size of this complex (two smokehouses and three duplexes). Combined with archaeology carried out on the detached brick kitchen and one of the duplexes in the 1990s, we have have conjectural ideas of what this area looked like.

During the summer of 2008, we will be testing these ideas to reveal the full extent of the yards by excavating the chimney bases, trash deposits, yard features, and work surfaces. Back in the lab, students will help wash and sort artifacts, float soil samples for botanical remains, and enter data into a computer database.

For our training programs, 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 field training programs 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.

Work Study Excavation Programs

The Work Study 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.

There are seven Work Study programs—one in the spring, two in the late summer (following our university field schools, three in the fall and one in winter:

• Field Work Study. This program concentrates on the development of archaeological field techniques and problem-solving with regard to the identification of archaeological features by tying together the various clues left to us from the past. Work Study 2008 will focus on the South Yard Complex (the quarters for the domestic slave population of the Madison period located in the mansion yard) and the Madison Garden.
• Winter Work Study. A new addition to Montpelier’s Intern Program, Winter Work Study 2008 will focus on the processing, cross-mending, and vessel analysis of ceramics recovered from “Dolley’s Midden,” the early 19th century trash deposit discovered and excavated in the summer and autumn of 2007.

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

• Week long Excavation Programs:
  • Session 2: 18 August – 22 August 2008
  • Session 3: 8 September – 12 September 2008
  • Session 4: 6 October – 10 October 2008
  • Session 5: 20 October – 24 October 2008
  • Session 6: 28 September – 4 October 2008

Earthwatch

Montpelier hosts five Earthwatch field programs each year, one in the spring, two in the summer, and two in the fall. During their two-week stay, volunteers live in Montpelier housing and partake in group meals with staff. A typical Earthwatch dig is made up of 6-10 participants.

For more information on participating in Earthwatch’s Expeditions, please click on the following link: Earthwatch Expeditions—Restore America's Heritage (Montpelier).

• Session 2: 18 August – 29 August 2008
• Session 3: 8 September – 19 September 2008
• Session 4: 6 October – 17 October 2008
• Session 5: 20 October – 31 October 2008

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.

• James Madison University: May 12 to June 12, 2008.
• Montpelier Archaeology Field School: July 1 to July 25, 2008 (accredited through SUNY Potsdam).

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.