Archaeology

The archaeological collection includes approximately 60 million artifacts recovered during research and mitigation excavations conducted by the Foundation’s archaeologists over the last century. While the collection is largely comprised of artifacts from excavations within the Historic Area, it also includes materials from several sites in the surrounding region.

From architectural hardware to tools, furnishing elements, ceramic and glass tablewares, and personal items such as buttons and buckles, the collection represents the full range of objects used and discarded during daily life in the past. It also includes extensive faunal and macro-botanical components related to foodways and environmental conditions in the region. While the interpretive focus of the archaeological collections remains on the eighteenth century, it encompasses materials that fall outside that time period as well. These include artifacts representing the full history of human settlement and material culture usage in the Williamsburg area from the earliest American Indian occupations in Virginia, to European colonialization in the 17th century, to 19th- and 20th-century materials.

Archaeological artifacts from Williamsburg informed restoration efforts in the town from the earliest period of the Foundation’s work, and they continue to do so today. The collections have come from the sites of trade shops, taverns, plantation quarters, churches, and schools, as well as public buildings and households of the wealthy and politically powerful. All are used to guide the Foundation’s interpretation of the full breadth and diversity of experiences in the colonial capital.