From Architraves to Artifacts

Abstract

Several million people have visited Jamestown, Virginia, in recent years, but probably few of them have realized that the museum and trailside exhibits, the audio-visual program, and the interpretive literature were all made possible by archaeological research. If these same people had visited the ruins of a prehistoric Indian village in the Southwest, or Pompeii in Italy, they would have taken archaeology for granted. Excavation of so recent a site as Jamestown, however, does not conform to the usual concept of archaeology. But archaeologists have been excavating places like Jamestown and Williamsburg, as well as sites of even less age, since the beginning of this century, but with ever increasing intensity over the past 50 years. Information from these digs, coupled with search in the documents, has resulted in a far more complete and accurate picture of our country’s history. The National Park Service has been a leader in this field of research, although park departments in most states, as well as innumerable private organizations, have also been active.

Those artifacts we dig up, and the foundations we uncover, have something to tell us. J. C. Harrington