African-American Archaeology Resource Kit

Introduction to the Archaeology of African-American Life

Archaeologists do study skeletons (and sometimes well-preserved bodies) of people who lived in the past, but they are trying to learn about how these people lived and died, not to bring them back to life. And they do find a variety of treasures and the answers to puzzling questions. What archaeologists consider treasures, however, are not usually priceless gems or ancient works of art, but rather the objects that individuals made and used every day or on special occasions. When studied carefully, these objects, or artifacts, provide many clues about how people lived and how their lives changed over time. The places, or sites, where artifacts are found also hold important clues about the past. They may contain the foundations of houses or other buildings, and the remains of fences, ditches, roadbeds or buried gardens that help archaeologists reconstruct what a settlement might have looked like.

Archaeology is the study of past human societies through physical remains (artifacts or buildings) and spaces (groups of buildings or landscapes) that individuals or groups created or used long ago. Understanding context—the relationships of artifacts with the site they are part of—is the key to what archaeologists do. In fact, archaeologists are more like detectives than treasure hunters. They use physical evidence to solve mysteries. One mystery that archaeologists are currently trying to solve is how Africans who were brought to America in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s lived, how they changed to become African Americans, and how they changed Virginia in the process.

Meets Virginia SOLs: Language 5.1, 5.2, 5.3

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