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Archaeology is the study of the human past based on the objects people have left behind. Archaeologists also study things like human changes to the landscape to learn about people in the past. By studying these materials and their relationships to each other, we can begin to understand things that were never written down in the historical record.

Virginia has nearly 44,000 recorded archaeological sites spanning 15,000 years of human history and more sites are recorded every day. Many sites are recorded in compliance with local, state, or federal regulations in advance of ground-disturbing construction projects, but others are recorded by researchers at universities and volunteers. Learn more about Virginia Archaeology.

Archaeology is about studying material remains and environments to understand the past. We carefully excavate a site and record the precise location of each object and feature. We make this special effort because any kind of digging is destructive. As soon as we take that special artifact out of the ground, we lose lots of other information.

In most cases, we don’t dig if we don’t have to. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to do good archaeology. We know about important sites all over Virginia that haven’t been intensively excavated. And if they’re not under threat, that’s OK. When we do excavate a site to understand it, we often only remove a sample of the artifacts. Who knows? Archaeologists in the future may have access to tools and technologies that can tell us even more!

Archaeologists look at all the information, not just the rarest, most valuable artifacts. We don’t sell artifacts. In fact, if you show us something and ask us what it’s worth, we probably won’t even know. Something as boring as an old trash dump can tell us amazing things about the daily lives of people, but only if we can study all of the materials together. Digging artifacts without keeping field records makes understanding history impossible.

When we see unfortunate news stories like this one about illegal metal detecting and site destruction at Petersburg National Battlefield, we often see questions like these in the online comments:

Aren’t these cool things just rotting away in the ground? Let’s get them out so people can enjoy them!

This is both true and false. It’s true because nothing lasts forever. An iron object buried in the soil for 150 years is definitely going to corrode. However, digging it up could actually make it worse by “shocking” the material. It takes a lot of training to learn how to conserve artifacts and sometimes washing or coating objects can even cause long-term problems.

Sometimes we choose not to dig especially because the sites may be so very important. This is especially true for places of burial. For example, what looks like a village site is also bound to be a burial place for the ancestors of today’s Virginia Indians. Civil War battlefields are treated as hallowed ground. Besides the fact that disturbing human burials is against the law, these places and the people who hold them sacred deserve our respect.

It sounds like archaeologists are digging stuff up all the time. I’m frustrated that the public can’t see any of the artifacts or reports because they’re locked up in storage.

We couldn’t agree more. While budgets and staffing don’t give us the ability to design big, cool museum exhibits all the time, we want to hear from you. We’re working on making reports and collections available online so the public can see our amazing Virginia heritage. What kinds of things would you like to see? What’s important to you? Contact us and let us know.

What about collecting artifacts I see on the surface?

If you’re on private property and have permission of the landowner, there’s nothing preventing you from doing this. But remember that location is key. If you’re not prepared to fully document your collection and to take care of the objects you collect forever, they’re better off where they started.

And remember: It’s always illegal to remove artifacts from State or Federal land without proper permits.

So you’re telling me that I have to have a college degree or I shouldn’t do archaeology?

Absolutely not! Interested members of the public should check out the Archeological Society of Virginia. There are chapters throughout the state that meet regularly. By working with ASV, you can learn about all kinds of Virginia sites and artifacts and get hands-on training and experience.

Virginia has nearly 44,000 recorded archaeological sites spanning 15,000 years of human history and more sites are recorded every day. Many sites are recorded in compliance with local, state, or federal regulations in advance of ground-disturbing construction projects, but others are recorded by researchers at universities and volunteers. Learn more about Virginia Archaeology.