Featured Fragment Blog
What’s THAT Doing HERE? Unexpected Discoveries at the Strawberry Run Site in Alexandria, Virginia
By Joe Blondino In June 2019, Dovetail conducted an archaeological survey of a project area located along Strawberry Run in Alexandria, Virginia. At first, the project area seemed like it might not have much to offer. Most of the project area was located along the...
While They’re “At Rest,” We’re at Work: Identifying Nineteenth-Century Coffin Hardware
By Melissa Butler In death, as in life, mass-marketed applied ornaments allow individuals to customize their belongings. This month’s artifact is one such decoration. Dovetail Cultural Resource Group (Dovetail) recently completed an archaeological excavation and...
Coins, Balls, Bats, and Bases: A Few Fragments on Fredericksburg’s Ties to America’s National Game
By Kerri S. Barile On February 22, 1936, over 3,000 people gathered on the banks of the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg and Stafford County, Virginia, to witness history. Former Major Leaguer Walter “Big Train” Johnson attempted to recreate George Washington’s...
Let’s Shed a Little Light on this Blog: A Civil War-Era Sticking Tommy Candle Holder
By D. Brad Hatch This month’s post highlights an object recovered from a Civil War battlefield and campsite in Virginia. Rather than being associated with fighting, however, this object speaks to the daily lives of soldiers during the war. The object is a cast iron...
An Artifact as Stubborn as a Donkey: We Need Your Help?
By Kerry S. González For our last blog of 2019 we are once again revisiting artifacts recovered from the Trogdon-Squirrel Creek site, a mid- to late-nineteenth-century domestic site in Randolph County, North Carolina. On behalf of the North Carolina Department of...
The HumunGIS Importance of Mapping Data at Archaeological Sites
Featured Fragment – HumunGIS Importance of GIS By D. Brad Hatch and Emily Calhoun Since this past Wednesday (November 13, 2019) was Geographic Information System (GIS) Day, we’ve decided to dedicate this week’s blog to highlighting how archaeologists use GIS as a tool...
One Shell of an Artifact: Monetaria annulus as Evidence of Fredericksburg’s Global Economic Connections
Featured Fragment – Cowrie Shell By D. Brad Hatch This month’s artifact began its life somewhere in the Indian or Pacific Ocean, likely made its way to the west coast of Africa, crossed the Atlantic, then traveled up the Rappahannock River before ending up in...
Hindsite is 20/20: A Look at Historic Eyewear
Featured Fragment – Historic Eyewear By Kerry S. González We’ve decided to continue our series highlighting the artifacts recovered from the Trogdon-Squirrel Creek site in Randolph County, North Carolina for the month of September. On behalf of the North Carolina...
50th Blog!
This month celebrates our 50th blog post and in honor of this anniversary we will be revisiting our top three most-popular blogs. To see which blogs made the cut, please follow the links below. To date, our most popular blog, reaching almost 7,000 people on Facebook...
A “Classical” Case—Creamware at the Fredericksburg Riverfront
By Kerry S. González For our devoted followers, you may remember seeing a blog post back in 2015 on the creamware fragment below, found in 2013 during our Phase I survey of the Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg, Virginia (Photo 1). We are revisiting this piece because...
The Nose Knows: A Perfume Bottle from Fredericksburg
By: Kerry S. González Often times local residents interested in the history of the area, or more specifically the history of their property, bring us artifacts to identify. Most recently a long-time resident of Fredericksburg brought us some materials found during...
It Was Colonel Weedon With a Candlestick on Sophia Street: Another “Clue” to Fredericksburg’s Past
By Kerry S. González and D. Brad Hatch This month we are once again highlighting an artifact recovered from our Riverfront Park excavations in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The candlestick fragment pictured below is made of brass and is typical of the late Georgian/early...