DAACS

10/07/2026

Two plantations, two Jeffersons, one site. When Monticello's home farm took over the land at what is now referred to as Site 7, the overseers got a new place to live. The enslaved people living there, it appears, did not. For our first site spotlight post for Virginia Archaeology Month, we’re highlighting Site 7 at Monticello.

Site 7 is one of seventeen sites associated with Peter Jefferson’s Shadwell and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantations that have been launched on daacs.org. Site 7 is notable because its occupations span three key developments in the plantation’s historical trajectory. Its first role was as an outlying quarter farm in the mid-18th century for Peter Jefferson’s Shadwell Plantation. After Peter Jefferson’s death, the site and its sister site, Site 8, housed most of the enslaved laborers and overseers at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home farm. Documentary records left by Thomas Jefferson refer to an overseer’s house at the site, located half a mile from the Monticello manor house. Towards the end of the century, occupants of the site experienced the wave of changes resulting from Jefferson’s decision to shift from to***co to wheat production as the primary cash crop.

Archaeologists identified Site 7 during the 1997 phase of the ongoing Monticello Plantation Archaeological Survey. Excavations at the site were conducted in 1997-1999, 2004, and 2006. To date, 134 quadrats have been excavated at the site. The primary structural remains revealed by excavations consisted of a possible hearth associated with a house at Site 7, which is believed to be the remains of a Shadwell-period overseer’s house.

The benefit of research is that we can continue to ask new questions and offer new interpretations of archaeological data. In 2024, Monticello Archaeology staff members Crystal O’Connor and Fraser Neiman revisited Site 7’s archaeological assemblage with the goal of inferring the timing of the construction, modification and destruction of domestic structures and their occupations. Artifact distribution and correspondence analyses revealed four phases of assemblage deposition. When mapped, these phases indicated that the location of artifacts discarded by enslaved laborers at the site remained largely consistent between the Shadwell and Monticello periods of occupation. Conversely, assemblages generated by overseers were less consistent, indicating a shift in artifact discard locations. This data suggests a new living space was constructed for overseers during the Monticello period, while the living space for enslaved laborers remained the same.

Site 7 shows that excavation isn't the end of an archaeological story. Assemblages dug in the 1990s are still answering new questions decades later, and that's exactly why DAACS makes this data open to everyone. Learn more about the reanalysis here: https://www.monticello.org/monticello-archaeology-news-2024/seac2024-oconnorneiman. And keep an eye on daacs.org for updates to Site 7's pages!

Image 1: A map of excavated quadrats at Site 7.
Image 2: Excavations of the possibly Shadwell-era hearth at Site 7.
Image 3: A histogram of assemblage scores and quadrat phase assignments created by Crystal O'Connor and Fraser Neiman.
Image 4: Copper alloy buttons recovered from Site 7's plowzone. These buttons would have been used as adornment by people living and working at the site.

10/02/2026

A broken plate, a to***co pipe, a glass bead: archaeological finds from Virginia's plantations offer glimpses into the lives of the enslaved people who lived and labored on these landscapes. All month, DAACS will be sharing sites and artifacts that highlight Virginia's history and its connections to the Caribbean, the Carolinas, and the wider Atlantic World.

Over the last 26 years the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery has launched archaeological data from approximately 40 sites in Virginia. Check out https://www.daacs.org/ to query site and artifact data and learn more about research conducted in the Chesapeake, Carolinas, and the Caribbean.

09/10/2026

Be on the lookout for new DAACS data from The Fairfield Foundation! The Fairfield Foundation promotes archaeology, historic preservation, and public education in Virginia. The foundation manages multiple sites in Gloucester County, including the Fairfield Plantation site. Fairfield has been a long-time partner of DAACS -- Fairfield Quarter (https://www.daacs.org/sites/fairfield-quarter/) was one of the earliest sites that launched through daacs.org (see our throwback photo from 24 years ago!).

Staff members from Fairfield are receiving a refresher course and new training in the DAACS cataloguing system with the goal of adding new sites to the archive. The resulting data from Fairfield and Rosewell Plantation excavations will offer a rare window into daily life at a to***co plantation from the 1670s through the Revolutionary era in the Chesapeake's Middle Peninsula.

DAACS staff recently visited the foundation as part of the training plan and to make sure Chiara and Emma were introduced to Fairfield's staff and the Fairfield Plantation site. We're grateful for the Fairfield Foundation's continued collaboration and look forward to sharing updates as the data goes live!

Image 1: Monticello staff visiting Fairfield Colleagues May 2002
Image 2: Fairfield staff entering data into DAACS!
Image 3: Architectural remains of the Fairfield Plantation in Gloucester, VA

09/09/2026

DAACS recently took a trip to James Madison's Montpelier. Staff had the opportunity to study Montpelier's colonoware collections as part of the NSF project "Cracking the Colonoware Code", take a tour of the main house, and drop by Montpelier's active excavations.

Thank you for having us Archaeology at Montpelier!

Image 1: DAACS and Montpelier Archaeology staff with colonoware ceramics. Photo courtesy of Matthew Reeves.
Image 2: Colonoware ceramics in Montpelier's collection.
Image 3: A sneak peek of excavations happening at Montpelier.

08/24/2026

We're looking forward to the Daniel P. Jordan Archaeology Research and Collections Complex! We're excited to welcome more archaeologists and collaborators in the future.

08/19/2026

Applications for the 2027 Monticello Fellowship Program are now open!

All applicants are welcomed, including archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians. Previous ICJS and ICJS-DAACS fellows have researched colonial-period material culture, plantations in America and the Caribbean, and the legacies of enslavement.

See this link to learn more about the work conducted by previous cohorts:
https://www.monticello.org/icjs/fellowships/international-center-fellows-1995-2025

The application portal is now open for the 2027 Monticello Fellowship Program!

Established in 1994, Monticello’s Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (ICJS) is a multidisciplinary research center that leads the study of Thomas Jefferson and his world while supporting the ongoing work of preservation and education at Monticello. The fellowship program supports scholars whose research explores Jefferson, Monticello, the founding history of the United States, and its legacies.

To date, the ICJS has awarded more than 600 fellowships to researchers from across the country and around the globe! 🌎📚

Learn more and apply at bit.ly/4hzqAhW

📷: Aleen Carey

07/03/2026

Last week, DAACS and Monticello Archaeology staff attended a workshop at Mountain Valley Archaeology hosted by Dr. Carole Nash. The three-day workshop included lectures and lab sessions focused on different artifact classes. Staff attended lectures given by Dr. Nash and Dr. Mike Barber and had the opportunity to study and enhance their knowledge of lithics and Indigenous ceramics from across Virginia.

The workshop was given as part of Archeological Society of Virginia's 2-year technician certification program, which combines lectures, field work, and laboratory work to create a comprehensive understanding of archaeology.
Special thanks to Dr. Carole Nash for hosting us!

Image 1: DAACS analyst Chiara Torrini studying Indigenous ceramic sherds.
Image 2: DAACS project manager Beth Bollwerk using a DermLite to study ceramic sherds.
Image 3: Cindy, a certification student/Monticello Archaeology volunteer, and Emily, a certification student, washing artifacts.
Image 4: Indigenous ceramics on drying racks.

06/30/2026

This month, DAACS staff joined Archaeology at Monticello on a trip to Coan Hall. Staff excavated alongside Monticello and University of Tennessee Knoxville field school students, uncovering a breadth of artifacts and documenting coastal plain stratigraphy.

The Sekakawon polity occupied the area now known as Coan Hall in the 16th and 17th centuries. The later 17th century plantation site is the subject of ongoing excavations under the direction of Dr. Barbara Heath at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. John Mottrom, who established the plantation, is known as one of the earliest Potomac Valley planters to enslave Africans. The site is also notable for its role in a series of impactful court cases beginning in 1655, when Elizabeth Key sued for and won her freedom from the Mottrom family. To learn more about Key see https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/key-elizabeth-fl-1655-1660/.

Many thanks to Dr. Heath and Coan Hall Archaeology UTK for allowing us to visit and excavate! For more information on the site and UTK’s field program, see https://anthropology.utk.edu/opportunities/coan-hall-field-school/.

Image 1 & 2: Monticello staff and field school students excavating units.
Image 3: A lead die recovered at the site.
Image 4: Monticello staff and UTK students enjoying a break from excavating in front of a tributary on the Potomac River.
Image 5: A locally made to***co pipe bowl fragment recovered at the site.

06/15/2026

Congratulations are in order! Please join us in celebrating the recent accomplishments of our DAACS staff, interns, and fellows:

Chiara Torrini, a current DAACS analyst, earned an MA from the UMass Boston Historical Archaeology Graduate Program for their thesis, “Shaping the Landscape: Analyzing Enclosure Types, Farm Productivity, and Resource Use in Viking Age and Medieval Iceland”. Chiara was a recipient of The Barbara C. Luedtke Award for their outstanding thesis work and GRA work on the database and GIS infrastructure at the Fiske Center.

Macie Clerkley, a former DAACS intern, defended their thesis, “Sediments Remember Otherwise: Ruptured Grounds at the Mount Calvert Plantation” and earned an MA from Brown University. Macie will be continuing to pursue a PhD.

Myles Sullivan, a former DAACS fellow, defended their dissertation, titled “The Consumption of British Colonialisms: Comparative Material Culture of St. Augustine, Florida and Charleston, South Carolina in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic”. Upon final submission of this dissertation, Myles will be awarded a PhD from the University of Florida.

Jenna Owens, a former DAACS intern and current oral historian with Getting Word African American History at Monticello, graduated with a Masters of Arts in Cultural Heritage Management from John Hopkins University.

Image 1: Chiara Torrini, a DAACS analyst, holding the Barbara C. Luedtke trowel and award.
Image 2: Macie Clerkley defending their thesis, "Sediments Remember Otherwise: Ruptured Grounds at the Mount Calvert Plantation”.
Image 3: Myles Sullivan, a former DAACS fellow who recently defended their dissertation.
Image 4: Jenna Owens, an oral historian with Getting Word and former DAACS intern, in graduation regalia.

06/12/2026

In the Chesapeake, brick was expensive. Stone was available in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge. Wood was cheapest. The materials enslaved people used to build their houses or modify houses designed and built for them reflect both the constraints they faced and the strategies they employed within these constraints.

For our final brick post we’re shifting the focus from elite architecture to consider how enslaved people incorporated brick into the construction of their homes. The use of stone and brick in construction required additional time and labor on the part of the enslaved individuals. But that use wasn’t uniform, even within a single plantation community like Monticello.

Building o, an enslaved quarter on Mulberry Row occupied during the last quarter of the 18th century, has several architectural elements that feature brick and stone: brick paving, small brick-lined subfloor (storage) pit, and larger stone-lined pit. The stones were greenstone boulders, the weathered parent material under Monticello Mountain.

Site 8, a site with multiple houses that was one of the principal field quarters for the Monticello home farm during the late 18th century, shows more variation. House 1, occupied prior to 1780, completely lacked brick or stone – the evidence for it was three unlined sub-floor (storage) pits. In contrast, House 2, which has a slightly later occupation, was represented by a cellar that was lined with unmortared brick.

The use of stone and absence or presence of brick reflects household-level decisions made within very real constraints. Proximity to the main house and brick kiln work shaped material access. But investing the additional labor of lining a pit with stone or brick — making it more durable, more structurally sound — only made sense if a household had some expectation of remaining in place long enough to benefit from that work. That expectation was never guaranteed, and never entirely within their control.

Image 1: Plan map of Building o with bricks shown in red.
Image 2: Aerial photo of Building o excavations with two brick features (brick paving and a brick lined pit) circled.
Image 3: Plan map of Houses 1 and 2 from Site 8 with bricks shown in red.
Image 4: A photo taken during Site 8 excavations that shows a brick lined cellar pit (Feature 6) with crushed ceramics.