DAACS

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.

06/11/2026

This summer, two former DAACS fellows — one also a former Archaeological Analyst — took a collaborative approach to field school: students swapped sites for two weeks, trading an 18th-century urban dig in Charleston for a remote Lowcountry plantation — and back again.

Under the direction of Dr. Sarah Platt (Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston), students excavated in collaboration with a private property owner at a site within the 18th-century walls of Charleston, South Carolina. Students focused on deposits from the "old city", which are associated with the first 40 years of life in Charleston.

With Dr. Kendy Altizer (Assistant Professor at the University of North Georgia) and field director Tom Vallrugo, students had the opportunity to shovel test a remote island in the Santee River Delta. Their research centered on Tranquility, the earliest known plantation site between the North and South Santee Rivers. Shovel testing revealed possible evidence that the area was continuously occupied for multiple periods -- from the Late Archaic Period through the early 20th century.

Kudos to our colleagues for their creative approach! Gaining excavation experience in these different environments no doubt helped students understand a variety of research questions and methodologies that will inform our understanding of founding-era urban Charleston versus a long-occupied river delta plantation.

Image 1: Three students excavate a site using brushes and trowels in Charleston, South Carolina.
Image 2: View of excavations in Charleston.
Image 3: Students screening artifacts from the Santee River Delta.
Image 4: Students using a shovel to excavate in Charleston.
Image 5: Students on a boat in a tidal creek near the Santee Delta.

The Santee Delta Project
Archaeology Program - College of Charleston

05/20/2026

DAACS is thrilled to celebrate the launch of one of our partner sites — Interactive Digital St. Augustine (https://idigstaug.ufarch.org/)! iDigStAug is a new online database dedicated to the archaeology of colonial household sites in St. Augustine, Florida — the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States. This project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is the result of a collaboration between Florida Museum of Natural History and DAACS. The DAACS team worked with FLMNH archaeologists Gifford Waters, Charles Cobb, and their team to reanalyze some 51,000 artifacts from three colonial household lot sites and enter the data into the DAACS database. The data are launched through iDigStAug, which is built on a modified version of the DAACS website infrastructure.

In addition to artifact data, the site includes digitized field records, site maps, and archival photographs that provide critical interpretive context — all freely available to researchers and the public. iDigStAug also builds on a prior DAACS–Florida Museum partnership that produced the Comparative Mission Archaeology Portal (CMAP- https://cmap.ufarch.org/). We are proud to have been part of this effort and look forward to seeing it grow!

Congratulations to Charlie, Gifford, and the entire Research & Collections at the Florida Museum of Natural History team on this tremendous accomplishment. Bringing a collection of this scale online is no small feat, and it is a major contribution to the field!

Colonial St. Augustine In September 1565, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Aviles founded St. Augustine, the capital of colonial Spanish La Florida, which evolved into a multicultural hub of Spaniards, criollos, Native Americans, Africans, and mixed-race individuals. Following Spain’s cession of Florida...

05/11/2026

Bricks may seem simple — but specialty bricks are anything but. Molded, shaped, and purpose-made for specific decorative and structural roles, they appear in Virginia's earliest colonial contexts (including Jamestown) and served as a hallmark of the Georgian plantation landscapes that defined the 18th century.

DAACS holds specialty brick data from several Virginia plantation sites, including Littletown (Pettus), Stratford Hall, and Mount Vernon. These assemblages offer a window into design ambitions, regional building traditions, and the craftspeople— both free white and enslaved African and African American laborers — who built these structures. If you haven't already, check out Archaeology at Monticello rchaeology at Monticello's recent post on specialty bricks from Jefferson's home. Today we're highlighting a few examples from other Virginia sites that were also home to elite families who shaped colonial history. You can find out more about these sites at https://www.daacs.org/.

Coping bricks are molded with a semi-circular, triangular, or curved profiles and were typically used to cap walls and direct water away from a structure. Examples in DAACS from Littletown (Pettus) (data to be launched soon!) and Stratford Hall feature a semi-circular form.

Glazed bricks acquire their distinctive surface through the intentional or unintentional application of salt or other additives during firing, producing a vitrified exterior. At Stratford Hall, glazed brick headers are laid in alternation with unglazed bricks in a Flemish bond pattern — a checkered effect popular through roughly the first three quarters of the 18th century.

Bullnose bricks are molded with one or more rounded edges, softening what would otherwise be a right-angle corner. This one from Stratford Hall West Yard may have been used in either construction or paving contexts to create smooth, finished transitions.

Plinth bricks, like this example from Mount Vernon's Kitchen Site can easily be mistaken for standard water table bricks — but the evidence suggests otherwise. Purpose-made for a specific architectural role, these bricks likely formed the base of a column supporting a piazza or early porch. The consistent presence of corner fragments, their relative scarcity compared to true water table bricks, and traces of whitewash on several examples all point to a distinct and intentional function.

Stay tuned for our final post in this series, where we'll look at how specialty brick data from Monticello's kiln expands the comparative possibilities within DAACS.

Image 1: Rounded coping brick fragment, Pettus Plantation, Cellar. DAACS ID: 1078-KM54UNPROV-NOS—00001, mid-late 17th century
Image 2: Semi-circular coping brick, Stratford Hall, West Yard. DAACS ID: 1038-UMW033.H-DRS—00025, first quarter 18th century
Image 3: Glazed brick fragment, Stratford Hall, ST116. Overlaid over image of wall from Stratford Hall site. DAACS ID: 1006-185C-DRS—00009, last quarter of 18th century
Image 4: Bullnose brick fragment, Stratford Hall, West Yard. DAACS ID: 1038-UMW043.F-DRS—00063 – last quarter of 18th century
Image 5: Specialty (plinth) brick fragment, Mount Vernon Kitchen Site. Overlaid over image of 1780s stone plinth for reference. DAACS ID:1045-115J-WTS—00006, third quarter of the 18th century. Photo _DSC0262. Courtesy of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. Historic Preservation at Mount Vernon
Image 6: Citations

04/29/2026

We've got bricks on the brain after the exciting kiln find by our Archaeology at Monticello colleagues! 🧱 Today's post is the first in a three-part series showcasing interesting bricks and architectural materials from sites in DAACS, with background on the acquisition, production, and use of brick in colonial Virginia.

Brick was a costly commodity in 17th-century Virginia, but not due to the lack of raw material. Tidewater clays were well-suited to brickmaking, but production required specialized skills and significant labor at a moment when the demands of food procurement and to***co cultivation left little room for either. As a result, many of the earliest colonial buildings were earthfast (or post-in-ground) structures: timber-framed with brick used selectively for ovens, chimneys, and hearths. Earthfast building is material evidence of a society adapting to a new environment.

Some of the earliest bricks in DAACS come from two sites at Flowerdew Hundred Plantation (https://www.daacs.org/plantations/flowerdew-hundred/) located on the Southside of the James River: 44PG64 (The Stone House Foundation) and 44PG65 (The Enclosed Compound). Both sites housed structures that date to the first decades of the 17th century and have elements of timber frame construction with masonry features. At PG64 bricks were used to top off the siltstone foundation (an unusual architectural element itself) and construct an h-shaped chimney base (F285). At PG65 bricks were used to construct a hearth (F191) and brick-lined well (F129).

While no definitive brick kiln structures were uncovered, the uneven surfaces and friable matrix of the Flowerdew bricks may suggest local production. The plantation's first owners — George Yeardley and Abraham Piersey, two of the wealthiest men in early Virginia — would have had the means to support a brickmaking operation. The labor itself would have fallen to free white workers, indentured servants, and possibly enslaved workers. DAACS staff recorded additional detail about brick color in the hopes that future research might explore the question of an imported vs. local origin for these materials. [HINT, HINT].

Some of Flowerdew's bricks were definitely imported, however. Among the assemblage from a third site, 44PG92, are examples of so-called "Dutch" bricks — produced in the Netherlands from tidal river mud and imported to Virginia. Their buff or yellow color makes them readily identifiable in the archaeological record. The durability and flat surfaces of these imported bricks also made them practical choices for hearths and paving.

Image 1: Reconstruction drawing of a Chesapeake post-in-ground structure with a timber chimney. Illustration by Cary Carson and Chinh Hoang, “Impermanent Architecture in the Southern American Colonies”, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 16, No. 2/3. (1981).
Image 2: Field photograph of an H-shaped brick and cobble chimney base (F285) from 44PG64. Excavated by the College of William and Mary and Southside Historical Sites, Inc. (1971-1978). https://www.daacs.org/sites/44pg64/
Image 3: Field photograph of hearth feature (F191) from 44PG65 before excavation with crew present (facing south) Excavated by the College of William and Mary and Southside Associates Inc. https://www.daacs.org/sites/44pg65/
Image 4: Fragments of a yellow/buff imported “Dutch” brick from 44PG92 (The Limbrey/Barker Site).
Image 5: Cited sources.

04/16/2026

This Founder's Day, Monticello opened its doors to the community to celebrate Mr. Jefferson's birthday.

DAACS and Monticello Archaeology staff spent the weekend on the Mountaintop talking with visitors about the latest findings in the field and lab and our NSF research project: "Cracking the Colonoware Code."

During the weekend's activities we tried a new technique for explaining our colonoware project's goals to the public. For a general audience, tracing "ceramic learning traditions" can feel abstract. A more relatable idea is that grandma's biscuit recipe may be different from a neighbor's because the ingredients and the knowledge of how to make them can differ. Family recipes aren't just ingredients — they're inherited knowledge. The same is true of colonoware: every vessel encodes the decisions, habits, and traditions of the hands that made it. The way a potter selects clay, decides whether to add crushed shell, builds coils, and finishes the surface reflects a specific learning tradition: who taught them, where, and in what cultural context. We tried capturing this idea in a recipe card to reframe archaeological analysis as something personal and relatable.

From vessel-building techniques to hands-on making and decorating, curious minds got a taste of what archaeology is all about. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, asked great questions, and got their hands a little dirty! 🙌

02/25/2026

🎉 And next up we're pleased to introduce Chiara Torrini as another new Archaeological Analyst who has recently joined the DAACS team.

Chiara joins us after recently finishing her MA from the UMass Boston Historical Archaeology Graduate Program, bringing with her a wealth of experience from UMB's digital archaeology lab, where she worked on integrating legacy collections and improving database functionality. Her research has taken her to 17th and 19th century sites of enslavement in New England and Tennessee, and her interests in archaeological databases, data analysis, and spatial analysis make her a wonderful fit for our project.

Chiara has wasted no time getting started — she's already diving into SQL querying and making herself right at home working with the data. We can't wait to see what she brings to our collections and the questions she'll help us answer. 🗺️

Outside of archaeology, Chiara is a baker, a trivia enthusiast, a runner, and a knitter — and she's currently busy exploring everything Charlottesville has to offer.

Welcome, Chiara — we're so happy you've joined us.

Archaeology at Monticello Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies

02/23/2026

🎉 Please join us in welcoming two new Archaeological Analysts to the DAACS team! First up -- meet Emma Iracondo.

Emma comes to us fresh from the University of Georgia, where she earned her BA in Anthropology and Classics. Over the past three years, she honed her skills as a Laboratory Technician at the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology. She focused on rehousing and cataloging coastal Georgia collections and developed a passion for working with databases and the preserving legacy collections.

Emma is especially looking forward to diving into colonoware research (we love the enthusiasm!), and has already made it clear that she's going to feel right at home with us.

When she's not archiving, you might find Emma in the kitchen baking something delicious or drawing something fun. She's also on a mission to master crocheting in 2026 — currently at scarf level, but we believe in her! 🧶

Welcome Emma -- we're so pleased to have you on-board. Stay tuned to learn more about Chiara Torrini, our other new analyst, later this week.

Archaeology at Monticello Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies

12/15/2025

Thanks to everyone who joined our recent rousing conversation about Flowerdew Hundred with Mike Barber, Chardé Reid, Eric Deetz, and Taft Kiser. If you missed it, you can catch up via the recording now! https://vimeo.com/1145682926

Archaeology at Monticello

December 5, 2025