VCU's 12th Field School Season at the Curles Plantation Site
Students enrolled in VCUs summer field school in archaeology set out
last summer to complete the excavation of the oldest brick house yet
discovered in Virginia. The Thomas and Joane Harris House site is the
earliest of a series of manor houses constructed at Curles Plantation
in Henrico County. This house is unusually elaborate and quite large
for its period. It was built about 1635, a time period when most
Virginians built small, temporary, wooden houses on their tobacco
plantations. Even chimneys and foundations were normally built of
wood.
Last years work revealed a double surprise. Not only was the Harris
House constructed with walls, chimneys, bread oven and cellar floor
made of brick, but the house was actually twice as large as
archaeologists believed it to be. An entire new wing was discovered
towards the end of this seasons digging. Whats more, discovery of
this wing helped to solve a lingering mystery. Students had excavated
the home of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. --leader of Bacons Rebellion of
1676-- at Curles back in 1988 and 1989. Historical documents
indicated that there was another building attached to Bacons
house--one called the old hall. This suggested that the Harris House
might have remained standing during Bacons tenure at Curles in the
1670s, but archaeological evidence did not support this. Instead, the
old brick house clearly appeared to have burned down long before
Bacon arrived in Virginia.
Discovery of the new wing not only has expanded the interpretation of
the Harris House, it also has doubled the size of Bacons, because the
new wing appears to have remained standing during Bacons time. Whats
more, it was connected to Bacons House by a tunnel beneath the ground
and, probably, by a covered walkway above the ground. Among the
hundreds of interesting artifacts recovered last summer were numerous
iron tools, pieces of armor, canon balls, elaborately decorated
hand-made tobacco pipes with Joane Harriss initials on them, and a
unique Elizabethan coin--a sixpence dated 1575!
This summer--our 12th season at Curles--students will complete the
excavation of the newly discovered wing of the house, and continue
excavations in Nathaniel Bacon's fortifications and tunnel.
Interested students should enroll in ANT375 for 6 credits (in-state
tuition is $130/credit, out-of-state is $190/credit). The class runs
July 8-August 16, Monday-Thursday, 8:30-4:30.
For further information, contact:
L. Daniel Mouer, Ph.D., Project Director
or
Beverly J. Binns, Assistant Project Director
Virginia Commonwealth University Archaeological Research Center
Richmond, Virginia 23284-3029
(804) 828-7596 (voice); (804) 828-4882 (FAX)
Internet: [log in to unmask]
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