I would like to announce Virginia Commonwealth University's 26th
annual field school in archaeology.  This summer will be the 11th
season at the spectacular site of Curles Plantation, on the james
River in henrico County, Va.  Curles was founded in 1613 as "Digge's
Hundred."  The historic occupation lasted until ca. 1862, when any
remaining buildings were dismantled by occupying Federal troops.
 
The Curles project has included excavations of numerous 17th, 18th,
and 19th century houses, kitchens, quarters, gardens, and the
associated port town of Bermuda Hundred. We have uncovered remains of
an impressive late 17th-c. frontier fort constructed by Nathaniel
Bacon in 1676, and we are presently excavating the early 17th-c.
brick house of Captain Thomas Harris, commandant of an earlier
frontier fort.  Curles is a complexly stratified site which preserves
an excellent record of the history and evolution of a plantation
community, including ther quarters and yards of enslaved Africans,
African Americans and Native Americans.
 
The field school is provided as a 6-credit, upper-level course in
anthropology. Tuition is approximately $750. In-state tuition rates
apply to out-of-state students, and there will be no additional
student activity fees, etc.  The field school runs between May
22-June 19th, 8:30-4:30, Monday-Friday.  I am the instructor.
 
I can promise you all the glories of Virginia in the summer: hot,
humid conditions; mosquitoes, biting flies, and snakes; long hard
days in the boondocks, nearly 10 miles from the closest 7-11.  It
will be fun.  If you're interested, drop me an e-mail message, and
I'll send out particulars.
 
Dan Mouer
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