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 Historical documents indicated that there was another building attached to Bacons house--one called the old hall.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]