Today I took my son and five other Boy Scouts from his troop to an all day volunteer project at a local archaeological site. As part of their Archaeology Merit Badge, they need to volunteer 8 hours of service to excavating at an active site, and sorting, cleaning, and preparing artifacts for display.

We visited Farmington, a once 500 acre hemp plantation. The Speek family owned the farm along with about 50 slaves who worked the fields. Today, the main house and a smokehouse are all thats remaining standing. We spent the day digging in what they believe to be the foundation of one of the slave houses.

It was very interesting. The boys (and myself included) were able to be a part of the project. We uncovered countless pieces of ceramic pottery, dishes, cups, pieces of glass, lots of animal bones and teeth (cow and pig), a very interesting cache of quartz pieces all together, and a very old cast iron key. The day before they had found a couple of arrow heads dating back what they believe to be 3,000+ years. The other articifacts date back to the late 1700's to late 1800's.

Since the boys had spent the last couple of months doing online research of national and internationl sites and much classroom time discussing terminology, process, and field careers, this was the icing on the cake and what they had all been anticipating for months. It was exciting to see their curiosity and  high level of interest in the history and process of interpretation. And I have to say that the archaeologist was very attentive, patient, and eager to help them achieve their merit badge.

Our last requirement left now is to work on designing a display for use in a museum. The archaeologist we've been working with has given us the opportunity to work on some display drawers at the Farnsley Moremen Landing on the Ohio River. We visited that site last month when they were celebrating "100 years of Ohio River History". So, we're really looking forward to being a part of the project there.