Featured Fragment Blog

Jelly Juice Jars in Public Schools

Jelly Juice Jars in Public Schools

By Colleen Betti When you think about artifacts associated with schoolhouses, slate pencils, writing slates, ink bottles, and marbles come to mind. But when I excavated at three 1880s–1950s African American schoolhouse sites in Gloucester County, Virginia for my...

Male Vanity: Just for Men in the 19th Century

Male Vanity: Just for Men in the 19th Century

By Lee Priddy and Bill Liebeknecht The start of the 19th century saw the transition from powdered wigs as the fashionable hair accessory to flawlessly groomed, short hairstyles for men. The popularity of neatly trimmed hair and facial hair, the preference for brown...

An Unusual Find from Northern New Jersey

An Unusual Find from Northern New Jersey

 ,,  By Bill Liebeknecht  While conducting a controlled Phase I archaeological surface collection of a precontact site in northern New Jersey for a proposed development, an unusual find was discovered: a dense, polished, cylindrical-shaped piece of chiastolite....

Sometimes Ceramics Are More Helpful Than Coins!

Sometimes Ceramics Are More Helpful Than Coins!

By K. Lee Priddy "When does a specific artifact date from and how do you know?” is one of the most frequent questions that I receive when talking to the public. It allows me to discuss manufacturing dates of ceramics, bottles, and metals and the methods that we use to...

DIY Currency: It Just Makes Cents

DIY Currency: It Just Makes Cents

By: Katie Rezendes With war comes shortages ¾ from food and supplies to even physical money. The American Civil War was no exception to this reality. By the second year of the war in 1862, government-issued currency was quickly disappearing as people began to hoard...

Rocker – Stamped and Dentate – Stamped Pottery

Rocker – Stamped and Dentate – Stamped Pottery

From the Wolfe Neck Shell Midden Sitein Sussex County, Delaware By Bill Liebeknecht In advance of a proposed trail at Cape Henlopen State Park in Sussex County, Delaware, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control hired Dovetail Cultural...

One Foxy Point: A Fox Creek From John Dickinson Plantation

One Foxy Point: A Fox Creek From John Dickinson Plantation

By: Andy Martin This Fox Creek or Selby Bay (if you’re from Virginia) projectile point was recovered from the John Dickinson Plantation in southern Delaware. Why is this extra cool? Fox Creek/Selby Bay projectile points are a relatively common point type that are...

EXPLORE OUR SECTORS 

SEE PROJECT EXAMPLES

CAREERS AT DOVETAIL