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Custis Square Archeological Dig On Its Final Year of Excavation
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Custis Square archeological dig site is located on the corner of South Nassau Street and Francis Street.Working alongside John Custis’ previously discovered house, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Department of Archeology is onto its fourth year of investigating Custis’ gardens. Under three tents, participants in the Public Archeology Institute help field techs sift through shovel test pits for changes in soil and artifacts. 50cm x 50cm shovel test pits are samples in which field techs figure out where they want to dig next and learn more about the soil. Two high schoolers work side by side in a sifting screen with samples pulled from a shovel test pit. Meghan, the project archeologist, is in charge of the site on a day-to-day basis.According to Jennifer Mcgee, “The changes of color in these piles of soil represent different periods in time and different types of soil, which help archaeologists date when artifacts may have been made.”Participants in the Public Archeology Institute get a taste of an archeological field tech’s life as they work on their hands and knees sifting through shovel test pits.