Preserving the Past for the Future:    
An Introduction to Archaeological Site Stewardship

What Are Archaeological Sites? Archaeological sites are the physical remains of past human activity. Wherever people have lived and worked, the land and water may contain evidence of their lives. The prehistoric ancestors of Virginia’s Indians lived here 16,000 years before the arrival of the first European colonists. They left behind the remains of camps, villages, quarries, and hunting and fishing sites, all scattered across Virginia beneath the visible landscape. Traces of structures built since colonization such as the foundations of 18th-century gristmills, the cellar holes and stone walls of deserted farmsteads, and abandoned cemeteries all contain valuable information about the lives of the people who lived before we did.

These clues, tangible links to our past, are often invisible from the surface. Traces of earlier occupation may lie under parking lots, buildings, or plowed fields and are only discovered through archaeological survey. Archaeological sites scattered across Virginia represent a tangible link to our past. Because most sites in Virginia are privately owned they will be preserved through the generosity of private landowners, or not at all.

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Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Bedford County



Croaker's Landing, James City County



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