Protecting Archaeological Sites

Threatened Sites: A Modest Investment Yields Big Results
Since 1985, the Department of Historic Resources (DHR) has administered a program for threatened archaeological sites in Virginia. Sites considered for funding must be at least of statewide significance and under threat of destruction. These sites are ones for which no other sources of funding are available for their rescue. Anyone may bring these sites to the attention of the department.

Potential eligible sites are evaluated both by department teams and a Threatened Sites Committee composed of members of the archaeological community. Funds are committed for assessment, excavation, laboratory processing and analysis, and reporting.

Volunteers and the public are involved at every possible opportunity.  

If a site cannot be saved, the funds are used to gather the information it contains before it is lost forever.  For copies of reports from these projects, see the DHR Archaeological Report Series.  

For more information on the Threatened Sites Program, contact David Hazzard, Archaeologist, Phone: (757) 886-2820; Fax: (757) 886-2808..



DHR Archaeology Programs        Collections      VA Arch-NET

Pre-Clovis Sites in the Americas.


The Cactus Hill site in southeastern Virginia is one of fewer than a dozen sites in the Western Hemisphere with solid evidence of a pre-Clovis component. This rare site moves the known occupation of Virginia back more than 5,000 years. Prior to this discovery, the earliest occupation in Virginia dated to approximately 9,500 years ago. The excavation of this site has been assisted by funding through the DHR Threatened Sites Program.