Archaeology Collections

This Spode plate was used by a resident of Fort Vancouver, and was later found by archaeologists.

NPS Photo

The archaeological collection at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site consists of approximately 2 million objects. Though most of these artifacts were excavated from areas associated with the historic Hudson's Bay Company fort and village, a wide variety of time periods are represented in the archaeological record here. In a collection of artifacts from one excavation, we might find lithic tools used by Indigenous peoples, fragments of ceramic dishes used by Hudson's Bay Company employees, 19th century US Army insignia, and 20th century bakelite.

The collection was begun by National Park Service archaeologist Louis Caywood, who began excavating at what would become Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in 1947. Archaeological excavations at the national park have carried on ever since. Today, archaeology at the park usually takes the form of monitoring while infrastructure improvements are made. In the summers, large-scale excavations take place as part of our Public Archaeology Field School program. The artifacts that are recovered from these excavations become part of the national park's museum collection.

Collections from several other related sites are also curated here, including collections from Fort Colvile in Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Fort Nez Perce in Whitman Mission National Historic Site, and San Juan Island National Historical Park, as well as collections from the Cathlapotle and Meier village sites.

Learn more about archaeological collections at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in the articles listed below.