Archeology at Petersburg National Battlefield

Archeologists, paleontologists, and historians all study different parts of the past; they sometimes use similar information for their research. 

 

Park employees from the Resource Management Division worked with volunteers to survey materials in the areas around tree falls on the Eastern Front.

We can learn more about people who lived as recently as 50 years ago, or as distantly as 2,000 years ago or more through archeology. What they ate, where they lived, what clothes they wore, what they made, and what technology they used.
Archeology at Petersburg National Battlefield ranges from searching for Civil War mines/tunnels to learning how people lived in this area during and before the Civil War.

Metal detecting, digging, and possessing a metal detector within Petersburg National Battlefield is illegal. For more information about efforts to protect archeological resources within the national parks, visit the NPS Archeological Resources Protection Act site.

 

I found an artifact. What do I do?

Leave the artifact where you found it! 

Please do not pick it up, move it, throw it, put it in your pocket or bag, or bury it. Instead, document the location in as much detail as you can and tell a Park Ranger.
If you cannot find a ranger, email the Park's Archeologists.

 

Park Employees use augers to search for mining tunnels in front of Colquitt Salient.

 

An Archeology project at City Point, excavating a 17th Century borrow pit.

 

Dig a Little Deeper

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  Artifacts of Petersburg

  Check out what artifacts archeologists have found at Petersburg National Battlefield.

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  Whitehill Enslaved Laborer Project

  Archeologists are hoping to find out more about the lives of the African-Americans who lived and worked at Whitehill Plantation.

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  Descendant Community Involvement

  The Park is hopeful to learn more by engaging with descendant communities, and others, who might have family knowledge of this history.