Topic: Artifacts
A Fragile Window into a Lost World
Objects “talk” to us in special ways. Archaeologists use special methods to understand the language of these objects (artifacts) to learn, from the people who once used them, about their lives, their work, and their beliefs.
"In Small Things Forgotten"
Over many years, different teams of archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts from tiny sherds to entire objects. The artifacts shown here represent a minuscule sample of the entire collection that nevertheless, gives us a tiny window onto the plantation and its people. Learning how to “decode” these artifacts is one way archaeologists approach history.
An Artifact That Changed Everything
The discovery of an unusual crystal revealed an African American story hiding in plain sight in the collection. Our entire worldview of Carroll’s Hundred was refocused in that instant.