Topic: History
Lesson Plan: Chesapeake Living (Elementary, Middle, and High School)
This Lesson Plan demonstrates how archaeologists work with historians using documentary evidence to compare with artifacts (“material culture”) they have excavated. Surviving records often contain valuable descriptions of clothing, baptismal records, land records, bills of sale, and in this case advertisements for run-a-way slaves and indentured servants, that help to build a fuller picture of a long-vanished culture and its people.
Historical Research
Archaeologists study tangible objects (material culture). The historian’s task is to study the paper trail of history through documents from many sources: church archives, cemetery records, birth and death certificates, contemporary newspaper accounts, land records, and inventories of household goods.
Research Resources
Visit our Research Resources page that offers a selected list of Documents and Other Media as a starting point for further investigation.