Historic Preservation Students Dig Into Native American Past

It could have been just any old rock. There were thousands of them under John Lightner’s feet at the edge of Aquia Creek. But this one was different. For Lightner, chief emeritus of Stafford County’s Patawomeck Indian tribe, it was a piece of the past. And, on a cold day last month, he smiled as he held it in the palm of his hand.

“It’s hard to explain a feeling like that,” Lightner said of the stone knapped sharp by his long-ago relatives, a projectile point that might have been used to bring a 17th-century dinner home to the family. “You’re picking up something your ancestors used. It’s like being there where all of our villagers were. You almost feel people around you.”

UMW sophomore Abigail Phelps discusses the day’s findings with Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Lauren McMillan, while Christina Castaneda looks on, at Aquia Creek. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Lillian Salamone (left) and Daphne Ahalt work together to record their findings on a cold morning at Aquia Creek. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Several UMW historic preservation students volunteered their own time during spring break to help the Patawomeck tribe locate a lost village. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Historic preservation students conduct research in the field. Mary Wash Giving Day gifts help fund hands-on research and academic experiences, and contribute to areas across campus. #MaryWashDay #TogetherUMW

UMW sophomore Ethan Knick (center) talks to Patawomeck Indian chief John Lightner, while Brad Hatcher looks on, during a spring break archaeological dig at Aquia Creek in Stafford County. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Olivia Larson (left) digs in the dirt, while Matthew Pang and Delaney Resweber (far right) use a shaker screen to search for artifacts that could give clues to the location of a lost Patawomeck village. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

The artifact was one of hundreds discovered during a spring break excavation to trace the tribe’s roots. When Patawomeck members sought clues to their past, UMW students jumped in to help, sifting through soil in search of items that could lead to the location of a lost tribal village.

“I think the community aspect of it really excites them,” said Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Lauren McMillan ’08. “They see that what they’re doing makes a difference.”

Allied at times with the Powhatan confederacy, at times with the English, the Patawomeck – one of Virginia’s 11 officially recognized Native American tribes – made their homes on the banks of the Potomac River. The group claims ties to Pocahontas, who, according to the tribe’s oral traditions,  married a Patawomeck warrior killed after her capture. Her subsequent and historic wedding to Englishman John Rolfe melded two worlds together.

This combining of cultures fuels McMillan’s course “Worlds Collide, Virginia 1619,” which traces the state’s evolution from the moment three diverse populations – Native Americans, English colonists and enslaved Africans – found themselves side by side four centuries ago.

Historic preservation students use shaker screens to look for artifacts that hold clues to the past. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

The color of soil can tell researchers a lot about a site’s history. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Each artifact uncovered during the spring break dig needed to be washed and labeled. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Clipboards and Ziploc bags are among the items historic preservation students bring to onsite digs. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Students research projectile points like this one, found at the Aquia Creek dig, to determine when they originated and draw conclusions about the past. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

“It’s the beginning of defining who we are today. The creation of a new nation happened at that time,” said McMillan, who’s researching sites on a map John Smith made on his visit to Indian villages along the Chesapeake Bay from 1607 to 1609. “Virginia has just recently started to acknowledge that native people are still here. We’re at an exciting time to explore this history.”

Last month’s three-day Aquia Creek dig was part of the fieldwork that feeds into the course. With years’ worth of artifacts gathered when rains drove them up from the soil – and more from work by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources – the Patawomeck puzzle remained incomplete.

McMillan and her students brought shovels and shaker screens, buckets and trowels – and lessons learned in the classroom – to help locate the missing pieces. They found shotgun shells, pipe stems, buttons and glass. They found more telling items like projectile points and native-made pottery. And they found passion.

“It’s something you can’t describe in words. You have to experience it,” said sophomore historic preservation major Ethan Knick. “It’s a connection to humanity.”

Senior historic preservation major Olivia Larson, also earning her GIS certificate at Mary Washington, is mapping the location of the artifacts UMW students collected at Aquia Creek. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

John Lightner, chief emeritus of the Stafford County-based Patawomeck Indian tribe, examines projectile points found at Aquia Creek with UMW sophomore Abigail Phelps. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Historic preservation students Rebecca Bruner (left) and Ethan Knick wash artifacts found during an archaeological dig to locate a lost Native American village. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

UMW student Tessa Honeycutt works with artifacts from Aquia Creek in UMW’s Combs Hall historic preservation lab. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Historic preservation majors Delaney Resweber (left) and Shannon Bremer record information about artifacts uncovered by UMW students and Patawomeck tribe members during a spirng break excavation. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

The color of the soil; the size, shape and texture of the projectile points the students unearthed; even the bits of stone flaked off to make them – all help weave the Patawomeck story. The work that follows in the Combs Hall historic preservation lab, where students wash, sort, research, catalog, label and map their finds, will help write the next chapter.

“I always enjoy working with tribal members during excavations and seeing the impact of our work,” said senior historic preservation major Olivia Larson, who’s spent back-to-back summers as McMillan’s field assistant. Using skills she’s gained from her work on a GIS certificate at UMW, she’s mapping the locations of uncovered artifacts.

Abigail Phelps, a sophomore who left home in Wisconsin to study historic preservation at Mary Washington, has carried the Aquia Creek research over to her “Honors Service Learning” course, creating display cases and other visuals to help relay the Patawomeck story. “The project has grown more than I imagined,” Phelps said, “but what better way to learn than hands-on.”

McMillan plans to keep taking students to Aquia Creek every spring, keep sifting through thousands of rocks for those that can help the Patawomeck tribe discover – and share – more of its history with the Fredericksburg area and beyond.

“By its very nature,” McMillan said, “historic preservation – whether it’s museums or planning or architectural conservation or archaeology – is engaged in the community.”