Archaeological Survey
To survey the city of Hopewell for all existing sites, an army of archaeologists would need to criss-cross the landscape for months. Clearly, such an approach would be impractical and prohibitively expensive. Instead, we searched for a handful of high-priority site types listed in our long-term plan, tightly focusing our efforts in promising areas. For example, historical documents generally suggested the lower part of Bailey's Creek as a likely area for mid-seventeenth-century sites. Within this general area, we then dug grids of evenly spaced shovel tests only on ground that would have been suitable for use during that time period—eliminating waterlogged areas, steep slopes, or areas far from fresh water sources. Other sections were bypassed if modern earthmoving activities had disturbed archaeological deposits below the surface. This focused, selective strategy allowed us to quickly assess Hopewell's most important archaeological sites—a major first step in protecting and interpreting the city's heritage. Click on the links above to learn about what we found in each survey area.
