Having taught art history for nearly 50 years, I am aware that much of what we know about the ancient past and in some respects, even the more recent past, is due to the uncovering of information through archaeology.

Indeed, through the many archaeological excavations that have taken place in Bermuda, artefacts of significant historical and even intrinsic value have occasionally been found. These help with our understanding of who we are, as Bermudians.

Over the years, I have from time to time been invited to take part in archaeological digs, but for all kinds of reasons, I have never found the time to do so or even been around when a dig was taking place, thus, when I learned that an archaeological excavation was going on in St. George's this summer, I was more than interested. Since my art studio is no more than a block away, I quickly got myself over to the site to see what was happening.

This summer's archaeological field school is taking place on the lawn at Whitehall, just across Church Lane from St. Peter's. The dig is being conducted by students, primarily from the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia. The leader of the dig is Dr. Marley Brown, director of Archaeological research at Colonial Williamburg and Research Professor of Anthropology at the College of William & Mary.

Considering all the possible locations for an archaeological excavation, even in St. George's, I wondered just how it was they decided upon this particular location.

Conceivably, some sites may be even more desirable, but to a great extent, I suppose, decisions are made after considering what is available and suitable for excavation.

But even before making the decision to excavate a particular site, a preliminary investigation of appropriate documents, such as wills, is undertaken, in order to develop an historical overview of the site. From that research, archaeologists may be able to document the existence of earlier buildings, even though they may not be able to determine their exact location within the site. At least they may be able to obtain enough information, to ascertain the site's potential.

An archaeological excavation is a systematic uncovering of a site by digging down into the earth or in the case of marine archaeology, into the sea-floor. Initially the site is laid out in a grid and then certain areas are selected for a preliminary dig. These are called units, each being numbered by its location within the grid. The grid, by extension, ends up as a site map, which eventually indicates the location where particular artefacts or structures have been found.

When I first arrived at the site, I discovered that several excavation units were already in process of being dug, some being deeper than others and even within a particular unit, there were differing depth levels. Additionally, there were varying layers within each unit, each being subtly apparent through changes in soil colouration and texture. In the site map, each layer is identified by means of a letter, such as A, B, C etc. As for measurements: I understand that the Whitehall dig, is in metres.

Since this is a students' archaeological excavation, when I arrived, I found students busily working at several different activities, from carefully excavating the various units, to carrying off and sifting soil and rubble from the excavation site. Sifting is important, for, by this means, significant bones, shells, shards and other small objects are discovered.

The shards are especially important, for this gives some clue as to what the occupants may have possessed, but also it may give some idea as to the age of the houses being uncovered.

Over the weeks that the dig has been going on, I stopped by frequently to see its progress and hear and sometimes see something of what had been discovered. I was fortunate to have Dr. Brown as a guide on these visits, for without his trained eye, I might have seen the dig as just so many holes in the ground. Most of what was discovered would not be all that exciting to the untrained eye and most of the artefacts are of little intrinsic value, nevertheless, they are highly important contextually, for their placement within the grid, provides a wealth of information about the past. Of course, it is possible that a hoard of Spanish doubloons or even early hog money might be uncovered, but no such luck this summer.

Most of the artefacts found in the St. George's dig, are shards, parts of clay tobacco pipes, shells, such as oysters, mussels, clams and West Indian Welks, fish and other kinds of bones, corroded and rusted nails and spikes, etc.

On June 28, I was back at the archaeological site and thus learned that this summer's dig is winding down, but I also was told that, since there is more to the site, there are plans to continue the dig next summer. Additionally I learned that two different dwellings have been discovered, one from the late 17th century, the other from the second half of the 18th century and possibly into the 19th century.

As for the earlier building, interestingly, it was made of stone. That is important, for it is commonly thought that Bermudians began to build stone houses, beginning in the 18th century, after the hurricane of 1712, when so many wood buildings were badly damaged or destroyed.

Most earlier houses were made of wood in the half-timber style with wattle and daub fill between the beams. Anyhow, it seems that this building was made shortly after the dissolution of the Bermuda Company.

Another important discovery about the dwellings, is that they had leaded casement windows.

They actually uncovered several lead samples. Some may be aware of an 1731 drawing of St. George's that is now in the Bermuda archives.

Many of those buildings clearly had leaded casement windows as well.

Since the site is near the St. Peter's graveyard, it was thought that human remains might possibly be found within this archaeological site, however, that did not happen.

Most, by now, will be aware of the discovery of two, 18th century cow skeletons, however, for that has been well covered by the local press. When first uncovered, it was thought to be the remains of a horse. I happened to visit the site shortly after the discovery and, indeed, it did look like horse bones, but with the finding of cloven hoofs, it is now clear that they were cows.

After the dig, a post-excavation analysis takes place and this can be a lengthy process, depending on the extent and kinds of artefacts found within the dig. From this information, a report will then be written, however, because this summer's dig is incomplete, only a preliminary report will be made.

The final report will come after the entire excavation has been made, probably after next summer excavation.