The 2026 UTK Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology will be held at 44NB11 (known as Coan Hall) near Heathsville in Northumberland County, Virginia. The site is located on a tributary to the Potomac River on Virginia’s Northern Neck. The project explores the landscape of colonial encounters by documenting and interpreting cultural and environmental changes over the 17^th century within the context of broader regional changes and the wider Atlantic world.

Site Project and History

Algonquian-speaking members of the Sekakawon polity occupied the area in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. John Mottrom, an early English settler on the Potomac’s south bank, acquired the land from their leader, Machywap, and established a plantation at Coan Hall about 1643. The property quickly became the center of the Chicacoan community who took their name from the principal Indian village. Mottrom was elected to the House of Burgesses, and his property became the governmental and religious seat for the first English county on the Northern Neck.

Mottrom was one of the earliest planters in the Potomac Valley to enslave Africans. Elizabeth Key, who his heirs attempted to enslave, contested her status in court and won her freedom following his death in 1655. Other Africans also lived in the household alongside indentured servants and Mottrom family members.

Subsequent to Mottrom’s death, his son and grandson developed the property, expanded the labor force, and became prosperous planters and local leaders.

Excavations from 2011 to 2018 exposed portions of a 21.5 ft. x 54 ft. dwelling, one of the largest houses in Virginia at the time it was built around 1650. The house consisted of at least two rooms on either side of a masonry H-shaped chimney. It was earthfast (built with posts set directly into the ground), repaired with new posts, and underpinned with brick. A large brick-and-stone-lined cellar extended beneath the western room and was accessed via a bulkhead entrance on the building’s west gable end.

Archaeological and geophysical findings hint at a complex landscape that developed across the six acres that surround the house. We have found features associated with an additional building north of the house, perhaps “the Old Quarter” mentioned in documents or the site of the plantation store. We’ve found evidence of fence lines, an Indigenous palisade, and the foundations of the 18^th– century mansion that replaced Mottrom’s house. We have also explored the nearby Indigenous Sekakawon village through a shovel test pit survey, surface collection, and limited excavations.

2026 Goals

In 2026, excavations will continue to uncover, map, and excavate a series of features, including an earthfast building, extensive ditch, and one or more large pits. We also hope to do some initial work at a neighboring property, where another 17^th-century site is located.

Course Objectives

Students will gain hands-on experience in archaeological field methods, including excavating, identifying and mapping cultural and natural features, classifying and describing sediments, identifying and recording changes in stratigraphy, total station and hand mapping, and site photography.

Students will learn about Indigenous and English artifacts, and sampling and processing protocols for the recovery of plant and animal remains.

Course Requirements & Schedule

The course is focused on hands-on learning. Students will meet on site Mondays through Fridays from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, with lab work scheduled for rainy days. We will have additional evening discussions and/or lectures each week. Successful students will actively participate in field and lab work, keep accurate notes, complete assigned readings, participate thoughtfully in weekly discussions, and submit a detailed field notebook.

We will work outside in varying weather conditions. Fieldwork requires strenuous physical activity, including shoveling, screening, lifting heavy buckets, and pushing a wheelbarrow.

Please come prepared to work in the sun doing physical labor.

Participants are free on weekends to explore the Northern Neck region, visit Washington, DC or Richmond, VA, or just relax at the house.

Dates, Credits, Costs and Logistics

Dates: June 2-June 26, 2026 (1^st summer session)

Credits: Students will earn 6 credits. Participants should register for Anth 430 or receive research-intensive credit (which entails additional work in the form of a paper or poster) by enrolling in 430R. Graduate students should register for Anth 530.

Participants must be enrolled as UT students to take this course. Prospective students who are not currently enrolled at UT can participate by following the instructions under “Visiting Students” at the UTK “Transient admission” (graduate students).

Estimated Cost (Tuition and Fees):

Undergraduate – In State/ Out of State: $3024.00/$7920.00 (6 credit hours)

Graduate* – In State/Out of State: $4548.00/$10,722.00 (6 credit hours)

* Summer school tuition and fees are covered for students holding graduate teaching assistantships at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Housing and Transportation

Housing is provided for participants. Students and staff will share a house on Coan Wharf Road in Heathsville, located within a few miles of the archaeological site. Participants should budget for round trip travel from Tennessee to Virginia, food, and other incidental expenses during the summer session. Students without a car should contact Dr. Heath to arrange for carpooling to the site.

To Apply

Please contact Dr. Barbara Heath (bheath2@utk.edu) and provide the following information.

• Personal information: full name, home address, phone number and email address.

• One page statement of your reasons for participating in this class and reviewing any prior archaeological experience (although prior experience is not necessary to participate).

Application deadline is April 10, 2026.