Dig Diary: Meeting a Rock Star Antiquarian!

by Dr. Julie Schablitsky, Time Team Archaeologist

Being a Time Team archaeologist gave me the opportunity to travel to some of the most interesting historical sites in our country and to meet the rock stars of our discipline. When I had a chance to sit down with Noel Hume, one of the most famous colonial scholars of our time, I could not help but ask for his autograph. Noel headed Colonial Williamsburg's archaeology program for 30 years and also worked at Jamestown. In doing so, he elevated the value of historical archaeology and caused generations after him to refer to themselves as historical archaeologists rather than just archaeologists. He also wrote several classic archaeology books including Martin's Hundred, one of the first texts that students read in their historical archaeology class. Many archaeologists have pulled out their well-worn copies of Martin’s Hundred to be signed; however, all I had on me was my trusty trowel, so out it came with a Sharpie marker. As he signed the wooden handle, Noel reminded me that he did not consider himself an archaeologist, but rather an antiquarian.

An antiquarian, in the most simplistic of terms, is one who studies relics of the past, whether those items are artifacts, buildings, or archives. Perhaps this is the perfect description of what a historical archaeologist does, which is to use journals, maps and other historical documents to help direct our search for the places where people lived and the way certain individuals or groups would have used their physical environment. Studying people with historical records gives us a jump on knowing whom we are studying but we need to be careful and keep an unbiased opinion. The reason we embark upon archaeological excavations is to confirm, contradict, or contribute to what has been written. This is why scholars like Noel Hume use both historical records as well as the data from archaeological digs to interpret the past. Our goal is to get as close as possible to the truth about our human past and we can’t do that by only studying old books.

By the way, I still have not used my autographed trowel; it sits on a bookshelf in my office next to an unsigned Martin's Hundred book and a photograph of me and Noel.