History Unearthed in Grand Junction

GRAND JUNCTION, Tenn. - Archeologists say there are dozens if not hundreds of buried homesteads in Fayette and Shelby County, most of the time they're plowed over and destroyed. Now they've come across a site they say is unique.

For about 20 Rhodes College archeology students, the outdoors is their classroom.

Molly Bombardi-Mount is an anthropology major at Rhodes. She says, "centimeter by centimeter we're filing buckets sifting in groups of 2, half hour shifts."

For 3 weeks every summer, students scoop, sift and scrape dirt at the Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, Tennessee.

Guy Weaver, the Sr. Archeologist with Weaver & Associates that's supervising the group, says, "It's like a living laboratory with archeological sites dating from Antebellum period and prehistoric sites."

Ames is a production farm and research facility. 20 years ago, they started mapping out the 19,000 acres they sit on in Fayette and Hardeman counties, learning about the land and those who lived there.

They know there are about 200 19th century homesteads buried there.

Jamie Evans, a research associate with Ames, says, "The archeology is allowing us to take the information we learned through study and records and see it revealed in a physical form."

Last year, on the last day of digging, students hit on something big...a brick.
Bombardi-Mount was part of the class. She says, "it's always a surprise, yet a let down that we'd discover it on the last day."

This year the class is expanding on their find. They've unearthed nearly 90 square feet of dirt. Weaver says, "we have found a structure, it's either a slave house or a manor house or overseer, it's still uncertain".

The group thinks they've been working on unearthing just one room. There could be another room and a hallway attached. Still, they think they're just scratching the surface.

Weaver says, "These plantations are built in complexes, different structures and activity areas."

Milton Moreland, the chairman of the Archeology program at Rhodes, says, "one of the most interesting thing is the site is both a 2000 year old middle woodland village site, so we're finding stone tools and pottery. On top is a historic structure, a building built in the 1830's."

For both archeologists and students, the painstaking work is rewarding.
Moreland says, "On one hand we're doing historical research and trying to understand the settlement pattern of West Tennessee in the 1820's, 30's and 40's. We're also we're teaching students for Rhodes how to excavate and how to be responsible with cultural heritage."

Bombardi-Mount says, "I think the past is really important when learning about our peoples past and their cultures."

Because of the research done by Ames, the group knows the land belonged to the Holcomb family, they even have Mrs. Holcomb's diary to compare notes with.
The group will stop digging Friday and will start again next year.

Archeologists say they could be at the site for 4 to 5 more years and still not uncover everything.