Digging up Virginia history: alumna to share career experiences in archaeology

Samantha Henderson sifts through artifacts found at James Madison’s Montpelier. (Photo by Montpelier Archaeology Department)

Samantha Henderson ’10, a project review archaeologist for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, will discuss her work at some of the state’s most historic sites at Randolph on Tuesday, March 26, at 6 p.m. in Room 537 of the Harold G. Leggett Building. Her lecture, “Practicing Historical Archaeology in Virginia: Montpelier, Fort Monroe, and Beyond,” is free and open to the public.

In addition to her current role, Henderson has worked as an archaeology and environmental coordinator for the Fort Monroe Authority and as an archaeologist for The Montpelier Foundation. Henderson will discuss her work, and will highlight ongoing research and how archaeology can be used to study and bring to light the history of enslaved Africans and African Americans at both of these historical sites.

Henderson majored in classics at Randolph and went on to earn a master’s degree in historical archaeology from the University of Massachusetts Boston.