Abandoned history spans thousands of years, and it’s not just hidden in the crumbling structures of railroad towns and neglected asylums. Archaeologists’ careers are built on the forgotten elements of daily human life. Some of the most important discoveries about our history come from those who make it their life’s work to find it.

One of the most important sites from Virginia’s prehistory is that of Cactus Hill, among the nation’s oldest archaeological sites. This discovery, made in the mid 1990s, takes us back several thousand years – far longer than other nearby sites often measured in a few centuries or less. Prior to its discovery, scholars believed the earliest humans arrived in the Americas only 13,000 years ago via the Bering land bridge, which emerged from the low sea levels during the final stage of the last ice age. However, Cactus Hill suggests habitation began between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago.

As the name suggests, the site of Cactus Hill is on a large, silty hill. Despite less-than-ideal conservation conditions, the site turned up eleven pieces of evidence that support the revised dating of the earliest human presence. These included stone tools, cultural artifacts and stone hearths. Non-artifactual evidence, such as radiocarbon dating and soil chemistry, also pointed to a new timeline. This discovery entirely altered what we know about the beginning of human history in Virginia.

Radical discoveries at notable archaeological sites not only buck conventional wisdom, but they’re also sometimes hauntingly morbid. Such is the case with bones uncovered at one of Virginia’s best-known historical landscapes.

How desperate must one be to turn to cannibalism? The winter of 1609-1610 was notoriously difficult on the colonists of Jamestown; nearly a third of them died of a variety of causes, leaving only 60 survivors. There were multiple accounts of cannibalism in the colonies, but no physical evidence … until a discovery in 2012 provided ghastly testimony.

Archaeologists unearthed the skull and shinbone of a 14-year-old female colonist in a 17^th century trash deposit. Her remains showed clear chop and cut marks on her skull that were inflicted post-mortem. Additional marks left on her skeleton clearly indicate attempts to access meaty areas of the body – I’ll spare you the rest those details.

A facial reconstruction, pictured left from Encyclopedia VA, has been created despite only part of the skull being recovered. Since only about 10% of her skeleton has been recovered,  there is not much else known about the girl who has been fondly dubbed “Jane.”

Indeed, human misery is not an exception; it’s a regrettable but constant theme throughout history, and archaeologists’ work often shines a light on those dark corners of the past. Even within reach of modern snapshots of the past, such as written records and photographs, archaeology provides vital physical evidence of the past’s most compelling episodes.

Lumpkin’s Jail in Richmond, Virginia, provides such a case study. The prison operated from the 1830s until the end of the American Civil War in 1865. Lewis A. Collier originally turned the property into a jail, which held enslaved people prior to their sale. Later, Robert Lumpkin purchased the property to support his slave-trading business. He charged slave dealers and owners a daily fee. Richmond was like a bridge between the Upper and the Deep South.

After Lumpkin’s death in 1866, his wife Mary – a formerly enslaved woman – leased the property in order to create a religious school for emancipated African Americans.

Prior to the discovery of the original structure of the compound, a large part of the evidence of Lumpkin Jail’s existence came from the accounts of former slaves. One of these men was Anthony Burns, who died in 1862 due to the malnourishment, torture and lack of ventilation – all of which he suffered at Lumpkin’s Jail. The jail was demolished in 1876 and more-or-less forgotten.

In 2008, after years of exploration, archeologists found evidence of the original jail complex. Much of the site had remained underground and was prone to flooding, and parts of it were covered by Interstate 95. Artifacts such as personal items, household artifacts and leather shoes provided a little insight to the life this abandoned structure lived and the poor souls who once saw the insides of its walls.

Lumpkin’s Jail was reburied and 2009 and has been commemorated as a site on the Richmond Slave Trail. The last institution to occupy the site of Lumpkin’s Jail, albeit briefly, was Virginia Union University. Today, in a different location, Virginia Union University continues to prosper as one of the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Archaeology is an important element of history, as it helps supplement written records. Human thoughts are often unreliable, whereas their skeletons and possessions contain evidence that is more difficult to skew. The people, places and things around the world provide incredible insight – and sometimes revisions – to the past, like the uncovering of Cactus Hill.

Archaeological discovery also serves to remind us that wrongdoings are not an exception, and warns us not to repeat them. It is just as important to be informed about the disturbing pieces of history when visiting abandoned sites to provide context during explorations of the past – whether you’re an urbexer, a historical blogger, or an archaeologist.