Digging Veritas
The Archaeology & History of the Indian College and Student Life at Colonial Harvard
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HYAP 2007
Sept. 26–Nov. 21
Units H700–738 Harvard Yard, west & south of Mathews Hall
Depth: 0.0 to 1.66 meters below ground surface
Artifacts: pipe stems; ceramics; bricks; bottle glass; animal bones; print type...
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We reflect here on the Harvard Yard Archaeology Project (HYAP)—a groundbreaking experiment in which Harvard students of today search for meaning in the material remains of Harvard students of the past. This ongoing archaeological project occurs in a larger collaborative context, as different groups come together to explore Harvard’s history. In 2007, Harvard students, professors, and staff, leaders of local Native American communities, preservation professionals, tourists, and other passersby visited our excavation site in Old Harvard Yard, sharing in the excitement of discovery and interpretation.
HYAP's most recent work has centered on the Indian College. Harvard built the College under its 1650 charter, which committed the new institution “to the education of English and Indian Youth of this Country.” While student excavators did not find the Indian College foundations, we did unearth many other expected and surprising remnants of colonial student life.
An interpretive dialogue developed between archival documents, historic maps, curated objects, personal interviews, and the artifacts we found. Together, these sources expose colonial Harvard as a landscape shaped by social and religious tensions that affected everything from Native American and English settler relationships to the everyday routines of student life. Three themes rose to the forefront of our study: literacy and the Indian College; rule (breaking) and religion; and negotiations of social status. Who knew small fragments buried below ground could reveal so much?
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