Jefferson had long held a passion for archaeology. From the time that he was young, he was fascinated with native Americans. When he was eight years old, Jefferson watched a group of native Americans pass by his home. Jefferson noted that they looked exceptionally sad, and discovered that they were going to visit a burial mound located on on their way to the east. This made a strong impression on him and he was determined to find out more about them.
Exploring the Indian Burial Mound
Much later, as an adult, Jefferson organized an archaeological expedition to explore that same mound which was located on his property. Rather than the commonly accepted excavation method of starting from the top and digging down, Jefferson chose to remove a wedge from the mound, taking care to remove artifacts intact. Inside the barrow he found more than a thousand skeletons in various layers of stone, soil, and bones. He decided that it must have been a communal burial mound for generations of Piedmont Indians.
Later in his treatise Notes on the State of Virginia, published in 1787, Jefferson described his early experience with the Indians, the mound, and its contents in detail, giving the dimensions of the mound, explaining how the skeletons were found, and speculating on the traditions behind its creation and use as a burial site. He also linked that mound to other mounds in the area.
In pursuing this dig, Jefferson was the first to use the method of stratification, the study of the way layers of earth and artifacts relate to one another. According to William Kelso, director of archaeology for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Jefferson’s methodology for this excavation set the standard for archaeological inquiry for a hundred years.
Jefferson and Megalonyx
In 1797, Jefferson received a gift of a set of bones from the western part of Virginia. These toe bones were uncovered during mining operations, and would probably have been thrown away. Fortunately some visitors saw the bones being removed and had them sent to Jefferson.
Jefferson believed at first that the bones were from some sort of lion, tiger or panther and that the creature might still live in the far western part of America. He presented a paper on this creature which he named Megalonyx. Although the animal was later determined to be a giant sloth, it is still called Megalonyx jeffersonii in honor of Jefferson’s discovery.
Meriweather Lewis and the Big Bone Lick Excavation
Much later, during Jefferson’s presidency, he dispatched Meriweather Lewis to the Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. Big Bone Lick is a natural salt marsh, dating back about 15,000 years. The area had long been noted for the number and size of the prehistoric animal bones found there. Jefferson charged Lewis with writing him a detailed account of the site and with obtaining specimens from the owner to be sent back to Washington.
The Lick was frequented by a wide variety of animals that needed salt for their diet, such as mastodons, woolly mammoths, and sloths. As these animals died or sank to their deaths in the bog, their bones were preserved for future generations of curious humans.
Discovering New Animals
These creatures were much larger than any animals previously known in America; Robert McAfee, an early pioneer settler, found ten foot rib bones which he used as tent poles. While modern naturalists know that the bones found there are the remains of animals from the Pleistocene era, little was known about the animals at the time
Jefferson’s insistence on careful observation of the site, the bones, and the surroundings paid rich dividends to paleontology. Lewis coordinated the excavation and was eventually able to get a shipment of 300 bones and seven teeth through to Jefferson, along with an eleven-page letter filled with details about the items he was sending. Naturalists were astonished to discover a difference between the mastodon and the mammoth; until that time, it was thought that these were the same animal.
Jefferson's Gift to Archaeology
Thanks to Jefferson and a number of his contemporaries, American archaeology gained popularity and respectability. Jefferson himself took great pains to preserve his collection of artifacts. Keeping a few for himself and sending some to France to prove the size of American mammals, he then sent the majority of his collection to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where today it forms the cornerstone of their research materials.
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