Registration for this event is now closed, but there are still spots available on Sat., Dec. 1!

Come on down to the dig site at 2025 Marion Street and join us!

Shifts start at 9 am and 12 pm on Sat., Dec. 1

Since space is limited for hands-on activites, registration is requested for morning and afternoon hands-on activity shifts. This includes screening for and washing artifacts, surveying and creating maps. The public is welcome to come by the site to observe or attend the lunch lectures WITHOUT registering.  

As part of the City of Columbia and Historic Columbia Foundation's African American Heritage Project, the Modjeska Simkins Archaeology Project is holding Public Archaeology Days Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1! 

This hands-on, FREE, family-friendly event is designed to introduce people to archaeology and the history of this important site commemorating the achievements of Modjeska Monteith Simkins, South Carolina's matriarch of Civil Rights activists.

Participants will have the opportunity to work with archaeologists while getting their hands dirty screening for artifacts from an active excavation, washing recovered artifacts, learning how to survey a site with a transit and create archaeological maps.

For younger visitors, the South Carolina Archaeology Outreach Division (SCAPOD) will be at the site on Saturday. Children will learn how to refit broken pottery, what stratigraphy is by making sand art they can take home, and more. 

Also on Saturday, Kieth Brown, known as Little Bear, noted potter and member of the Catawba Nation, will demonstrate pottery manufacture, firing and use, as well as talk about the history and culture of his tribe. Little Bear will have many pieces of pottery for sale. 

Participants will also have the opportunity to take free, guided tours of the Mann-Simons and Modjeska Simkins Sites! 

We are pleased to announce two lunch-time lecturers. 

On Friday, November 30, from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, anthropology professor Dr. Kimberly Simmons will talk about representations of African Americans during the past century through print and film. Dr. Simmons is author of the recently published book, Reconstructing Racial Identity and the African Past in the Dominican Republic. 

On Saturday, December 1, from 11:30 am -12:30 pm, Chris Judge – Assistant Director of the Native American Studies Center and Co-Director of the Johannes Kolb Archaeology and Education Project – will talk about recent findings at the Kolb Site, encompassing the past 12,000 years of history in South Carolina. 

Sponsored by Historic Columbia Foundation and the City of Columbia. 

For directions and more information about Public Archaeology Days, please contact Dr. Jakob Crockett at jcrockett@historiccolumbia.org or (803) 238-7452.