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Archaeology has advanced immeasurably since the time of our Civil War. Whereas, in the time of Hienrich Schleaman (he discovered Troy in the early part of the 18th century) archaeology was little more than an opportuntiy for plunder, just beginning to find its direction toward the highly scientific, multi-disciplined study it is today.

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Hand Carved Bullets from Antietam A bullets soft lead made an appealing surface in which to carve and express ones creativity. With the sheer bordem of camp life many a soldier probably tried his hand at this past time.

Chewed Bullets from Antietam Archaeologists have determined that these human-chewed bullets are most likely from men who perhaps believed it would ease their pain to "bite the bullet."

Pictured here is David Bean from the National Park Service. The device he is pulling over the prehistoric mound, or embankment, is a GPR unit (Ground Penitrating Radar). In 1998 while conducting an archaeological investigation at Shiloh and the earthen mounds it was discovered here near this site that a lone Confederate soldier was left behind when his fallen comrades were moved to a more suitable final resting place.

At the notorious Andersonville Civil War Prison in Georgia, archaeologists have made some fascinating discoveries on the method of its construction. The original prison, or stockade, was built by the Confederates who "impressed" upon slaves living in the area to undertake the labor. The interest of the most recent archaeological investigation focused on several areas of the stockade pen; (1) the north gate, through which all pisoners entered, (2) and the northwest corner of the stockade wall. While excavating the stockade wall trench it came to light that the slave labor gangs dug the trenches, which would support the rough-hewn wall timbers, to a depth of 5 feet. Also brought to light during excavations was an iron ax head discovered near the north gate (above). Additionally, some small bones from cows and pigs were discovered at different levels in the stockade wall trench, a spoon with a broken handle was apparently discarded very near the animal bones. Some of which show the marks of having been butchard. There are several accounts of prisoners trying to escape by means of digging a tunnel under the stockade wall (for details see my page on Civil War prisons One of the most exciting finds was the confirmation of those escape stories by the discovery of an escape tunnel entrance located in a soft, sandy corner of the prison stockade.