The Harvard Gazette: Digging for old Harvard
Beneath the familiar paths of Harvard Yard, students are uncovering material traces of the University’s earliest years. This fall, undergraduate researchers participating in the Harvard Yard Archaeology Project are excavating near Hollis Hall and Holden Chapel in search of remains associated with the original Harvard Hall, a 17th-century building that once stood at the center of campus life.
Now marking its 20th anniversary, the project brings together hands-on fieldwork, historical research, and teaching through the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University, offering students a rare opportunity to engage directly with the layered history beneath their feet.
Built in 1677 and destroyed by fire in 1764, Harvard Hall functioned as far more than a single-purpose structure. It housed classrooms, student rooms, and the College’s first library, serving as an academic, residential, and intellectual hub for early Harvard scholars. As Diana Loren, co-lecturer of the course and senior curator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, explains:
We think of college buildings now as, you know, either dormitory or administrative. This was a building that was everything.
The Harvard Yard Archaeology Project provides undergraduate students with hands-on training in archaeological field methods while contributing to long-term research on Harvard’s colonial-era past. Students enrolled in the Archaeology of Harvard Yard courses conduct systematic excavations during the fall semester, followed by laboratory analysis, research, and historical contextualization in the spring.
Artifacts recovered through the project include animal bones, ceramics, tobacco pipe fragments, and pieces of printing type—materials that offer insight into the daily lives, diets, and material culture of early Harvard students and faculty. Together, these finds help illuminate how academic, social, and domestic life intersected on campus centuries ago.
Beyond the discoveries themselves, the project emphasizes place-based learning and student engagement with Harvard’s living landscape. Loren notes:
It’s a really unique experience for students excavating in the Yard. This is their home for four years, and the Yard is the landscape they become familiar with.
Recovered materials are accessioned into the collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, where they support ongoing research and public interpretation. Findings from the project are also featured in the Peabody Museum’s long-term exhibition Digging Veritas, which explores the archaeological history of Harvard and the evolving use of its campus over time.
To mark the project’s 20th anniversary, the Harvard Gazette feature includes an embedded video highlighting the Harvard Yard Archaeology Project. The video offers additional perspective on the history and significance of the excavation and its long-running role in research and teaching within Harvard Yard.