Got to meet the "Father of Historical Archaeology" yesterday

[Bill D. (VA)]

Yesterday afternoon my hunting partner Dan and I and our wives made the long drive out to a rural county in eastern VA to attend a special event sponsored by the local historical society there. We also met up with another of my buddies, Joeyfresh, and were thrilled to be able to listen to the renown keynote speaker - Ivor Noel Hume. He is probably America's foremost expert in the recovery and identification of colonial artifacts, particularly in Virginia. He was originally from England where he worked in the Museum of London, and came over to the US in 1956 to assist Colonial Williamsburg (CW) with a study of black glass bottles that were being recovered there, and never went back. He later became the long-time director for CW's archaeological research program. He has authored more than 20 books, and I have almost all of them. After his talk we were able to meet and chat with him briefly, and each of us brought a book for him to sign. And we couldn't leave without getting a pic of the 4 of us. In addition, we were able to go on a walking tour of a very historic 17th century property and enjoy the majestic views of the river. All-in-all a very fun day, and I feel very privileged and honored to have been able to meet the now 86 year old man who has taught me many of the things I know about colonial artifacts through his many informative and well-written books and other publications. Now Dan, Joey, and I are all fired up to get out in the fields and write some history for ourselves.

 

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[Bill D. (VA)]

And I was not grabbing his butt - though if I could have had access to hunt that site - things could be arranged and names could be forgotten.

Had a blast Bill and it was great to meet Joey - the most clean cut detectorist I have seen in a long while (and I thought I use to fit that mold HA)

Dan

Yeah - I think we would have resorted to just about any means to get ourselves onto that site. We could spend a lifetime there and not come close to recovering all the early artifacts still in the ground. By the way, I like your new avatar and I hope to see us in that "pose" real soon.

 

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[mamabear]

What a treat! Would love to have been there.

 

[mangum]

I'll have to check this author out. You could definitely write a book yourself with all of your amazing finds!

 

[J.Cohoon04]

I like reading his info on The Lost Colony of 1587

I'll have to look into that bit, I grew up on Roanoke Island

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

For those of you who asked, here are most of my Hume books. They include the 10-part Colonial Williamsburg Archaeological Series. And the black one in the upper left is "Here Lies Virginia". These are invaluable references for any serious colonial hunter.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

For those of you who asked, here are most of my Hume books. They include the 10-part Colonial Williamsburg Archaeological Series. And the black one in the upper left is "Here Lies Virginia". These are invaluable references for any serious colonial hunter.

View attachment 889937

Thanks for posting that pic up there Bill, I will have to have a look around for some of those books.
ZDD

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Thanks for posting that pic up there Bill, I will have to have a look around for some of those books.
ZDD

Dave - you can find used copies online fairly cheap. Most of the ones I buy are used, and many times are paperback. They still contain the same material but at a much lower cost.

 

[johnnyblaze]

Cool story Bill

Did you let him know your taking over

Blaze

 

[texasvarmit]

And I was not grabbing his butt - though if I could have had access to hunt that site - things could be arranged and names could be forgotten.

Had a blast Bill and it was great to meet Joey - the most clean cut detectorist I have seen in a long while (and I thought I use to fit that mold HA)

Dan

bill I think you and Dan both look pretty clean cut to me and you look like you just swallowed the canary standing next to Mr. Hume. What an honor! Glad you got a photo of the occasion brother!

The stories Mr. Hume could tell....and he is such a great writer too. Not many like him for certain.

 

[pepperj]

What a great opportunity it must of been to meet such a person and have a bit of personal time with him. Great post Bill, All The Best trash sure brings back the memories and an yearn to read it once again as it been way too long.

 

[fongu]

Glad you got to meet Mr. Hume and got his autograph. I've admired many people in my nearly 60 years and most of them are dead now and I always wanted to meet them and tell them how much their books or knowledge meant to me, but never got the chance. You are fortunate. I definitely will check out some of his books thru the library.

 

[birdman]

What a privilege that would be to meet such a legend. I would love to hear some of his first hand accounts.