13 Linear feet ((30 document boxes), plus 20 rolled maps and drawings, and 4 oversize map folders)
Culture:
Paleoindian Tradition: Clovis (archaeological culture) Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
North America
Virginia
Date:
1971-2003
bulk 1971-1979
Scope and Contents:
This collection comprises the field and administrative records of the Thunderbird site near Front Royal in Warren Country, Virginia. The collection accompanies approximately 50,000 Paleolithic Clovis artifacts that have been formally accessioned by the Department of Anthropology, Division of Archaeology (see Accession No. 2035656) and it includes field records, notebooks, maps and photographs. These records document work on the site by Dr. William Gardner and his wife Dr. Joan Walker between 1971 (when Dr. Gardner discovered the site) and roughly 1986. Excavations on the site were directed by Dr. Gardner for more than fifteen years. The collection is separated into series and includes some research from neighboring archaeological sites. 44WR11 is the technical designation for the site (44 refers to Viginia; WR is 'Warren County); and 11 is the number designating the site on the Virginia archaeology registry.)
Provenance:
The archaeological field notebooks, maps and photographs pertaining to the Thunderbird Collections (some 50,000 Paleolithic Clovis stone artifacts excavated at the Thunderbird site in Front Royal, Warren Country, Virginia were donated to the Smithsonian in May of 2005 by Dr. Joan Walker, President of the Thunderbird Research Corporation. The Thunderbird Research Corporation was founded in 1975 in order to raise funds to purchase the property on which the site was located so that it could be protected from development. Dr. Dennis Stanford, Director of the Smithsonian's Paleo-Indian Program, Department of Anthropology, NMNH, was the contact person through whom these records and the accompanying stone artifacts were donated and transferred to the Smithsonian. The accession of these materials was formalized on September 4, 2007 by the Department's Collections Advisory Committee as Accession No. 2035656.
Restrictions:
The Records of the Thunderbird Site, Warren County, Virginia are open for research.
Access to the Records of the Thunderbird Site, Warren County, Virginia requires an appointment.