Stockton University archaeology students dig up history in Cape May County

CAPE MAY COUNTY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Stockton University students have gingerly been digging and brushing away the dirt on the property of the Museum of Cape May County.

Over the past several months they've found pieces of shoes, marbles, animal bones, and fine china likely dating back to the 1700s.

"It's cool to know that you're the first person in a couple of hundred years that's touched something like that," said Alex Rivera, a junior at Stockton University.

The students are part of a new archaeology field methods class, with the goal of learning more about the history of the property in the Cape May Court House during the Revolutionary War.

The class is part of the new Digging History Project for the museum.

"John Holmes owned this property," said Bobbi Hornbeck Ph.D., a teaching specialist in archaeology. "We know that he's an important player in terms of how Cape May County contributed to the Revolutionary War efforts."

Hornbeck, a graduate of Stockton, developed the class with the goal of giving students some kind of field experience early in their careers.

The students say to have this kind of hands-on dig as an undergraduate is rare.

"It sounds kind of mundane but I learned a lot about soil and rocks, which I didn't really know about," said recent graduate Noelle Engelbert. "I know it's really important when you're going into this field."

"Archaeology is one of those disciplines that, I mean, you can read it in a textbook but a lot of the terminology and the concepts don't make sense until you get into the field and put a trowel in your hand. And then it all kind of clicks. It all kind of comes together," said Hornbeck.

For Englebert, it's solidified her career choice.

"I think we can learn a lot from history. And if we can discover what they were doing, how they were living, the ways they managed to make it through life," said Englebert, "I think it's important and we can learn a lot from that."