Something to watch locally

KET to air new video on historic archaeology over several nights beginning Monday

Upcoming KET air dates for the video (all Eastern Standard Time) are:

KETKY
9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1
5 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2
8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5
2 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6
3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7
10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13
6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20

KET2: 10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17

KET1: 4 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20

Historic Archaeology: Beneath Kentucky’s Fields and Streets is presented in four segments based on the archaeological periods of Frontier, 1770s to 1820s; Antebellum, 1820s to 1860s; Civil War, 1861-65; and Industrialization, 1860s through 1910s. Each segment features key scientific discoveries made by some of the state’s top archaeologists over the past decade.

In the video, archaeologists working in the Frontier period describe the role of archival research in efforts to locate hundreds of frontier forts in the Inner Bluegrass region. Fort Boonesborough, Mammoth Cave and the Arnold Farmstead are featured.

From the Antebellum period, viewers learn about the discovery of a ceramics-filled privy at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate in Lexington, as well as reconstruction of a slave cabin at Farmington Historic Plantation in Louisville, and how x-marked objects are providing insights into slave culture at Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing along the Ohio River in southwest Jefferson County. Also, physical anthropologists report surprising conclusions from the accidental discovery of a pauper’s graveyard in downtown Frankfort, and Shaker Village is highlighted.

Archaeologists exploring the Civil War period show how field surveys may be used to compare historic plans of camp fortifications to actual evidence in the ground. Investigations include Camp Wildcat and the Battle of Richmond, and work at the refugee encampment site in Camp Nelson confirms the location of a Civil War tragedy.

For the Industrialization period, archaeologists focus on the lives of immigrant families at Portland Wharf Park in Louisville. Once a major steamboat port, Portland Wharf vanished due to floods, the expansion of the Louisville-Portland canal and construction of a floodwall. Today, archaeology is being used to preserve the park and reconnect the community of Portland with its past. Also featured are the U.S. Marine Hospital, the Old State Capitol in Frankfort and the Covington Riverfront.

KET is Kentucky Educational Television, our public broadcasting station and one of the largest in the country. People tend to think of archaeological digs at ancient sites, but more recent history is also discovered through archaeology. This really sounds interesting.