(CNN) — Archaeologist Julie Schablitsky knew her team was lucky.
It’s one thing to uncover an archaeological site that’s 300 years old. It’s a completely different matter when that site has remained almost entirely preserved.
“This is a very rare and exciting discovery because we don’t have any similar types of sites,” Schablitsky, the chief archaeologist for the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration told CNN. “There was so much potential for this to be erased but, by some sort of miracle, we still have evidence of their homes and lives after so many years.”
“The Jesuits were prolific in their record keeping, but very little survived on the enslaved African Americans who worked the fields and served the Catholic Church,” Schablitsky said in a news release. “If there was ever a place in Maryland that holds the story of diverse cultures converging to find religious freedom in an environment of conflict, sacrifice and survival, it is here.”
While the slave quarters were buried underground, the soil around it had not been eroded, which helped preserve the site, Schablitsky told CNN.
“It’s complicated geology, but the land had not been plowed for a while,” she said. “If the soil had been plowed, then it would have buried the site deeper and deeper. But the soil remained intact.”
Researchers have already found a 1740 George II coin at the site. They plan to share any other discovered artifacts with the public.
Archaeologists plan to share discovered artifacts with the public.
Courtesy Dr. Julie M. Schablitsky
What we already know about the enslaved people who lived here
Archaeologists weren’t the only people at the site when they first began digging. They were joined by some of descendants of the very enslaved people who lived there — like the Rev. Dante Eubanks, a pastor at the New Covenant Christian Worship Center.
“It’s very emotional, mentally and physically,” Eubanks told CNN. “It’s almost like you’re overwhelmed with such a spiritual connection.”
Eubanks, along with a priest from the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, led a prayer and a blessing on the site before archaeologists began digging.
The lack of eroded soil around the site meant that the slave quarters had been well preserved.
Courtesy Dr. Julie M. Schablitsky
When archaeologists first discovered the slave quarters, they invited members of the GU 272 Descendants Association to come to the site.
“These are their ancestors,” Schablitsky told CNN. “It’s important for them to be a part of this. They’re going to come in with a perspective, where they’ll be asking questions that we wouldn’t even be thinking of.”
Eubanks, who was there with a handful of other descendants, called the experience “an honor.”
“It’s very surreal and very moving to be able to walk the land where your potential ancestors worked, lived, endured and also survived,” Eubanks said. “It gives a whole different perspective to everything.”
