Thousands of years before Alexandria’s founding in 1749, humans occupied the area where Alexandria stands today. During the past 275 years, the city has undergone much construction and development. Yet archaeologists continue to find parts of this Native American past buried beneath the city.
More than 30 sites in Alexandria have been identified with Native American artifacts. More continue to be uncovered.
The earliest evidence of human activity in Alexandria is a Clovis Point from the Paleo-Indian period, approximately 15,000-8,000 B.C. Often called a spear tip, the artifact was excavated at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial. Probably unknown to gravediggers in the 1860s, the cemetery stands on an important Native American site. Besides the Clovis Point, archaeologists have discovered thousands of artifacts from American Indians…