University of Oregon archaeologist Julie M. Schablitsky is off to Scotland to lead an exploratory excavation of the grounds on the boyhood home of John Paul Jones, while her husband continues his North Sea search for the lost ship of one of the fathers of the U.S. Navy.
Schablitsky�s new project -- launched with a $23,000 grant from the Virginia-based First Landing Foundation �- will involve remote sensing to identify possible locations of outbuildings, wells, gardens, fence lines and cisterns. Archaeological probes also will be dug into select areas of the landscaping around the renovated cottage where Jones grew in Kirkbean, Scotland.
Her project was born after her husband, Robert Neyland, head of underwater archaeology for the U.S. Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., visited Kirkbean and discovered the site had never been explored by archaeologists. Neyland has searched the North Sea area for the last two years for Jones� ship, the �Bonhomme Richard� [BOHN-uhm REE-shar], with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
[insert Led Zeppelin joke here]