---
title: Piecing Together a Historic Puzzle
date: 2021-10-05T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/piecing-together-a-historic-puzzle"
section: Articles
---
# Piecing Together a Historic Puzzle

*October 5, 2021* — by [Annie Krakower](/author/annie-krakower)


> Architecture Research Team Analyzes Thousands of Glass, Ceramic Artifacts to Shed Light on Centuries-Old Plantation

*Kippax 09222021 SC 9296 1920x1080 — Terps Olivia Meoni ’21 (left) and Paul Albert label pieces of glass in Preinkert Hall as part of the vesselization process to determine the number and type of vessels excavated from the Kippax Plantation, where the granddaughter of Pocahontas once lived. Below, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (left) and Professor Donald Linebaugh, who’s been working on the research since 1981, unveil a historic marker commemorating the site last month.*

In a hushed Preinkert Hall room, a group of Terps gathers around a table with a different kind of homework in front of them. Instead of books or laptops, they surround tray after tray of broken glass.

As they carefully analyze the shards, affixing tiny numeric labels with what looks like clear nail polish, in the background stand examples of what they’re working toward: reconstructed old wine bottles, dark and jagged around the edges, held together with blue painter’s tape.

“It’s like having a jigsaw puzzle that’s black, in three dimensions,” said historic preservation Professor Donald Linebaugh, who, along with postdoctoral associate Stefan Woehlke, is leading the project—which is also piecing together the history of generations of American settlers, enslaved people and the Indigenous people they encountered.


*Labeled glass pieces*


*Gov. Ralph Northam and Professor Donald Linebaugh with Kippax Plantation historic marker*



**Sidebar note:**

If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the glass vesselization project, contact Stefan Woehlke at swoehlke@umd.edu.





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Historic Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/historic-preservation), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)