Thomas Jefferson's Toothbrush!

While doing some reading for this week's Featured Artifact I came across another really interesting artifact:

This bone toothbrush handle was found in 1988 during excavations at Colonial Williamsburg. The handle is engraved with the name “Thos. Jefferson.” Thomas Jefferson did live at Williamsburg when he served as the second Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia beginning in 1779. Jefferson left Williamsburg in 1780 when the capitol was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond. The toothbrush handle was found in a trash deposit near the Governor's Palace. According to the context of the find, archaeologists know that the toothbrush handle was discarded in the late 18th century and therefore almost certainly belonged to Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States.

It is extremely rare to recover an artifact that can be connected to a specific person. While this is an exciting find it doesn't really tell archaeologists anything they didn't already know. Historical Archaeoloy is actually more useful for accessing the cultural remains of those who we don't already know much about because they were left out of written history, typically the lower class, women and minorities.

For more information on Thomas Jefferson's toothbrush and other archaeological finds at Williamsburg visit their website:

http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/may03/iotm.cfm