WPA Excavations - 1939-140
Excavations were conducted at the Annis Village site in western Kentucky during 1939 and 1940 by Works Progress 
Administration (WPA) crews (part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression). The WPA excavated the entire platform mound and nearly 6,000 square meters of the nearby village. After the excavation, the mound was rebuilt to its original dimensions at the request of the landowners, the Annis family.
Sixteen houses, the remains of three palisades, and numerous storage and trash pits were also excavated at this time. This collection was not completely studied until recently -- it is part of Scott Hammerstedt's doctoral research at Penn State -- although portions of it were analyzed by students at the University of Kentucky.
WPA crew at the Annis Mound. Photo courtesy of the 
William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology, University of Kentucky.
One of the houses excavated by the WPA. The walls were constructed of wooden posts, each set individually in the ground. Part of a hearth is located in the middle of the structure. The entryway is marked by the parallel lines in the lower right of the photograph; here small posts were set in a trench forming a protected doorway.
