Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Colbert County, Alabama, between 1935 and 1943--reads: "Excavations of an Indian mound in the valley of the Tennessee River, carried out by WPA workers. The clearly defined strata show various levels of occupancy, the lowest dating back many centuries before white men came to America."
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: "WPA workers carefully exposing bones of Indian buried hundreds of years ago. In parts of the Tennessee River Valley, to be flooded as soon as various dams are completed, relief workers have conducted the most thorough and extensive excavations ever undertaken in this country. Fourteen separate culture levels have been exposed, indicating that various Indian civilizations flourished and passed into oblivion here hundreds of years before the existence of America was ever dreamed of in medieval Europe."
Photo and description from the National Archives.
Above: Another worker on the Tennessee Valley project. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: "Laboratory work. WPA workers cleaning broken Indian artifacts and bones which have been excavated in the field. After cleaning these pieces they will be assembled in their original form, as skeletons, pottery, tools, ornaments, etc."
Photo and description from the National Archives.
Above: An artifact discovered and reassembled in Arizona, by New Deal relief workers, ca. 1934-1936.
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: New Deal archaeology in California, between 1935 and 1943.
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Georgia, between 1935 and 1943--reads: "A typical group of WPA workers on an archaeological project near Macon, stripping away the top soil from a prehistoric village site in the Ocmulgee National Monument."
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: "Ann Law, Anna White, Linda Cotton and Ruth Robertson, WPA workers, recording, calipering, cross sectioning, and determining the exact design, temper, execution... surface finish, and other data on the pieces of Indian pottery found in the Indian Mounds at East Macon, Georgia."
Photo and description from the National Archives.
Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Mills County, Iowa, between 1935 and 1943--reads: "Floor of Indian house revealed by excavation by WPA. House was about 34 feet, square, semi-subterranean, with heavy oak wall posts. Note six storage refuse pits, and entrance at south wall."
Photo and description from the National Archives.
Above: "Typical WPA archaeological workers excavating the deep stratum at Larson site [Nebraska] of early 'woodland' Indian village. Many recent college graduates unable to find private jobs as well as many old unskilled workers not strong enough for hard physical labor, have been suitable for archaeological work."
Photo and description from the National Archives.
Above: WPA archaeology work in New Mexico.
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Dr. Eugene Golomshtok and Dr. Dorothy Cross on a WPA-funded archaeological excavation at the Abbott Farm in Trenton, New Jersey, ca. 1937. Dr. Cross was in charge of a state-wide "Indian Sites Survey" and "It was Dr. Cross who last year supervised the excavation and assembly of the bones of a mastodon discovered by WPA workers near Cranford" ("WPA Unearths Missing Data Concerning Jersey Red Men: Excavations in Progress At Old Abbott Farm Are Revealing Many New Facts Of Lenni Lenape - Burial Pits, Artifacts Found,"
The Paterson Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey), May 5, 1937, p. 16).
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The description for this photograph--taken in San Antonio, Texas, May 1939--reads: "Paleontological project; workers preparing bones of mastodon and elephant in laboratory, Southeast Texas." Also see, "
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) Collection," The University of Texas at Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences, accessed May 18, 2026.
Photo from the National Archives.
Above: WPA workers helped out at Dinosaur National Monument. This article excerpt is from
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), July 4, 1936.
Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: "WPA workers deepening a trench to expose the bone layer of what would become the wall of the current Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument. Sourced from one of A.C. Boyle’s monthly reports."
Description and NPS photo from "Public Works Programs and Paleontology in the Early Years of the NPS," National Park Service, Fall 2024, accessed May 18, 2026.
Above: The WPA works on a brontosaurus! This article appeared in
The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Oklahoma), July 3, 1936.
Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: Other New Deal agencies carried out archaeology and paleontology projects too, for example, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This article excerpt comes from
The Richmond News Leader (Richmond, Virginia), April 2, 1938.
Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: An archaeology project being carried out by the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA), 1933-1934.
Photo from: Henry G. Alsberg, America Fights the Depression: A Photographic Record of the Civil Works Administration, New York: Coward-McCann Publishers, 1934, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
New Deal Archaeology and Paleontology Totals
The total number of archaeology and paleontology sites receiving New Deal assistance is hard to determine, as is the information and volume of that work.
Dr. Bernard Means of Virginia Commonwealth University (editor and contributor of Shovel Ready: Archaeology and Roosevelt's New Deal for America) points out that "one of the greatest challenges in researching New Deal archaeology is that official reports on New Deal projects may be filed in obscure places or may never have been completed" ("How the West Was Dug," in Kelly J. Poole and Mark L. Howe (eds.), New Deal Archaeology in the West, The University of Utah Press, 2023, p. 327).
Archaeologist Varna Boyd noted that WPA information gathered during 11 excavations in Pennsylvania had been lost: "No one knows its whereabouts and it could be in someone's attic somewhere" ("Archaeologists look for clues into native American lifestyle," Daily American (Somerset, Pennsylvania), December 9, 1995, p. 3).
So, it appears the best we can do, for now, is estimate some totals.
How many sites?
It's clear there were at least hundreds, and perhaps more than a thousand, archaeology and paleontology sites excavated and explored by New Deal workers. Consider the following, from just five states:
"Overall, 72 sites were excavated. The sites were mostly from the Archaic and Woodland periods and range from Greenup County in Eastern Kentucky to Trigg County in Western Kentucky" ("Kentucky Archaeology and the Works Progress Administration," The William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology, accessed May 17, 2026).
"The WAS [the WPA's "Wyoming Archaeological Survey"] investigations occurred at over 40 localities across Wyoming and ranged from basic site recording to major excavations of caves and open campsites to comprehensive photographic recording of rock art sites" (Danny N. Walker, "New Deal Archaeology in Wyoming," in Kelly J. Poole and Mark L. Howe (eds.), New Deal Archaeology in the West, The University of Utah Press, 2023, p. 93).
"The WPA excavated over 130 archaeological sites within Alabama from 1936 to 1941" (Caleb Ross Butz, "A History of New Deal Archaeology in Alabama: Labor and Science in Economic Reform," Masters Thesis, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2021).
"In addition to Spiro, Oklahoma archaeological crews excavated at more than 100 sites across the state" (Scott W. Hammerstedt and Amanda L. Regnier, Spiro Mounds and WPA Archaeology in Oklahoma, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2023, p. 8).
"[T]he University of California supervised WPA paleontology programs across that state" ("New Analysis of Depression-Era Fossil Hunt Shows Texas Coast Was Once a ‘Serengeti’," Smithsonian Magazine, April 16, 2019, accessed May 18, 2026).
How many artifacts and fossils were discovered?
At least millions--and perhaps tens of millions--of artifacts and fossils were unearthed by New Deal workers. Consider:
"The WPA/TVA excavations uncovered millions of artifacts that needed to be cleaned, inventoried, and analyzed and this work often fell to women" (Michaelyn Harle, "This Women’s Work: Women in WPA Archaeology in the Tennessee Valley," Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology, September 26, 2016, accessed May 17, 2026).
"Archaeological work at [Angel Mounds] continues to uncover new finds, but the WPA work set the standard. 'The WPA itself uncovered about 2 1/2 million artifacts,' [Mike Linderman, Angel Mounds site manager] said" ("Bringing Back History: Old Angel Mounds building revamped," Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, Indiana), June 1, 2013, pp. 4-5A.
"In Oklahoma, work crews of the 'Fossil Bones Project' dug up about 30,000 specimens. Crews working in Nebraska also unearthed thousands of bones..." ("New Analysis of Depression-Era Fossil Hunt Shows Texas Coast Was Once a 'Serengeti’," Smithsonian Magazine, April 16, 2019, accessed May 18, 2026).
What was the impact and importance of New Deal archaeology and paleontology?
--> "The public works programs of the New Deal launched the early years, collections, and construction of several NPS areas, and this resulted in increased appreciation for important fossil resources, which persists to this day" ("Public Works Programs and Paleontology in the Early Years of the NPS," National Park Service, Fall 2024, accessed May 18, 2026).
--> "Thanks to these [New Deal work-relief] programs, which began in 1933, not only were thousands of unemployed workers provided with jobs, but the practice and visibility of archeology grew rapidly in the decade that followed... Through these efforts, the American public became familiar with the practice of archeological excavation and its value as a science. In addition, work relief archeological projects trained a new generation of archeologists, creating a widespread interest in archeology, and providing employees with essential archeological training and diverse skills" ("Work Relief Archeology," National Park Service, accessed May 17, 2026).
--> "There never has been a greater revolution in American archaeology than that engendered by the New Deal period. There are archaeologists today who consider the so-called 'new archaeology' as revolutionary, but young archaeologists rarely look to the past or recall that it was the New Deal archaeological awakening that served greatly to increase the anthropology departments that then produced the new generations who criticize the WPA standards" (William G. Hagg, "Federal Aid to Archaeology in the Southeast, 1933-1942," American Antiquity, Vol. 50, No. 2, Golden Anniversary Issue (Apr., 1985), p. 278).
--> "The New Deal proved to be a boon for archaeology in the southeast. Excavation projects were undertaken in all the southern states and much of what was discovered is still being analyzed... Of great importance to the future of archaeology were the young professionals who cut their teeth on government projects. These men would shape the study of archaeology for years to come" (John Sledge, "New Deal boosted state's archaeology," Mobile Register (Mobile, Alabama), March 24, 1996, p. 5C, highlighting the book A New Deal for Southeastern Archaeology, by Edwin A. Lyon, University of Alabama Press).
--> "Fossilized evidence to identify the monsters that roamed Texas regions a million years back is now being preserved in the state where it is found, and the Works Progress Administration, with state headquarters here [San Antonio] is helping to make that possible... WPA workers have combed fossil beds of Donley, Lipscomb and Randall counties to unearth what is described as a continuous faunal sequence from the upper through the lower Pliocene age... Because of the processes of erosion that constantly go on not only are gradually uncovering these fossils but are likewise destroying them... it is important that the available remnants of the prehistory of Texas be carefully removed and preserved" ("State Starts Own Museum Of Fossils Found In West Texas," The Houston Chronicle, January 16, 1938, p. 4).
--> "A New Deal initiative by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the WPA's archaeology program laid the foundation for today's understanding of the nation's prehistoric American Indian cultures" ("Learn about local New Deal archaeology in Muncy March 9," Press Enterprise (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania), March 2, 2008).
--> "... the [WPA's] New Deal archaeological excavations in the state, and those of the CCC, remain largely unacknowledged, but this work undergirds much of our knowledge about these sites today" Danny N. Walker, "New Deal Archaeology in Wyoming," in Kelly J. Poole and Mark L. Howe (eds.), New Deal Archaeology in the West, The University of Utah Press, 2023, p. 94).
--> "During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration conducted tremendous archaeological excavations across the state under the supervision of [University of Texas] archaeologists. The program put a lot of unemployed local men to work, advanced our understanding of Texas archaeology and resulted in a truly amazing collection of artifacts" (Jonathan Jarvis, associate director of the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, in "Hidden Treasures," Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas), August 31, 2017, pp. D1 and D3).
--> "Between 1939 and 1941, amateur paleontologists collected thousands of 11 to 12 million-year-old fossils from the Texas Coastal Plain. The project was part of the State-Wide Paleontologic-Mineralogic Survey funded by the Works Progress Administration... Now, their hard work is aiding modern researchers, who used the collection, stored at the University of Texas at Austin, to show that part of the Gulf Coast was the ancient equivalent of the Serengeti... 'It’s the most representative collection of life from this time period of Earth history along the Texas Coastal Plain,' May says" ("New Analysis of Depression-Era Fossil Hunt Shows Texas Coast Was Once a ‘Serengeti’," Smithsonian Magazine, April 16, 2019, accessed May 18, 2026).
