Archaeologists from the James River Institute for Archaeology of Williamsburg will work through the summer excavating at the site of the Lumpkin’s slave jail, currently a city-owned parking lot behind Main Street Station. [via]

“I’m hoping what we will find will give us insight in how they lived not only as slaves but slave owners, so we can educate the public of how people lived in a hostile environment,” said City Councilwoman Delores L. McQuinn, chairwoman of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission.