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Secrets of Revolutionary War battlefields emerge 250 years after America’s founding

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Even though it’s been nearly 250 years since the Continental Congress declared independence from Britain, the study of the American Revolution is far from over.

For decades, archaeologists have dug at Revolutionary War battlefields across the country, yielding fascinating artifacts.

From southern sites to northern battlefields, these places are still sharing secrets — and shedding new light on our country’s founding.

As America celebrates its 250th, below are a few Revolutionary War battlefields that are still revealing new discoveries.

One of the earliest military engagements of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought in Charlestown, Massachusetts, just outside downtown Boston.

On June 17, 1775, the British decisively defeated American forces and seized the Charlestown Peninsula after a retreat.

Archaeologists, who began digging at the site in June, have been actively making new discoveries about the battle site.

Among their findings is a redoubt, a dirt fort colonial soldiers built by hand overnight.“We know that the fortification was up here, but nobody has been able to identify where specifically,” Lauryn Sharp, project archaeologist for the City of Boston, told Fox News earlier in June.

“We’re learning new things about the battle that we didn’t know before.”

“Even with the monument being built, there wasn’t any evidence of where the actual redoubt was, so … we are adding this information back into the story.”

Some artifacts have also emerged, including munitions.

“We found two English gun flints, a French gun flint and then two musket balls,” Joel Bohy, a historian and material culture specialist in Concord, Massachusetts, told Fox News.

Some artifacts have also emerged, including munitions.

“This project has been extremely successful, and we’re learning new things about the battle that we didn’t know before.”

American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR), a veteran-led archaeological organization, excavated Camden Battlefield in Camden, South Carolina, last year – and they weren’t just looking for old artifacts.

AVAR founder Stephen Humphreys told Fox News Digital that archaeologists-in-training used GPS receivers to collect spatial data about movements of the battle, which was fought in August 1780.

“[We’re] using intensive metal detector surveys to plot exactly where the different forces were during the battle,” he said at the time. “We’re getting spatial data for every musket ball that’s found on the site.”

Humphreys said the battle was a devastating loss for the colonies. “It’s an extremely significant battle for the South … and for the North as well.”

In 2024, archaeologists unearthed remnants of the battle that ushered the “shot heard round the world” at Minute Man National Historical Park, the site of the Battle of Concord and Lexington.

Five musket balls believed to have been fired by colonial militia members were uncovered near an area where British soldiers formed.

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