<p>The colonial sites of Germanna (Orange County, Virginia) have seen excavations since the late 1960s. The resulting corpus of archaeological work provides a “micro-history” of changing approaches to archaeological investigation spanning 50 years. Interest in Alexander Spotswood’s 1720 home (known as “the Enchanted Castle”) prompted initial archaeological research. Results saved the house and surrounding land from development. Continued archaeological efforts uncovered connections to German-speaking immigrants who were first settled at a 1714 fort (which would be called Fort Germanna). Today, the Germanna Archaeology project views its efforts as public archaeology, with expressed intentions to work with and include voices of different interested communities. These efforts, however, often land in a contested environment– the results of recent educational “culture wars.” Routine finds mark interconnected communities, including those who have been marginalized and pressured by erasure– enslaved Africans, African Americans, and Indigenous peoples. Today, in its professional obligations to report, the project increasingly finds itself standing alongside activists. Archaeology’s practice has been changed. Does that make archaeologists activists?</p>