NATCHEZ — The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians will present an illustrated talk by Jim Barnett, “Natchez Archaeology: Then and Now” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the museum auditorium.

Admission is free, and seating is limited.

Interest in the deep history of the Natchez area began long before archaeology existed as a profession. The nineteenth-century explorations of B. L. C. Wailes, M. W. Dickeson, and others, paved the way for intensive archaeological investigations in Natchez, beginning in the 1920s.

Excavations by numerous institutions, including the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and Harvard University’s Lower Mississippi Archaeological Survey revealed Natchez’s rich prehistoric and colonial past.

In the twenty-first century, investigations by the University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other institutions continue to uncover new information about this area’s early inhabitants.

Barnett’s program will highlight many of the individuals who have participated in Natchez archaeology through the years.

Barnett is director of the Historic Properties Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Barnett is the author of two books, “The Natchez Indians: A History to 1735” and “Mississippi’s American Indians.”

Call 601-446-6502 for more information.