CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

CRM VOLUME 22 NO. I 1999

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Cultural Resources PUBLISHED BY THE VOLUME 22 NO. I 1999 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Contents ISSN 1068-4999

Information for parks, federal agencies, Indian tribes, states, local governments, and the private sectior that promotes and main­ Jamestown Island Revisited 1607- tains high standards for preserving and man­ aging cultural resources

Five Years of Jamestown 3 DIRECTOR Karen G. Rehm Robert Stanton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR The Jamestown Archeological Assessment 4 CULTURAL RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP AND PARTNERSHIPS Marley R. Brown III and David Orr Katherine H. Stevenson

EDITOR Finding the Town in Jamestown Ronald M. Greenberg Archeology of the 17th-Century Capital 7 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Audrey J. Horning Janice C. McCoy

GUEST EDITOR Jamestown Island's Documentary History Karen G. Rehm Clues to the Past 10 Martha W. McCartney ADVISORS David Andrews Editor, NPS Looking Beyond the Town Joan Bacharach Archeological Survey at Jamestown Island 13 Museum Registrar, NPS Randall J. Biallas Dennis B. Blanton Historical Architect, NPS John A. Bums Architect, NPS Continuing Jamestown's Military Tradition Harry A. Butowsky The Civil War Years 15 Historian, NPS David F. Riggs Pratt Cassity Executive Director, National Alliance of Preservation Commissions Muriel Crespi Lessons from the Past 17 Cultural Anthropologist, NPS Douglas W. Owsley Mary Cullen Director, Historical Services Branch Parks Canada Jamestown Rediscovery Mark Edwards Executive Director, DC. Preservation League Archeological Cultural Resources Management for the New Millennium 19 Roger E. Kelly William M. Kelso Archeologist,NPS Antoinette J. Lee Historian, NPS Cultural Resource Management and Interpretation A Cooperative Venture 22 ASSISTANTS Karen G. Rehm and Diane G. Stallings Denise M. Mayo Jessica Oliveri

An electronic version of this issue of CRM can be accessed through the CRM home­ page at . This site features a database of CRM articles from the past 21 years, and an online comment and subscription form. Submit your email address to be included on our electronic mailing list. You will receive notices of new issues and links to articles and supplementary information available only online.

Cover: The NewTowne site is clearly discernible in a recent aerial photograph.This photograph was taken by Aerial Survey Corporation, digitized, and will be used for plotting archeological sites and land plat information and for monitoring shoreline erosion. Upper photo, Dr. Audrey Horning revealing the new discoveries and understandings of NewTowne during one of the two Jamestown archeology weekends. Lower photo, Dr. Audrey Horning and the field school uncovering portions of NewTowne. Photos by Tony belcastro.

Statements of fact and views are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect an opinion or endorsement on the part of the editors, the CRM advi­ sors and consultants, or the National Park Service. Send articles and correspondence to the Editor; CRM, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Cultural Resources, 1849 C Street, NW, Suite 350NC,Washington, DC 20240; 202-343-8164, fax 202-343-5260; email: .

2 CRM No 1—1999 Karen G. Rehm From time to time over the past half cen­ tury or so, my late old friend Pinky Harrington and I have eyed the Jamestown archeological potential in the perspective of archeology accom­ Five Years of Jamestown plished and to come, and spoken of our hopes for future research and investigation. The theme his issue of CRM focuses on the has always been conservation, caution in ground Jamestown Archeological investigation, employing state-of-the-art technol­ Assessment that began in 1992. The ogy, recognizing that it will be infinitely articles represent the major aspects improved in the future, and a comprehensive, of thiTs five-year project that focused on a holistic holistic, interdisciplinary address to all research, approach to taking a third look at an archeologi­ above and below ground, archival and living his­ cal site of international significance. Testing inno­ tory resources included. vative methodologies and applying an analysis of The accomplished five-year investigations the natural environment to the understanding of and studies have addressed these needs. The the historical events were primary objectives of whole island has been surveyed, and the whole the Assessment, as presented in the first article archeological potential has been conserved for written by Marley Brown and David Orr. Although future and more sophisticated and complete major archeology was conducted in the 1930s and research resources. I personally thank all those 1950s, reopening the town sites and examining who have participated in this effort, and welcome the historical documentation with the current generations of future investigations that will con­ knowledge of the time period, as discussed in Audrey Homing's article and Martha McCartney's tinue to tell the story of Jamestown Island from essay, provide greater insight into a time period the Paleoindian to the ever-arriving present. that is essential to understanding Jamestown and John L. Cotter Don Linebaugh its role in establishing British North America. (The College of Conducting a Phase I survey of the entire Virginia Antiquities in rediscovering the very early William and Mary Jamestown Island was critical to this understand­ years of Jamestown. Center for ing. Dennis Blanton's article on this aspect of the Finally, the application of these new findings Archaeological survey emphasizes the need for all parks to take a and providing this information to the public is Research), comprehensive look at their history. The discovery examined in the article by Karen Rehm and Diane Superintendent Alec of the Clovis points pushes back the timeline of Stallings. Americans are fascinated by the process Gould, and Greg Brown (Colonial human occupation to 10,500 BP. The tree ring of uncovering the past and how the new discover­ Williamsburg study drastically alters the basic facts of those ies provide a fuller and maybe a different twist to Foundation) at the early years at Jamestown and enables us to under­ what they learned so many years ago in school. ground breaking stand the relationship between the English settlers Through this new appreciation, support for contin­ ceremony for the and Powhatans in a different light. David Riggs' ued research and preservation will grow. survey, spring of examination of the Civil War and its impact on The establishment of Colonial National 1993. Photo cour­ tesy NPS. Jamestown demonstrates the need to push the Historical Park in 1930* marked a turning point for the cultural resource management program in timeline forward as the National Park Service. Nearly 70 years later, it well. is still demonstrating the need for sound resource The articles by management guided by scholarly research and Douglas Owsley and investigation. Colonial wishes to thank Kate William Kelso look at Stevenson, Associate Director, Cultural Resource other aspects of arche­ Stewardship and Partnerships, NPS, for her sup­ ology and challenges port of this project. federal policies and methodologies. Dr. Owsley presents the * Originally designated Colonial National Monument. findings of re-examin­ ing skeletal remains Karen G. Rehm is Chief Historian at Colonial discovered at National Historical Park. She is the guest editor of Jamestown more than this issue of CRM. 40 years ago. Dr. Kelso provides a view of John L. Cotter, Ph.D., was the Jamestown archeolo- archeology as applied gist from 1953-1957. He developed a grid system for by the Association for New Towne that identified all the known structural the Preservation of ruins, resulting in a historical base map that is still used today and was essential to the Jamestowm Archeological Assessment.

CRM No 1 — 1999 3 Marley R. Brown III and David Orr The Jamestown Archeological Assessment

amestown and Williamsburg, the first his days at Jamestown is the emergence of cultural and second capitals of the Colony of resources management as a recognized profession. Virginia, are close rivals as the most Both developments are evident in the intellectual excavated historic sites in the United perspective guiding the current round of archeolog­ StatesJ. But it was at Jamestown that modern his­ ical study of the National Park Service property on torical archeology was born when J.C. Harrington Jamestown Island, a project that began officially in was lured there in 1936 while still a graduate stu­ the fall of 1992 with the negotiation of a coopera­ dent in anthropology at the University of Chicago. tive agreement between the National Park Service Harrington, who died at the age of 96 in April and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. This 1998, reflected on his work at Jamestown in a agreement was based on a scope of work distrib­ reminiscence published a few years ago. He uted in June of that year which identified a number acknowledged that his and subsequent excava­ of interrelated studies needed to properly evaluate tions of the town site emphasized architectural and manage the island's cultural resources. These remains at the expense of other physical evi­ included a detailed bibliographic survey of all dence, but he stressed that he did recognize the sources—written, photographic, and drawn—that importance of archeology as a way of understand­ shed light on Jamestown's history, a series of inter­ ing how the early colonists lived. He remembered pretive studies based on these sources, notably a that "we even talked in such broad terms as reconstruction of the island's physical development attempting to show the adaptation of an English over the last 12,000 years, and a thorough inven­ cultural tradition to a frontier existence." He goes tory and evaluation of prehistoric and historic on to note, however, "very little was done in this archeological sites located on the island. direction, just as so few true anthropological In its breadth, concern for new techniques, objectives, although much talked about, are real­ and commitment to the conservation ethic in ized today." American archeology, the scope of the Jamestown These 1930s aspirations of Harrington are Archeological Assessment shares much in common Andrew Edwards, the very same that created the scope of work for with the Park Service's Systemwide Archeological archeologistjhe the Jamestown Archeological Assessment—truly Inventory Program, that was officially unveiled in Colonial anthropological objectives rendered in the broadest October of 1992. This program represents a con­ Williamsburg terms possible. Although the questions Harrington certed effort on the part of the National Park Foundation, and Service to "locate, evaluate and document" archeo­ staff conducting wanted to ask have changed little, the range of evi­ magnetometry test­ dence that can be marshaled to answer them has logical resources on park lands so that they can be ing. greatly expanded. Another important change since appropriately "conserved, protected, preserved in situ, managed, and interpreted." The systemwide program requires "systematic inventory" of archeo­ logical resources using "efficient and effective advanced technologies" such as remote sensing, geophysical prospecting, and geographic informa­ tion systems, that minimize the destruction of archeological sites. Funds made available through this program are not intended for large-scale exca­ vation (data recovery) for this very reason. Inventory activities must also be conducted in light of a research design that considers problems and questions "relating to broad trends, patterns, or themes about an area's prehistory or history." The research design should be very flexible in order to "address the widest range of relevant research issues and historic contexts practicable." The nature of the studies called for in the original scope of work for the Jamestown

4 CRM No 1—1999 Archeological Assessment and their management establish the groundwork for management and implications argued for a particular intellectual interpretive plans featuring the integration of the perspective, that of human ecology or environmen­ Island's natural resource attributes with those rep­ tal archeology and history. This approach offered resentative of important cultural developments. several advantages for integrating Assessment In many ways the Jamestown Archeological research on Jamestown Island. By emphasizing the Assessment has followed the advice given to the interdependence of natural and cultural factors in discipline of historical archeology by National Park reconstructing the physical development of the Service archeologist John Cotter who published the island, it has been possible to break down the tra­ results of his 1954-56 excavations in 1958. Cotter, ditional barrier separating the natural and cultural who remains a very articulate critic of things arche­ programs at parks like Colonial. From the outset, ological, commented in his Jamestown report: the intention of Assessment projects has been to

Results of the Jamestown Archeological Assessment

• The first comprehensive archeological sur­ • A new understanding of what Jamestown vey of Jamestown Island locating 58 sites looked like in the 17th century. A re-evalua­ representing 10,500 years of human pres­ tion of the 600,000 artifacts from previous ence. excavations in conjunction with the interdis­ ciplinary research revealed the haphazard • Clear evidence of the 17th-, 18th-, and 19th- nature of the town's development. New century landscapes in the form of bound­ information on the age, use, and relation­ aries, ditches, roads, agricultural fields, and ship of buildings and economic activity at military earthworks. specific periods provided data for a series of • A study of environmental change on the GIS generated and enhanced maps of Island, including the examination of cypress Jamestown during specific decades in the tree rings that identified 1606-1612 as the 17th century. driest seven-year period in southeastern Virginia in nearly 800 years. Coinciding • More than 30 papers were given at profes­ with the first years at Jamestown, the sional conferences and/or published in a drought most likely contributed to the settle­ variety of journals and magazines. New gen­ ment's struggle to survive. The study made erations of archeologists were trained the front page of the New York Times. through archeological field schools. One Ph.D. dissertation and several academic • The use of geophysical prospecting tech­ papers were completed. niques (ground penetrating radar, magne- • The knowledge gained will be used to tometry and soil resistivity and conductivity address the critical issue of erosion on the meters) to determine the most effective and Island, the federal highway project to efficient remote-sensing instrument for upgrade the tour roads, and development future research on Jamestown. plans for 2007. • The use of limited excavations on the town • Artifacts and elements of the project will be site designed to address specific research questions concerning the preservation of incorporated into Colonial Williamsburg's botanical remains, the re-analysis of partic­ 300th anniversary exhibit at the prestigious ular buildings, and the "ground-truthing" of DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery in documented economic activity areas. 1999. • Archival and historical research, hampered • The establishment of a strong partnership by the destruction of county records during with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation the Civil War, culled data from private fam­ and the College of William and Mary. ily papers, English records, military data, Jane Sundberg personal narrative, and maps. This research CRM Specialist in conjunction with computer mapping of Colonial National Historical Park the Island allowed for the first time a reli­ able association of known structures and properties with their owners.

CRM No 1—1999 5 ponents. The final objective here is to minimize archeological destruction in the quest for new sites. Before the advent of the Jamestown Archeological Assessment it was decided that the Jamestown collection itself should be evaluated and that the objects should be cataloged according to the current NPS system. This had a most posi­ tive effect on the research generated by the Assessment since a good knowledge of the collec­ tion was a mandatory imperative for a proper inter­ pretation of Jamestown. This work led to the Assessment's task of artifact evaluation and the re- analysis of the collection in the future interpreta­ tion of the Island. The Jamestown Archeological Assessment has provided the Park and all who study the full long-range cultural history of tidewater Virginia Martha Thus, the story of social and historical with a thoroughly researched grounding in the McCartney, project trends at Jamestown, evident in the records, "local history" of Jamestown Island. It is a long- Historian; Marley is given fuller meaning by data derived from held maxim in archeology that all archeological Brown; and Del the earth at the site. Here, then, history tells endeavor is originally only local history; it is only Moore, bibliogra­ pher with The about dates, events, and people; sociology, our carefully wrought inferences which make it Colonial anthropology, and ethnology combine to anything else. The many volumes of data produced Williamsburg throw light upon the acculturation of settlers by this cooperative agreement will fuel and fan the Foundation, review­ and Indians alike in the filter of the frontier; fires of such investigation for decades to come. ing pottery devel­ archeology checks, tests, and illustrates them The past five years of active research have oped for the all. Artifact produced important results along these lines. Some Assessment Certainly the Jamestown Archeological of the most significant of these are briefly Results workshop. Assessment has utilized archeology as the "check" described in this issue of CRM. Notable among for many disciplines. The Assessment has indeed these are the results of the Island-wide survey and given true meaning to the old sawhorse of "inter­ climatological reconstruction using cypress tree disciplinary research." The final products of the rings, the detailed reconstruction of historic prop­ Assessment illuminate this by clearly illustrating erty holdings, and the synthesis of previously exca­ the many intellectual avenues which lead to the vated archeological material—both architectural interpretation of Jamestown Island. and artifactual—with the results of very selective In addition, the Assessment used the "new new test excavations. In the latter, especially, may field techniques" that Cotter had argued should be be seen some of the most convincing answers to employed at sites like Jamestown long before the the questions posed so long ago by a young 2007 celebrations. The Assessment tested a great anthropologist, whose expectations for what could variety of geophysical prospecting methodologies be learned through archeology at Jamestown could in order to evaluate the effectiveness of these tech­ not fully be realized during his tenure on the niques in site discovery at Jamestown. A combina­ Island. Harrington wanted to know more about tion of magnetometry and soil conductivity surveys how the English adapted themselves to a brand emerged as a very useful adjunct to site survey at new environment. And he wanted to know how the Jamestown. The National Park Service has been a colonists really lived. If he could review the results leader in such geophysical survey dating back to of the Assessment today, he would hopefully con­ the 1950s. The use of ground penetrating radar, for clude that some of his "true anthropological objec­ example, was successful in nearby Civil War parks tives" have, indeed, been realized by today's gener­ such as Petersburg National Battlefield. The ation of historical archeologists. National Park Service invests in such methodolo­ gies because of its desire to conservatively conduct Marley R. Brown HI, Ph.D., is the Director of site discovery with a minimum of damage to sub­ Archaeological Research, The Colonial Williamsburg surface features. Although the anomalies that Foundation. result from such survey then need to be tested ("ground truthed"), ephemeral areas—such as David On, Ph.D., is Chief, Division of Archeology small scale prehistoric sites—can be preserved and Historic Architecture, Valley Forge National more effectively when a specific site strategy is to Historical Park. obtain archeological data from larger historic com­ Photos by Tony Belcastro.

o CRM No 1—1999 Audrey J. Horning Finding theTown in Jamestown Archeology of the 17th-Century Capital

Whereas his sacred majestie by his instructions hath Employing a generally non-intrusive policy, our aim was to obtain an overall understanding of the enjoyned us to build a town... town's physical appearance and how it functioned Act for Towns, 1662 and grew in order to guide future interpretation and research. rcheological and documentary Geophysical prospecting has been intensively research carried out through the employed, in one case pinpointing a previously- Jamestown Archeological undiscovered cluster of brick kilns. Excavations Assessment has provided a revised have been limited in extent, designed to address understandinAg of the 17th-century town and its specific research concerns. To quantify previous sporadic development, which has squarely recovery biases, samples of backfilled archeologi­ addressed the time-honored question, "why did cal soils have been re-excavated, screened, and Jamestown fail?" This re-evaluation has been analyzed. The detailed reconstruction of proper­ achieved through selective excavation, documen­ ties, discussed by Martha McCartney in this issue, tary research, architectural analysis, environmen­ has allowed us to place individuals on the map— tal sampling, geophysical prospecting, integration the keystone which has structured our analysis of with geological and hydrological data, and a thor­ the town's attempted development and eventual ough review of artifacts and documents in the col­ failure. Predictive modeling based upon these lections of Colonial National Historical Park. property reconstructions can now be employed to Rather than searching for "new" archeological guide archeological research. sites, the hallmark of previous archeology at Spatial analysis of the multitude of artifacts Jamestown, the Assessment embraced the unearthed in the past has similarly been crucial to restrained approach outlined in the Systemwide understanding Jamestown's growth. In 1993, dates Archeological Inventory Program (SAW) in place of pipestems from archeological features across the at the start of the cooperative agreement.

Aerial view of the townsite by Aerial Survey Corporation, courtesy NPS.

CRM No 1—1999 7 Jamestown in the 1620s. Findings from the recent re-excavation of Structure 24 suggests occupation of the building by the Jackson family. Quantities of lead casting waste and fragmentary gun parts sup­ port the presence of a smithy. Beyond corroborat­ ing the documents, the excavation provided a material basis for addressing the daily life of an artisan, shifting the spotlight which has tradition­ ally played only upon Jamestown's elite. The following period, under the leadership of Governor John Harvey in the 1630s, was perhaps the most active in Jamestown's history. Concerned with economic diversification and town growth, Harvey passed laws designating Jamestown sole port of entry and requiring artisans to settle in towns. Incentives were offered to those building in the capital. Secretary Richard Kemp collected on one such incentive when he erected Jamestown's first all-brick house (recently identified as Structure 44, unearthed in 1935 and re-excavated in 1994) in 1638-39. Kemp soon left Jamestown and built a better house on his Rich Neck planta­ townsite were re-examined and plotted spatially. Excavation in tion, illustrating the insurmountable difficulties Refuse Pit I in Immediately evident was the haphazard nature of faced by Harvey in combating the dispersed settle­ Governor Harvey's town development. The pipestem data revealed ment pattern necessitated by the emergent tobacco manufacturing three peak periods of activity, each followed by zone. economy. abandonment, which correspond to three periods of officially-sanctioned building schemes in the Harvey's ownership of a piece of property 1630s, 1660s, and 1680s. The spatial analysis also where a brewhouse and apothecary, a series of revealed that development occurred in discrete kilns, and an iron manufactory were situated areas of the townsite, suggesting a lack of continu­ (uncovered in the 1950s) illustrates how the gover­ ity in occupation. The overall history of the town nor backed up his beliefs about economic diversifi­ further divides itself into five distinctive periods: cation with his own speculative investments. This initial town establishment in the teens and twen­ manufacturing zone in the northwestern part of the ties, officially sanctioned mercantile and manufac­ town was subjected to an intense case study, with turing in the 1630s, a period of stagnation until the a thorough re-examination of all field drawings, 1660s, building activity following the 1662 Act for notes, and artifacts, combined with limited archeo­ Towns, and two decades of post-Bacon's Rebellion logical sampling designed to retrieve environmen­ (1676) rebuilding, all winding down to the 1699 tal data. Reputedly an autocrat, Governor Harvey transfer of the capital to Williamsburg. was forced out of office and subsequently bank­ rupted in 1639. Examination of artifacts and the Only two archeological sites are known from micro-stratigraphic analysis of a soil thin-section the earliest period of town settlement, but property from a refuse-filled clay borrow pit in the manufac­ research suggests much activity along the water­ turing enclave indicate that activity ceased by the front. Corollary material evidence presumably 1640s. escaped previous discovery because of the ephemeral archeological trace cast by earthfast That the craft production ended shortly after construction, the predominant technique employed Harvey's ouster from office illustrates the extent to in the early Chesapeake. Examination of sites from which development in Jamestown was reliant upon this period promises to illuminate our knowledge individual action. Speculators like Harvey hoped not only about domestic life in early Jamestown, to not only reduce reliance upon imports but also but also about mercantile and waterfront activities. aspired to export finished goods. Within England, One early structure was investigated in 1998. a number of towns were being successfully First uncovered but barely recorded in 1934, expanded and developed upon specialized manu­ Structure 24 represents a small, brick-nogged tim­ facturing predicated upon speculative investing. ber structure situated near the river on the east Harvey promoted the similar development of end of town. Artifacts found in a nearby well and Jamestown in anticipation of the same profits. refuse pit in the 1950s suggested an early domestic Unlike England, however, there was no influx of complex. Subsequent research traced the property labor. Immigrants to the colony were attracted by to a gunsmith named John Jackson, who lived in

8 CRM No 1—1999 land and tobacco, not manufacturing work in accepted perceptions of tidy brick rows housing towns. fashionable elites. Similar instances of failed spec­ Although Governor William Berkeley, in ulation dot the town and the documents. Houses office from 1642 to 1650 (and again 1660-1677) which were finished did not always serve as also sought to develop Jamestown, the political dwellings. Shortly after the construction of the realities of the Commonwealth (1650-60) hindered four-unit Structure 115, one unit became the pub­ his attempts, leading Berkeley to confine his enter­ lic jail, clearly proof that lessees were difficult to prises to nearby Green Spring, where he experi­ attract. Destroyed during Bacon's Rebellion in mented with rice cultivation and numerous indus­ 1676, only the eastern end of Structure 115 was tries. Jamestown itself served mainly as a watering ever rebuilt. hole during this period, richly illustrated in the The damage inflicted by the disgruntled rebel complaint of one visitor in 1660 that there were Nathaniel Bacon that fateful September night in "scarce but a dozen families in residence, all of 1676 is readily detected in the archeological them keeping ordinaries [taverns] at extraordinary record. Most notorious was the destruction of the rates." statehouse, recently identified as Structure 112, a The restoration of Berkeley and the passage sizable brick building which began its life as the of the 1662 Act for Towns prompted a flurry of frame dwelling of Governor Harvey. Another town speculative building. With instructions to erect 32 act, also disallowed by the Crown, was passed in brick houses backed by government subsidies, 1680 to encourage rebuilding and several impres­ investors built rowhouses. The Act was soon sive brick houses were constructed. Artifacts from revoked by the Crown, perhaps fearful of encourag­ nearly 30 structures show activity during this ing urban growth and diversification to the detri­ period. Despite this apparent growth, Jamestown's ment of the profitable tobacco economy, and the rowhouses would be described as "decayed and required number of houses was never achieved. ruinous" by the time a devastating fire in 1698 Excavation in 1993 at one set of rowhouses, wiped out the rebuilt statehouse. The agitation of Structure 17, uncovered an incomplete foundation several key political figures who owned land in Overall view of the for an additional unit. The image of a gaping, Middle Plantation soon prompted the transfer of 1993 excavation at Structure 17. garbage-filled cellar hole called into question the capital to that locale, renamed Williamsburg. Despite the move of the capital to a more salubrious location, it would be another half cen­ tury before Virginia saw any urban development. By then, economic dependency upon Britain had lessened enough to not only allow town growth in the Chesapeake, but to soon permit the emergence of an independent United States. The tobacco economy and Crown opposition may have eventu­ ally doomed Jamestown, but it was not for lack of trying. Jamestown's archeology encapsulates the speculative dreams of investors throughout the century, dreams fueled not by a New World fron­ tier experience, but by a keen awareness of the nature of town building and profit making in England. The challenge of employing a non-intrusive, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the 17th-century town has paid dividends. A holistic understanding of the town has been achieved which serves as a powerful management tool, not only guiding public interpretation, but providing the framework to direct future research detailing myriad human dramas acted out on the stage of the ill-fated 17th-century capital.

Audrey }. Horning, Ph.D., is an archeologist with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Photos courtesy Andrew C. Edwards, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

CRM No 1 — 1999 9 Martha W. McCartney Jamestown Island's Documentary History Clues to the Past

istorical studies of Jamestown tra­ pre-1683 land patents are copies of originals, some ditionally have focused on its of which were fragmentary when transcription very early history and events that occurred. Moreover, very early patents sometimes impacted the western end of the lack critical details, such as dimensions or the islandH. However, the documentary research con­ directional orientation of specific boundary lines. ducted in support of the Jamestown Archeological These limitations quite rightly have confounded Assessment explored the island's historical contin­ successive generations of scholars. uum and cultural landscape holistically. This com­ More recently, electronic mapping tech­ prehensive and methodical approach was used niques, which allow simple shape manipulation, Boundary lines and because important clues to the past, objectified in re-dimensioning, and geo-referencing of images, buildings drawn on the archeological record, often lie buried within William Sherwood's have been used in combination with traditional 1681 plat electroni­ documents only peripherally related to the human research methods. This approach was of ines­ cally overlaid on a activity in question. Throughout the research timable value in reconstructing chains of title for portion of John process, historical data were provided to two Jamestown Island properties and in identifying Cotter's base map teams of archeologists: one conducting limited boundary lines, often defined by ditches. Our study showing archeologi- tests in New Towne and the other performing a cally excavated fea­ also has revealed how certain properties were used tures (darker lines Phase I survey of the outlying National Park and where particular people were living. represent founda- Service property. The Data Collection Process tions;"Ditch 2"is a One of our principal goals was to determine Initially, data were compiled from a broad ditch feature exca­ variety of commonly used written records, such as vated in the how land ownership patterns on Jamestown Island 1950s). Digitized evolved over nearly four centuries of historic occu­ land patents, local court documents, and manu­ base map courtesy pation. This was an exacting task because the bulk script collections. These sources, as an aggregate, Colonial National of James City County's antebellum court records shed a considerable amount of light on the place­ Historical Park. was destroyed during the Civil War and Virginia's ment and configuration of specific tracts and their inter-relationship over time. However, references to Jamestown Island landholders and their properties' traditions also were discovered in several Tidewater Virginia counties and in the records of the overarching branches of government; in his­ toric newspapers, diaries and nar­ ratives; and in official documents and correspondence from England, Ireland, Bermuda, Newfoundland, and several North American colonies. Iconographic materials and historical maps from foreign and domestic reposi­ tories were examined closely for insight into the progression of cultural and geological changes known to have occurred on Jamestown Island. Data culled from all of these sources were synthesized, analyzed, and then used in combination with digital mapping techniques. The accu-

10 CRM No 1—1999 mulated data also were employed In determining Taking the process a step further, excerpts land use and site function. from patents, local court records, deeds, wills, and Reconstructing Boundaries Electronically legal documents included in private papers were During the data collection process, four major examined closely and sometimes compared word Jamestown Island plats were identified. These by word. Whenever detailed property descriptions drawn documents and a dozen or more historical were available, survey data (such as the length of maps were digitized at "real" scale in AutoCAD, a specific boundary lines and compass declinations) popular architectural and mechanical drawing soft­ were converted mathematically from now-obsolete ware. Then they were electronically layered or measuring schemes into their modern equivalents. "stacked" (superimposed upon one another) so Often, patent boundaries were sketched by hand that common reference points could be reconciled. and then reconstructed to scale electronically by This electronic template was created for compari­ Christina A. Kiddle and Gregory J. Brown of son with a digitized version of the master archeo- Colonial Williamsburg. Again, attention was logical site plan (or "base map") created by John focused upon the identification of common bound­ Cotter during the 1950s. The length and angle of ary lines. This was done so that particular pieces of specific boundary lines shown on the multi-compo­ what essentially was a gigantic jigsaw puzzle could nent electronic template were compared visually be joined together, one by one, synchronously. In with the ditches shown on the digitized base map. many instances, individual patents whose bound­ As numerous "matches" or common reference aries had been reconstructed to scale electronically points were identified, it was feasible to associate could be appended to each other and then linked certain boundary lines and landscape features to the electronic template we had created. shown on both maps. This simple exercise proved Sometimes, the size and shape of isolated proper­ extremely useful, for cultural features discovered ties were found to match ditch patterns or distinc­ by archeologists earlier in the century were tive topographic features. This was true in both sequestered within the boundaries of specific prop­ rural and urbanized portions of Jamestown Island. erties. Moreover, several sites excavated during the Ultimately, the creation of an electronic tract 1930s and '50s were found to correspond with the map made it feasible to link numerous archeologi- locations of buildings depicted on two 17th-century cal sites with specific landowners' holdings. plats. Moreover, it became possible to associate cultural

Boundaries of Study Units over­ laid on tract map showing recon­ structed land hold­ Boundaries of ings. New Towne Study Units 1,2, 3& 4 and the original landing site on APVA property are in Study Unit 4. Drawings on maps prepared by Christina Kiddle and Heather Harveyjhe Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

CRM No 1—1999 11 features mentioned in documentary sources (but Jamestown Island. Moreover, new links have been which await discovery by archeologists) with spe­ forged between the archeological record and the cific properties on Jamestown Island. This provides histories of numerous Jamestown Island proper­ the National Park Service with a planning tool use­ ties, findings that will enhance the National Park ful in the identification and protection of culturally Service's interpretive program. Culturally sensitive sensitive areas. areas have been identified that warrant future The pastiche of historical records marshaled investigation. for use in the Jamestown Archeological Assessment Historical data have been synthesized in suc­ has helped us determine how land ownership pat­ cinct property histories, which have been cross- terns on Jamestown Island evolved over time. referenced to biographical sketches of the approxi­ Documentary sources also have enhanced our mately 1,900 people known to have played a role knowledge of how specific tracts were used during in Jamestown Island's history. Maps and charts any one period. Throughout the analytical process, have been created that summarize land ownership historical archeologists, historians, architectural patterns during each period of historic occupation. historians, prehistorians, and other members of the A narrative provides an overview of the island's project's multi-disciplinary research team worked development over time, offering insight into critical together closely in a free-wheeling exchange of issues that influenced the course of its history. information. New Insights Organizing the Evidence Although Jamestown Island's very early his­ To provide a spatial frame of reference for the tory awaits intense documentary investigation, final tract maps, Jamestown Island was subdivided some interesting discoveries have come to light. into four geographically distinct components, or For example, we have learned that during the first "Study Units," largely defined by natural physical quarter of the 17th century, the eastern end of boundaries. Subsidiary parcels within each Study Jamestown Island was carved into numerous 12- Unit were designated "Tracts." As certain Tracts acre farmsteads, many of which were allocated to had been parceled into lots, especially within "ancient planters," people who immigrated to urbanized areas, they too were treated as sub- Virginia prior to 1616. Miraculously, very early units. This geographically-based, hierarchical orga­ archeological features survive within certain nizational scheme enables us to link property his­ "ancient planter" properties, some of which are tories with Jamestown Island's topography. It also defined by extant boundary ditches. permits us to discuss human activities and events We also have learned that from 1649 on, in terms of their impact upon specific portions of urban Jamestown embraced the entire western end the island. of Jamestown Island and that areas outside of the To establish a historical context or temporal "New Town" (laid out around 1621) were parceled frame of reference, the nearly 400 years that have into tiny lots where development was purposeful. elapsed since the first settlers arrived were appor­ Urban Jamestown also accommodated the gener­ tioned into four time periods. The parameters of ously proportioned estates of two titled noblemen each were delimited by broad developmental and the home lots of at least two men actively trends identified through documentary research. involved in the slave trade. During Period I (1607-1745), Jamestown Island By the mid-18th century, much of Jamestown was fragmented into more than a hundred parcels, Island had been absorbed into two major planta­ some of which contained a tiny fraction of an acre. tions. Documentary records associated with the Throughout Period II (1746-1831), Jamestown Ambler plantation, which enveloped the western Island accommodated two large plantations and a end of Jamestown Island and almost all of the handful of urban lots. Within Period III (1832 to frontage on the James River, are among the most 1892), the island as a whole (with the exception of complete in Tidewater Virginia. Meanwhile, the the churchyard) was owned by a succession of pri­ Travises, who owned a plantation in the eastern vate individuals. Finally, during Period IV (1893- end of the island, had a townstead in urban 1998), the island came into the possession of the Jamestown. These are but a few of the findings that National Park Service and the Association for the have resulted from the documentary research con­ Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. ducted on behalf of the Jamestown Archeological The End Product Assessment. Future research can be expected to fill Through documentary research and the use other gaps in our knowledge. of digital mapping techniques we have significantly enhanced our knowledge of land use patterns and Martha W. McCartney is the Project Historian with the sequencing of development throughout The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

12 CRM No 1—1999 Dennis B. Blanton Looking Beyond the Town Archeological Survey at Jamestown Island

still find it hard to believe that there are not waterlogged. The remaining two- Jamestown Island beyond the colonial thirds of the island are wetlands, most of which are town site was terra incognita, archeo- fringing tidal marshes. These conditions have not logically-speaking, when we began our been constant over the last 12 millennia. surveyI for the National Park Service in 1994. The Punctuating the basic goal of site inventory comprehensive, systematic survey was the first of were a number of specific problems or topics we its kind there and central to the archeological hoped to address with the survey results. One was assessment project. When our William and Mary to establish the duration of human occupation at team started Shovel Test 1 that October day, only Jamestown Island which began well before the first three sites were officially recorded on the island; load of Englishmen arrived in 1607. We found that when Shovel Test 5709 was back-filled almost a people have made use of the island for about as year later, 58 additional sites were on the map. long as is possible. I will never forget discovering Moreover, our team had documented evidence of the first of two fluted, Clovis-like points on a beach human activity there over the full span of our exposure. Both are made of fine, non-local stone species' existence in eastern North America, and and represent variants typical of about 10,500 BP. showed that virtually every part of the now-dry Another issue was to get some sense of upland areas were utilized at one time or another. human adjustments to the changing local environ­ The fundamental goal of the survey was sim­ ment. Geologists tell us that the landscape has ple: find all the sites that survive in the uplands evolved according to three basic stages. These rep­ and assess the potential of today's wetlands for resent the shift from a well-watered, dissected additional cultural resources. Because Jamestown upland peninsula between 12,000 and 6000 BP, to Island is now entirely vegetated, we resorted to the transitional emergence of an estuarine environ­ systematic shovel testing to locate the evidence. ment from 6000 to 3000 BP, to the fully estuarine Tests were excavated every 20 meters as we setting we see now. This progression transformed marched across the area generally east to west. It the island from a virtual Eden to a place less took about six months of fieldwork to complete the attractive to native inhabitants. Over time, the task, which was broken into two stages, in part to extent of well-drained uplands was reduced and take advantage of the winter seasons. At this time freshwater became very scarce. of year underbrush and the hordes of ticks are less Field school con­ The heyday of prehistoric settlement ducting shovel test­ troublesome. Our systematic testing was confined occurred before 3000 BP. Archaic projectile points ing in the densely to present day uplands, representing about 600 wooded portion of acres, for the simple reason that the sediments occur at many sites, and even Paleoindian evi­ Jamestown Island. dence is present. These encampments were rela­ tively frequent and coincide with an interval when the island was a well-watered, dissected peninsula. After this time, during what we call the Early and Middle Woodland periods, the island was virtually abandoned. This is in stark contrast to what was occurring within sight of the island on the main­ land. The uplands there became the focus of inten­ sive settlement by 2000 BP, potentially because places like Jamestown Island were rapidly losing the margins of their uplands and their reliable freshwater sources to inundation as the sea level rose. Sea level rise has also submerged many Archaic sites offshore or beneath marsh deposits. In essence, the unprecedented transformation of the lower James River was requiring an adjustment among local groups.

CRM No 1—1999 13 We also wanted to remote from the fort and town at the western end. understand why local Native Their archeological traces are not impressive as Americans were not utilizing viewed from shovel test samples, consisting at best the island intensively when of tiny brick nubs and occasional pipe, ceramic, those three ships sailed up the glass, or nail fragments. Sometimes, however, sub­ James River nearly four cen­ stantial features like cellars were encountered and turies ago. They had, indeed, these, along with knowledge of similar sites stud­ begun to use the place again ied nearby, tells us that they are information-rich. after the Early-Middle In fact, the island appears to boast some of the Woodland hiatus, but in more best preserved 17th-century farm complexes, as specific ways. It was during the they are unplowed and virtually pristine time cap­ Late Woodland period that sules. native Algonquians adopted a By the 18th century, the island's many farms more sedentary, horticultural were consolidated into two typical, expansive lifestyle. Small nucleated vil­ Tidewater plantations. One occupying the eastern A Clovis point dat­ lages and dispersed communities were established half belonged to the Travis family. The precise ing toe. 10,500 BP at key locations, while peripheral areas were uti­ location of their well-appointed plantation home which greatly lized selectively. Jamestown became one such latter had been lost to recent generations and was a altered the time locale. We know that a permanent Indian commu­ place we sought to pinpoint. Near the still-marked frame of man's nity was never established on the island, although presence at family cemetery, not surprisingly, ample evidence Jamestown. many small habitations were located by the survey. of a substantial structure and smaller "depen­ These are indicative of short-term, perhaps winter- dency" buildings were identified, along with the season residences, for small, task-oriented parties requisite array of colonial debris. intent on hunting and fishing. Down-river, even A closing chapter of historical use of within view of Jamestown, more intensively uti­ Jamestown Island occurred during the Civil War. lized sites are known where oyster reefs begin, and No less than five impressive earthen redoubts were the closest village site is not far upstream at the placed at strategic points by Confederates antici­ strategic confluence of the James and the pating Union advances. Some were connected by a Chickahominy rivers. In fact, it is from this village new road which can be traced even now. U.S. that many of the smaller parties using Jamestown troops swarmed the James-York peninsula, to be Island probably came. Paramount chief sure, but the island's redoubts saw little or none of Powhatan's remark that the island was "a piece of the action. waste ground" the English were welcome to may have been a slight overstatement, but clearly it was Jamestown has been pivotal in the annals of not regarded as a pivotal location. archeology as it has been in the nation's history. Here we can chart advances in historical archeol­ Associated with the survey was an attempt to ogy from the more particularistic early excavations improve knowledge of environmental conditions in to today's more expansive, interdisciplinary effort. the colony's earliest years. Certainly it was With our systematic survey and the complemen­ described at times by the English as inhospitable. tary studies of the assessment, the island's archeol­ We resorted to a bald cypress tree ring study for ogy has entered the contemporary period. The precise answers, in collaboration with David results provide much-needed local context for fully Stahle at the University of Arkansas. The findings comprehending the early colonial experience. were startling: tree rings document that the worst Along with the research contributions, new infor­ regional drought in the last 770 years occurred mation is available to guide management of the between 1606-1612. This revelation helps us com­ cultural resources. The Park Service has effectively prehend complaints about corn and fresh water established an archeological preserve at Jamestown shortages and, by extension, the alarming mortality where sites can be relatively safe. Some, however, rate and intercultural tensions. are still threatened by things like shoreline erosion Discovering several of the first English farm­ and the survey findings are helping to set priorities steads in this country was also an exciting outcome for protection. This work has set the stage for of the survey. By the second decade of the 17th future cultural resource management and planning century the tiny colonial enclave at Jamestown was for the anniversary celebration in 2007. celebrating successes. Rising confidence led to establishment of a few small plantations outside Dennis B. Blanton is the Director of The College of the confines of the fortified settlement, and some of William and Mary Center for Archaeological the earliest were scattered across the island. A Research. cluster of them has been identified by our work at the eastern end of the island, which is relatively Photos by Tony Belcastro.

14 CRM No 1—1999 David F. Riggs Continuing Jamestown's Military Tradition The Civil WarYears

amestown's strategic location was works that controlled river traffic and protected the important to English colonists in 1607, island. During the summer two infantry units and there was renewed military inter­ boosted Confederate strength to its maximum of est in the island during the American more than 1,200 men. Additional fortifications Civil WarJ. In 1861 Confederates initially regarded soon were erected below Jamestown and many of it as the best defensive point along the James these troops were transferred to them. As the River for defending Richmond, the South's capital island's military might declined, Jones conducted and industrial center. vital ordnance and armor tests for the CSS Virginia William Allen was a wealthy Virginian whose (formerly Merrimack) prior to his November reas­ properties included Jamestown. He occupied the signment to Richmond. island that April with troops he raised at his own Jones's successor was Maj. John R. C. Coxe, expense. Allen soon was joined by Catesby ap who was joined by local militia. Allen bolstered Roger Jones, a naval lieutenant, who was directed Jamestown's dwindling numbers during spring to construct and command artillery batteries. 1862 by raising an artillery battalion. When Maj. Before the year ended, Jamestown had five earth­ Gen. George B. McClellan launched his Peninsula

Drawing courtesy Blake A. Magner.

CRM No 1—1999 15 Ft Pocahontas. water cable from Photo by the Jamestown to Swann's author. Point and then ran wires to Fort Powhatan which was linked to his headquarters at City Point. When guerril­ las cut wires, Grant thwarted them by running an underwater cable 22 miles from Jamestown to Fort Powhatan. As the Petersburg campaign wore into the autumn and winter months, Union troops whose terms of enlistment had expired were sent to Jamestown to guard the island and await trans­ portation north. Guerrilla activity occasionally rup­ campaign and besieged Yorktown in April, the tured the tranquillity early in 1865. After Gen. Confederates responded by evacuating the middle Robert E. Lee's army surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia Peninsula, including Jamestown, on the Jamestown was a location for administering the night of May 3. With Jamestown safely behind Oath of Allegiance to former Confederates. Union lines, the large Federal transport fleet Today most of the sites associated with the anchored there throughout the summer. Telegraph Civil War have blended into the natural and colo­ wires were run from Jamestown to Fort Monroe, nial landscape. The 18th-century Ambler house which was connected to Washington, thereby that serviced Confederate officers was rebuilt but improving communications between McClellan and burned again three decades later. Its ruins stand in the War Department. After McClellan's withdrawal New Towne. Only the wooden T-shaped outline from the Peninsula in late August, the navy contin­ remains from the busy wharf that received ued to patrol the river. Southern supplies, and the bridge that connected While under Federal occupation, Jamestown the island to the mainland has totally vanished. was a rendezvous point for escaped slaves, many Of the five Confederate earthworks on of whom were evacuated by the navy. When the Jamestown Island, only two are substantially intact army vacated the island, William Allen's slaves and accessible to visitors. Fort Pocahontas, which burned the 18th-century mansion there, known as stands adjacent to the 17th-century church tower, the Ambler house. That October, Allen had five was the first and most significant one for defending men visit Jamestown to assess its condition, and Richmond during the early months of the war. three were killed by the rebellious blacks. Toward the center of the island is the Square Jamestown was virtually ignored until 1863 Redoubt. Located along the modern auto tour, it when it became part of a Confederate diversionary once guarded the military road and protected movement during the Suffolk campaign. It played a Jamestown's interior against boat attack via comparable role for Federals in their feint against Passmore Creek, just opposite the fort. Earthworks Richmond during the Gettysburg campaign. near Goose Hill and Black Point were erected to In August 1863, Jamestown assumed a new strengthen the river defenses, while a fifth one role as an army outpost for Williamsburg, which guarded the bridge and was supported by an was the most advanced Union position along the infantry lunette. These latter fortifications no Peninsula. Companies from all service branches longer are extant or are hidden by marshy terrain, and U. S. Colored Troops were rotated to observe much as Jamestown's Civil War history has been the river and Confederate guerrillas. The pace overshadowed by the dynamic role it played in livened during the Bermuda Hundred campaign founding a nation. when the telegraph was reinstalled. The Petersburg campaign required improvements in June 1864. David F Riggs is the Jamestown museum curator at Accordingly, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended the Colonial NHP and author of the book Embattled telegraph communications with a mile-long under­ Shrine: Jamestown in the Civil War.

16 CRM No 1—1999 Douglas W. Owsley Lessons from the Past

he ancient adage "The past is pro­ existence of the individuals represented by these logue" is obviously true in the his­ remains. tory of mankind as evidenced by Not all of the human skeletons collected by the multitude of historic studies such institutions are available for scientific study. completeTd over the years. This often-used phrase Many skeletons from North America are being is equally true and applicable to other scientific repatriated and buried in accordance with interpre­ disciplines. Significant contributions have been tations of recent laws, principally the Native made in the study of the physical man—his skele­ American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ton—since World War II. Scientific methods for (NAGPRA). Unfortunately, some prehistoric period determining a person's ancestral lineage have remains proffered and returned under the terms of been developed and are readily available. Huge this act were not fully documented using the latest databases of human characteristics addressing techniques and systems. Consequently, valuable many facets of cultures and ethnic origins have information about the groups represented by these been accumulated and validated. These mar­ remains are forever lost to science—the ultimate velous developments have been used to answer denial of their place in history. Equally disturbing questions that were unanswerable in the past and is the probability that some have been erroneously to solve riddles and puzzles that add considerably offered as a member of a tribe or cultural group, to the enrichment of the knowledge of our past. after being misidentified by inadequate review or The advent of these techniques are prologue reliance on inappropriate criteria. These unfortu­ to new ones not yet developed and not even envi­ nate determinations are unfair to both the receiv­ sioned today. Key to the success of recent studies ing group and to the person whose remains were is the availability of reference skeletal collections repatriated. in some museums and government and private Several recent studies of historic period col­ institutions. Time-consuming and labor-intensive lections reveal what could have transpired if the efforts have been directed toward examining, ana­ analyses had not been conducted. The author was lyzing, and recording physical manifestations of invited to study and report on collections of the lives of representatives of past societies. remains from Jamestown Island held by the Synthesis of the collected data enables us to under­ Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) and by stand more about the health, diet, activities, inter- the Association human conflicts, and other aspects of the daily for the Preser­ vation of

Field photograph taken during the excavation ofHRIO in 1940. Analysis proved this man was of African descent. Photo cour­ tesy Colonial National Historical Park. Oblique view of the skull showing syphilitic necrosis of the frontal bone.The circular open­ ing with radiating frac­ tures provide evidence of a gunshot wound. Putty was applied dur­ ing conservation and early restoration. Photo by Chip Clark, National Museum of Natural History.

CRM No 1—1999 17 Virginia Antiquities (APVA).1,2 This study was ini­ additional fractures to the skull. These bullet frac­ tiated in conjunction with the recent discovery of tures were not detected during earlier examina­ two early-17th-century burials inside the perimeter tions, probably due to partial concealment by past of James Fort. Our studies were sponsored by the reconstruction efforts and the unavailability of holding organizations as a supplement to an earlier more modern techniques. NAGPRA inventory.3 Each set of remains was re­ The application of modern techniques to examined and re-inventoried on site to determine studies of colonial burials is well underway. This the number of bones present, age, sex, ancestry, survey has identified the remains of Africans; and evidence of skeletal and dental pathology. The future research has the potential of determining the osteological data were incorporated into a comput­ location of their homeland. erized database. This bioarcheological database is Not only would new information concerning being developed for comparative research dealing these individuals have been denied to current and with historic populations. future studies, but had the holding organizations The CNHP collection illustrates the benefit of not sponsored new analyses, additional mistaken comprehensive analysis using modern techniques. offerings, under federal law, would have taken Our re-analysis of the 15 sets of remains provided place. What new and exciting scientific processes considerably more information about the demo­ will be developed in the future? Often, not even graphic composition of the series. The sex of 12 small test samples are allowed to be taken from the individuals was identified and age assessments collections before reburial. These skeletons of rep­ were revised for 10. Furthermore, the commingled resentatives of past Americans will not be available remains of four individuals were separated and for examination under advanced future ideas, and isolated components of two skeletons were re- the resulting knowledge will never be accumulated associated. for use and education of coming generations of all Americans. Seven individuals had been previously iden­ tified as Native American, and the remainder were unidentified. More extensive analysis using mod­ Notes 1 ern classification procedures and comparative Owsley, D.W. and K. L. Bruwelheide. J 997 Analysis databases recognized the additional presence of of the Colonial National Park Human Skeletal Europeans and Africans. Only three Native Collection. Report on file CNHP, Jamestown, VA. Americans were affirmed. Five individuals were 2 Owsley, D.W., P. Hamzavi, and K.L. Bruwelheide. reclassified as having African ancestry. These 1997 Analysis of the APVA Skeletal Collection, remains dating to the 17th century provide tangible Jamestown, Virginia. Report on file APVA, evidence of the first Africans in the English Jamestown, VA. colonies. 3 Neumann, G.K. 1958 Notes on an Indian cranium Of particular interest was the nearly complete from Jamestown, Virginia. Appendix B in skeleton of a man aged 23 to 27 years with Archeological Excavations at Jamestown, Virginia by changes indicative of advanced tertiary syphilis J.L. Cotter. National Park Service Archeological (Burial HR10). This semi-flexed burial was profes­ Research Series No. 4, pp. 213-217. sionally excavated in 1940 and the fractured cra­ 4 Clement, L.A. 1984 Preliminary osteological report nium was carefully restored. Field and conserva­ on Feature 75. Report on file CNHP, Jamestown, VA. tion documentation, including photographs, is 5 National Park Service. 1995 Native American Graves extensive. Studies completed in 1958,3 1984,4 and Protection and Repatriation Act Inventory. Report on 19955 identified the person as Native American. file, CNHP, Jamestown, VA. Our analysis involved detailed physical and radi­ 6 Ousley, S.D. and R.L. Jantz. 1997 FORDISC2.0. ographic examinations and the use of the Fordisc Forensic Anthropology Center, University of 2.0 System,6 a craniometric discriminate function Tennessee, Knoxville. program designed with known reference series. Our analysis proved that this man was not Native Douglas W. Owsley, Ph.D., is the Division Head for American as previously believed, but was of Physical Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution. African descent. Equally interesting was the evi­ dence, verified by computer enhancement of origi­ The author thanks the administrators of the nal photographs, that this person had not died Colonial National Historical Park and the from his disease, but from a gunshot wound to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia head. The frontal bone of the skull shows a circular Antiquities for the opportunity to examine the col­ defect with radiating wedge-shaped fractures lection from Jamestown Island. Editorial guidance depicting the entry point of the projectile. for this article was provided by Malcolm Radiographs show metallic fragments around the Richardson. entry wound. The exiting bullet produced several

18 CRM No 1—1999 William M. Kelso Jamestown Rediscovery Archeological Cultural Resources Management for the New Millennium

he Association for the Preservation cation, the remains of the first church, store­ of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) house, and settlers' "cabins." They were also to could be considered the nation's seek signs of craftsmen's activities within and sur­ oldest archeological cultural rounding the early fort and evidence of the native resourceTs manager. In 1893, the APVA acquired Algonquin influence on colonial crafts, buildings, 22.5 acres at the western end of Jamestown life style, and foodways. The research also hoped Island, the site of the oldest permanent English to gain insight into the lifestyles of rich, poor, and settlement in America, in order to stop both river non-English among the first colonists and the erosion of the site and vandalism of an original nature and growth of world trade reflected by the church tower and graveyard. At that time most buried artifacts of the settlement. people felt the actual site of the 1607 fort settle­ These were not unrealistic goals. In only five ment had already eroded into the James River. excavation seasons, this research has shed light on Nonetheless, it seemed like a good idea for the every single one of the original objectives and, typ­ five seasons of APVA to mothball an area surrounding the one ically, uncovered a number of surprises. archeological exca­ remaining aboveground remnant of the 17th-cen- But to understand the scope of the discover­ vation by the tury town, a brick church, by building a protective ies, a short review of the documentary background Association for the concrete seawall to stop erosion and a grass cov­ of early Jamestown settlement is in order. On May Preservation of ered park to stop agricultural cultivation. As Virginia Antiquities' 13, 1607, a group of 104 men and boys backed by Jamestown Virginia began laying plans to observe the 400th the Virginia Company of London chose to settle a Rediscovery anniversary of the founding of James Fort, the point of land that was actually an island at very uncovered the lines Association decided to take an archeological look high tide, Jamestown Island. While Captain John of decayed posts at just what it was that it had been preserving for Smith and others left Jamestown soon after landing that proved to be a century in the hopes that it could make a major the remnants of the to explore the James River, the rest of the council stockade fenced contribution to the nation's birthday. In the spring were left to "contrive [design] the Fort." By June James Fort, the ear­ of 1994, the APVA began Jamestown Rediscovery, 15, 1607, George Percy, one of the original settlers liest settlement at a 10-year comprehensive archeological research described the finished fort: Jamestown and the and public education program. The excavations We had built and finished our fort, which first permanent were intended to seek a better understanding of English settlement was triangle-wise, having three bulwarks at the extent, if any, of the survival of the first fortifi­ in North America. every corner like a half-moon, and four or five pieces of artillery mounted in them. Whatever its form and degree of sophistica­ tion, the "council's Fort" did not last long. In January 1608, fire either seriously damaged or completely destroyed it. Yet by summer that year it was rebuilt and the overall plan transformed into a five-sided shape. This newer "James towne" seemed to prosper under Captain John Smith's strict leadership, but soon after he left in the fall of 1609, the colony began to deteriorate. By spring, when a supply ship arrived with the first governor, Sir Thomas Gates, and his future secretary, William Strachey, they basically found Jamestown in a shambles: "viewing the fort, [May 23, 1610] we found the palisades torn down, the ports open, the gates from off their hinges." Soon things got so bad that Gates ordered an evacuation of the town. On June 7, 1610, "the survivors sailed down river.

CRM No 1—1999 19 APVA Jamestown Much to their surprise, however, they soon met an Rediscovery advance party from the incoming supply fleet of excavations have the new Governor, Lord Delaware. Thereafter the recovered hun­ dreds of 16th- and new leadership and especially the new supplies 17th

20 CRM No 1—1999 event, a land patent of 1644 fairly clearly estab­ station/auto CAD, the dismantled parts of James lishes this property as belonging to one John Fort can be preserved digitally far more precisely White, a member of the House of Burgesses and than the most meticulous records of the past. In possibly a merchant. In fact, a distinctive back­ that sense, the future at Jamestown is indeed now. filled ditch aligned with the orientation of the foun­ Three other arguments stemming from the dation almost certainly marks the division between Jamestown Rediscovery experience bode for re-eval­ White's property and the land belonging to the uation of the "don't dig" school of CRM: the threat church to the west. This ditch may prove to be the of time, an almost boundless site, and the crippling only property line that can be marked with any cer­ learning freeze. Jamestown Rediscovery excavations tainty at Jamestown thus making a significant con­ prove that in normal soil conditions at Jamestown tribution to piecing together the layout of the town. metal and bone that have been in the ground for The story of early Jamestown continues to close to 400 years are within a few decades of the become richer with each archeological season. But end of their survival. So a sizable percentage of the how is it that this description of total area excava­ artifacts will not even be there to find in the not-to- tion at Jamestown appears in a cultural resource distant future. Careful contextual removal and stor­ management periodical? Is not Jamestown age in a dry stable environment, however, arrests Rediscovery actually a dreaded "Phase III" process, that decomposition. Also it is clear, based on the usually reserved as a last resort for threatened rate of excavation during the first five years of sites, surely not to be used at America's buried Jamestown Rediscovery, fully exploring the site of birthplace?* In fact, in 1957, the pioneer National the earliest occupation at Jamestown would take Park Service archeologist, John Cotter, recom­ 70 years. So even if total excavation goes forward mended at the end of his heroic monographic from the 1990s there will be enough of untouched report on the Jamestown excavations: "Old" Town James for three more generations of In 1957 systematic trench testing at "new and improved" archeologists. Add the rest of Jamestown ended, it is hoped, forever. New the Jamestown town site and it is clear that by the field techniques...that detect underground year 3007, archeologists might be able to begin to features without excavating should be understand the settlement. And finally, if the exca­ employed at sites like Jamestown—even if we vations stop to wait for the perfect technological must wait until the celebrations of 2007.... advance, how could desk archeologists gain the field experience at Jamestown necessary to inter­ Magnetometers or such like, he reasoned, pret the discoveries advanced technology may would let archeologists have their cake and eat it offer? True the Rediscovery excavations benefited too, enabling them to access the archeological enormously from the experience gained by archeol­ story without the inevitable disturbance of the ogists rescuing Jamestown period sites elsewhere ground. in the Chesapeake region since Cotter worked. No Well, perhaps by 2007 there will be a device one today could have recognized the importance of capable of detecting those all but invisible soil the ephemeral clues to early life at Jamestown stains of earliest Jamestown. However, recent test­ including the not so obvious signs of the "fort" ing and follow-up excavation at the Rediscovery without the field trials of salvage work in the 1970s site show few signs of that on the near horizon. and 1980s. But the current excavations prove that And even if some sort of precise ground x-ray could there is no better classroom for the excavation of develop, only excavation with the traditional Jamestown than Jamestown. Thus as the millen­ shovel and trowel can sort out the age and mean­ nium closes, the Jamestown experience suggests ing of the features anyway. In other words, it is less that the mothball approach to archeological cul­ likely today that technology will replace excavation tural resource management, while it was a godsend than it may have seemed to Dr. Cotter 41 years in the 1890s, needs serious revision today. ago. Shovels and trowels were the basic archeolog­ ical tools before manned-flight was invented. Shovels and trowels are equally the basic archeo­ The National Park Service and other federal agen­ logical tools in the space age. cies limit Phase III, total excavation of a site, to While no magical x-ray substitute for shovels those sites that may be destroyed or are threatened. and trowels seems within our grasp, another inven­ Limited archeology to identify and evaluate a site is generally recommended in order to preserve the site tion has indeed revolutionized the archeological for future study. process: the computer chip. While it obviously cannot move dirt, the PC certainly minimizes the William M. Kelso, Ph.D., is the Director of destruction of archeological context by making it Archeology with the Association for the Preservation possible to micro-archive and analyze the excava­ of Virginia Antiquities. tion record. With a custom program known as Re: discovery for field/ lab text and images and total Photos courtesy APVA.

CRM No 1—1999 21 Karen G. Rehm and Diane G. Stallings Cultural Resource Management and Interpretation A Cooperative Venture

n 1607, the first permanent English set­ tion with many children wanting to have their pic­ tlement in North America was estab­ ture taken next to the statue of Pocahontas and lished in Virginia. This settlement rep­ asking for the location of the waterfalls and the resented a cooperative venture between talking tree. This general sense of confusion has the VirginiI a Company (investors seeking to been a challenge to interpreters at Jamestown for increase their wealth by reaping the benefits of most of the 60-plus years that the National Park the abundant natural resources purported to be Service has been interpreting the site. located in this new world) and the British govern­ In the 1930s, the decision was made to nei­ ment, which hoped to expand its dominion into ther reconstruct nor try to recreate this 17th-cen- territory not already claimed by Spain and its tury village. Instead brick formations marked the other European rivals. John Smith who arrived site of the original foundations and a pastoral set­ with the first settlers on May 13, 1607, described ting with only a large obelisk monument, a recon­ Jamestown as "... a verie fit place for the erecting structed church, and statues of John Smith and of a great cittie ...." None of those involved with Pocahontas dotting the picturesque view of the this venture could have guessed the ramifications James River. For the 350th anniversary of of this small settlement on the banks of the James Jamestown in 1957, the Service built a visitor cen­ River. It was here that representative government ter that in 1976 was enlarged to include a large got its foothold on American soil, a bi-cameral picture window overlooking the New Towne site. legislature was established, Native American poli­ Additional archeological testing resulting in a cies including the establishment of reservations series of booklets on aspects of 17th-century life at were formulated, and African Americans were Jamestown and brick audio stations placed near brought in from the West Indies and Africa to the foundations were modest improvements to the eventually serve as the predominant labor force interpretive program. The primary stories were told for the South and divide a young nation in two. through waysides, special events, guided ranger These are the major stories of Jamestown, and yet tours, and first-person living history programs that there is so much more to be told about this small were developed in the 1970s, and continue to be settlement that struggled to survive for 92 years one of the most popular programs at Jamestown. before losing its place as the capital of Virginia to While the non-intrusive approach has proven to be Williamsburg in 1699. The articles in this issue of the best course in light of the recent archeological CRM focus on aspects of the Jamestown findings, Jamestown was not necessarily awe- Archeological Assessment (JAA) as integral parts inspiring or fulfilling to the visitor and the park of the cultural resource management program at staff. It seemed as though once the story of the set­ Colonial National Historical Park or challenge the tlers landing and the major events of 1619 (repre­ policies and procedures in retrieving this informa­ sentative government and the arrival of African tion. This article will examine the benefits of the Americans) were told, there was not much left to JAA to the interpretation of the site. say. One of the objectives of the JAA was that it serve as a catalyst to reinvigorate the interpreta­ It is amazing that most Americans believe tion of Jamestown. The full story from prehistoric that Plymouth was the first permanent English set­ times to knowing who lived at each of the house tlement in North America, a myth reinforced every sites and what they did would assist the park in year at Thanksgiving. Some visitors to Jamestown establishing the identity of Jamestown and to relate ask to see Plymouth Rock and if the three ships the vibrancy of this small community and its docked at the Jamestown Settlement, the impact on Virginia and the entire nation. Commonwealth of Virginia state park adjacent to the Original Site, are the Nina, the Pinta, and the As in 1607, the JAA was a cooperative ven­ Santa Maria. The recent Disney film on ture since the interpreters at Jamestown were given Pocahontas resulted in a noted increase in visita­ access to the various archeologists, historians,

22 CRM No 1—1999 In the fall of 1998, the park sponsored two blue-ribbon weekends of special lectures by the archeologists and historians from CWF and William and Mary. Special park ranger guided tours and an evening program on the "Burning of Jamestown" during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 enabled the park to focus on the evolution of the settlement from a fort to a capital city. After seeing an advertisement on the park's web page, a 12- year-old boy from the State of Washington enticed his father to bring him to Virginia just to see these programs. Eric Deetz, staff archeologist with APVA, presented dig tours of the first fort site. All of the programs were well attended with the public asking for similar programs in the future. This five-year assessment also sparked the staff to seek funding to revise one of its most pop­ ular education programs on Jamestown field school con­ anthropologists, and other experts from The Archeology. Funded through the Parks as ducting Phase II Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF)and The Classrooms program in 1998, the park staff worked survey of New College of William and Mary through training ses­ Towne structure with archeologists and staff from APVA and CWF that is open to the sions and briefings on the most recent findings. and educators in James City County to develop an public. Photo by Newsletters were developed by the partners on education program that not only incorporates the Tony Belcastro. their findings and distributed to the academic com­ new findings but has resource based activities and munity and interested professionals free of charge. can be adjusted for all ages. The final product will Arrangements were made with Eastern National, a include teacher lesson plans that can be used for Park Service cooperating association, to produce various age groups, a video on the process of dis­ and sell them to the public at a modest fee. The covery, and a companion poster. park staff created a special file in the library and Although the Service has received several used bulletin boards in the office for current draft volumes on various research topics, including reports, press releases, etc., so that materials A Comprehensive Archaeological Survey of reached the staff immediately. This information Jamestown Island; Jamestown Island Land was translated into temporary exhibits displaying Ownership Patterns, Historical Data: Volume II; some of the recent finds, site bulletins, and inter­ and "A verie fit place to erect a great cittie" pretive tours of New Towne. Working with the staff Comparative Contextual Analysis of Archaeological at NPS Harpers Ferry Center, the Park developed a Jamestown, with the remaining volumes due in the new brochure of Jamestown that relates these coming months, this does not mark the end of the recent findings to the public. Artwork commis­ sioned for the brochure depicts New Towne in the comprehensive study of Jamestown. Additional 1660s, its heyday, with architectural renderings of studies and archeological surveys are needed to the structures based on the findings of profession­ identify or retrieve resources threatened by an als at CWF and artifacts actually recovered from eroding shoreline and to explore sites that were the site. identified during the Phase I survey. In 1998, the park received funding for a study on the African Since 1994, when the Association for the Americans at Jamestown and Green Spring. Based Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) initi­ on Doug Owsley's findings (see "Lessons from the ated their search for the original fort and its dis­ Past," p. 17) and the significance of Jamestown to covery in 1996, there has been an increasing effort African-American history, the need for specific to relate these new discoveries to the public who information on the African Americans who worked are fascinated by discovering or rediscovering the and lived in Jamestown, those who owned or past. The APVA produces popular publications on traded them, and their connection to the outlying each year's findings. In the fall, their lecture series plantations was deemed a critical need in both on Jamestown and related sites are booked to areas of cultural resource management and inter­ capacity. This spring the National Geographic pretation. During African American History month Society produced an exhibit on the Jamestown in February, the early findings from this study and Rediscovery project featuring some of the finest slavery in general will be presented through special artifacts and the skeleton of one of the first settlers lectures at Jamestown. Future research will focus to die at Jamestown. In June the exhibit was put on on illuminating the stories of all of Jamestown's temporary display at the Jamestown visitor center. inhabitants, including Native Americans.

CRM No 1—1999 23 Continued research on both APVA and NPS nation's birthplace. The successful marriage of his­ property is imperative as we move toward 2007 torical and scientific research developed by J. C. and the 400th anniversary of the founding of Harrington in the 1930s was fulfilled by the Jamestown. Major efforts by the Commonwealth of Jamestown Archeological Assessment. To para­ Virginia, the National Park Service, and APVA are phrase John Smith, this small peninsula did underway in a cooperative manner to re-examine become "a verie fit place for the erecting of a great" the interpretive facilities and programs to ensure nation. that the story is told effectively and accurately. Knowing the location of the original fort and struc­ Karen G. Rehm is the Chief Historian at Colonial tures is important, but understanding and inter­ National Historical Park. preting the events and the people who secured England's presence in North America are critical to Diane G. Stallings is the Historian at Jamestown, ensuring that Americans treasure this site as their Colonial National Historical Park.

1699 Exhibit—A Symbol ofTransition On April 27, 1699, Virginia's legislature voted to move the capital from Jamestown to Williamsburg. To commemorate this event and the tercentennial of the city of Williamsburg, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation will feature a special exhibit at its DeWitt Wallace Gallery. Titled "1699: When Virginia was the Wild West," it will open on May 1, 1999, and close early in the year 2000. The exhibit is symbolic not only of the movement of the capital but of a transition in the part­ nership between the National Park Service and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. After five years of joint efforts in the Jamestown Archeological Assessment, the two institutions have embarked on this new endeavor. Colonial Williamsburg initiated planning for the exhibit when the Assessment was in its final phase. And, just as The College of William and Mary joined in the Assessment, four other institutions are co-sponsoring the exhibit: the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and Historic St. Mary's City. Museum staff from Colonial National Historical Park and Colonial Williamsburg selected 103 objects from the Jamestown museum collection for the exhibit. The wide range of objects includes weaponry, tools, architectural remnants, and domestic items that typify the rudiments of daily sur­ vival. In contrast, the colonial capital's sophistication is revealed in the decorative arts, as represented by a sample of Jamestown's North Devon sgraffitoware, a Chinese porcelain tea bowl, and ornamental plaster figures. The research partnership between Colonial National Historical Park and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation made it easier for this exhibit to become a reality. It is probable that coop­ erative efforts will render additional rewards as Jamestown's 400th anniversary approaches.

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