Colonial Williamsburg Research Division Web Site

Jamestown Archaeological Assessment

The Jamestown Archaeological Assessment: Multidisciplinary Study of Jamestown Island

by Gregory J. Brown

In 1992 the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the College of William and Mary began a five-year cooperative agreement with the National Park Service to investigate Park-owned property on Jamestown Island. Working in parallel with the excavations of James Fort by the Associated for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities under the direction of Dr. William Kelso, this study is providing important new insights about the history of this very important part of America’s history. The following article, produced by Drs. Marley R. Brown III and Audrey J. Horning, is taken from the Colonial Williamsburg Research Review, Vol. VII (Spring 1997).

Introduction


Excavation in front of Visitor’s Center in the area of Structure 112.

Colonial Williamsburg’s Research Division is concluding an ambitious collaborative study of the archaeological heritage of Jamestown Island managed and interpreted by the Colonial National Historical Park. This five-year assessment of Jamestown Island’s archaeological resources was sponsored by the National Park Service and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation through a cooperative agreement, and involved as well the talents of scientists from the College of William and Mary and the Virginia Institute for Marine Sciences. The major goal has been to document and take the measure of previously unknown or misunderstood archaeological sites on the Island as a whole. It is also the first phase of Park Service preparation for the quadricentennial celebration planned for the year 2007. An interdisciplinary effort, the Assessment has pooled a team of archaeologists, historians, architectural historians, bibliographers, artifact specialists, geologists, geophysicists, paleobotanists, and palynologists to attain a wide variety of goals. A major concern of the Assessment has been to re-examine and evaluate all archaeological materials collected during the two major government-sponsored archaeological efforts at Jamestown which took place in the 1930s and 1950s. How reliable are the old interpretations? What biases exist in the materials collected? Is there anything to learn from re-excavating previously examined archaeological sites? Can new techniques of sampling and analysis developed in archaeology and allied disciplines since the last major work in 1957 be of any help in creating new and more complete interpretations of Jamestown for the 400th anniversary of the landing in 2007?