May 2026

Construction of a new pathway continues to dictate the location of the excavations at Jamestown but every new square opened on the island has the potential to hold something exciting like the well found in March. The island is bustling with the sights and sounds of bulldozers, trucks, and excavators as the biggest construction project since the Archaearium (built in 2004-2006) is underway. A flood-resistant and ADA-compliant pathway extending from the CDA Gates to the Archaearium is under construction and the archaeological team is digging any previously unexcavated areas in its path to ensure potential features and artifacts are properly excavated and recorded.

This month also marked the beginning of 2026’s field school and nine students arrived at Jamestown to learn from the archaeology and collections teams. In partnership with the University of Virginia, Jamestown’s field school offers college credits to the students who successfully complete the five week course. Consisting of archaeological fieldwork, hands-on conservation and curatorial exercises, a field trip to observe the archaeology at Historic St. Mary’s City, and a series of lectures, the field school aims to give students a practical, authentic, and well-rounded experience in the archaeology field. The students are rotating through the different dig sites and the collections instruction/exercises inside the Rediscovery Center.

There are three main areas of excavation currently underway. One is inside the east bulwark of James Fort, adjacent to the Seawall. This area hosted some of the earliest excavations in the history of the Jamestown Rediscovery project, with shovels breaking ground in 1994. The second area is just outside the fort’s west palisade, inside Confederate Fort Pocahontas, and close to the Ed Shed and Hunt Shrine. The third dig site is north of James Fort, in an area called “North Field” by the archaeologists. This site is a continuation of past excavations, an investigation of a series of repeating pit and posthole patterns at regular intervals.

Inside the east bulwark the dig continues adjacent to a number of already-excavated squares that were dug in the mid-1990s. The pathway’s footprint encompasses many of those already-excavated squares here, but also nearby areas that haven’t yet been explored. The team is running into a series of utilities from the twentieth century, including multiple power lines, a sewer pipe, water lines, and an artesian well. These obstacles slow the excavations and block the historic layers beneath. At this point, the archaeologists are working only on slivers of historic areas, the majority of their time being spent on the modern layers, slowed by the patchwork of pipes and the septic tank.

Although the excavations have largely involved modern layers some early artifacts have also turned up, evidence of the mixing of layers through farming, utility work, and even earlier archaeology. A large brick rubble pile was found adjacent to the sewer pipe, and European pipes and ceramic sherds have been popping up while screening through excavated soil. The brick rubble pile may be related to a warehouse/dwelling built by merchant John White, who purchased an acre of land here in 1644. Staff Archaeologist Natalie Reid is leading these excavations, and she is joined by Senior Staff Archaeologist Anna Shackelford and Archaeological Field Technicians Katie Griffith and Gabriela Bombino.

A second dig area is located just west of the fort’s western palisade, close to the Ed Shed and the Hunt Shrine. As with the dig inside the east bulwark, the new pathway will go through this area and so our archaeologists need to excavate it first. This dig here is complicated by a large number of tree roots and a large pile of brick and mortar rubble. The rubble pile is likely related to the deconstruction of a nearby house occupied by William Leal, a Richmond stonemason who assisted with a number of projects at Jamestown in the early 20th century, including the repair of gravestones and monuments in the churchyard. The archaeologists, led at this site by Staff Archaeologist Ren Willis, have also found a pit or ditch, possibly the continuation of a ditch found several feet to the north, on the other side of Fort Pocahontas’ earthworks. Ren is joined here by Archaeological Field Technicians Josh Barber and Amelia Fahl. Amelia is a new addition to the team; she was a member of the 2025 field school and the team is happy to bring her into the fold.

Sherds of pearlware and English porcelain are turning up here. A garter clasp was found as was a large quantity of nails and a partial French pipe bowl. The pipe likely dates to the nineteenth century and was made in France. It was found by Ruth Hobbs, a member of the Museum Store team, during a staff dig day. A hammer and a horseshoe, situated just inches from each other have also been found. These may have been related to the work William Leal was doing as his residence was just a few feet away.

The third excavation site isn’t in the course of the pathway but is instead a continuation of past digs, called “North Field” by the archaeology team. In 2023, the team discovered a series of grouped features, each containing a pit, a single posthole, and an ash/charcoal deposit, all in the same orientation, spaced 18 feet apart. The westmost two groupings have been excavated, as has another 36 feet to the east. If the pattern holds true, there should be another grouping halfway between the two.

The team is excited to open these new excavations eighteen feet between the two existing groupings, not only to see if there is another set of features, but also because three unrelated ditches, running roughly north/south, should also traverse the new excavation squares. Two of the ditches run in a straight line and a third is a zigzag ditch, paralleling the path of a split-rail fence. One of the ditches is the boundary between the property of John Howard and Colonel Nathaniel Bacon (“Bacon the Elder”, not his rebellious cousin who was named after him). While the ditches are interesting features in and of themselves, the reason for the team’s excitement is that one or more of them may intersect the pit grouping if the pattern holds true and one is found in this area.

The archaeologists want to see “what cuts what.” In archaeology (or even when digging in the sand at the beach) newer features cut through older ones, disturbing or even destroying the fill of the first where the two intersect. If one of the ditches cuts through the pit grouping, then the ditch is newer than the pit grouping. Alternately, if the pit grouping cuts the ditch, then it is newer than the ditch. The team has approximate dates for some of the ditches via property records (the John Howard/Nathaniel Bacon property line dates to the 1690s) and so if one of the ditches cuts (or is cut by) the pit grouping, we’ll be able to determine which feature is older. This could be an important piece in dating the pit groupings, which heretofore have eluded even approximate dating due to a lack of reference artifacts or features. The pit groupings have contained remarkably few artifacts, which is sometimes an indicator of an early feature. Staff Archaeologist Caitlin Delmas leads the dig at the North Field, supervising a crew of Archaeological Field Technician Eleanor Robb and Archaeological Intern Natalie White, an alumna of Jamestown’s 2025 field school.

The Ed Shed is open for the season! Visitors to the Ed Shed can get hands on, searching through excavated rubble for artifacts. This activity is not staged . . . the rubble hasn’t yet been searched and visitors actually discover small finds such as beads, aglets, lead shot, and food waste (animal bones). Another popular activity at the Ed Shed is a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) demonstration where objects are buried in sand and visitors try to find them using a GPR machine, using the same equipment and physics as the archaeologists in the field. While the artifact picking activity is available Tuesdays-Saturdays, the GPR activity only takes place on Fridays. The Ed Shed is located just west of James Fort, next to the Hunt Shrine.

Surrey-Hampshire Border ware, a ceramic type produced in the regions along the border between Surrey and Hampshire counties in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, is well represented in the Jamestown collection. This type of pottery was popular in England during Jamestown’s time as capital of Virginia, so it is no surprise that it made it to the colony in such large numbers. Senior Curator Leah Stricker is taking the lead on adding this ware type to the reference collection, whereby illustrative examples are kept downstairs in the Vault, easily accessible for research. Should additional artifacts need to be accessed, additional examples can be pulled from long-term storage on the second floor.

Leah has her work cut out for her because Surrey-Hampshire Border ware took many forms, including candlesticks, drinking vessels, cheese strainers, chafing dishes, and shaving equipment. The clay used tended to either have a whitish or red-firing fabric and the potters used a lead glaze, sometimes adding elements such as copper or manganese to the glaze to give the vessel color. The first artifact found by Dr. William Kelso when he began the Jamestown Rediscovery excavations in 1994 was a sherd of Border ware. Jamestown’s webpage on Surrey-Hampshire Border ware contains more info about the ceramic type and photos of many of its forms. Leah will be updating the webpage as her work progresses.

Curator Janene Johnston, Jamestown’s resident weapons curator, is tackling another arms-related reference collection project, musket rests. The muskets of the early 17th century were heavy and ungainly, requiring something to stabilize them so that they could be adequately aimed. Musket rests were wooden poles (called a “haft”) typically footed with a metal cap (called a “shoe” or “spike”) at its base and a metal fork at its top where the musket sat. Jamestown has about fifty partial musket rests. They are all made of iron; none of the wooden portions survive. Having said that, there is a wood pseudomorph in the socket of one of the rests, iron corrosion having taken the shape of the wood as it rotted away.

Jamestown 1862 is the name of an ongoing archaeology and historical research project seeking to learn all we can about enslaved persons who sought to self emancipate by escaping to Union-held Jamestown Island. Whether swimming across the James River from Surry County or escaping by foot from a plantation on the north side of the river, enslaved persons took advantage of locations like Jamestown Island where the Union military had established beachheads within the Confederacy. Union-held Fort Monroe, downstream at Hampton Roads, became a hub for these freedom seekers, and it was there that they began to be called “contrabands” because they were deemed contrabands of war (enemy property), who in some cases were forced to aid the Confederate war effort. Union Major General Benjamin Butler, commander of Fort Monroe, refused to return these contrabands when approached by agents of the slaveholders, using the logic that since the Confederacy deemed themselves no longer part of the United States that he was not required to return their property as he would have been under 1850’s Fugitive Slave Act.

Contraband Historical Society, a group of historians, researchers, descendants, and interested citizens, visited Jamestown this month to discuss their efforts with the staff and learn about the Jamestown 1862 project. Descendants of some of the freedom seekers were in attendance, as were descendants of General Butler. Also among the society’s attendees were representatives from Berkeley Plantation, which similarly saw enslaved persons escape there when it was likewise occupied by the Union. The Society members were also given a tour of the Archaearium museum by the museum’s director, Jamie May.

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Dig Update Archive, 2004-present