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Jamestown: An English Fort in the Land of Tsenacommacah

As the site of the first successful English colony in North America, Jamestown Island is of great historical significance. Since 1994 Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists have uncovered many artifacts and features that tell us of activities at this early 17th-century settlement where three different peoples, (i.e., Native American, European, and enslaved Africans) shared a common space. Given the complexity of humans, successful archaeological studies demand insight from a wide array of disciplines such as geology, forensics, genetics, architecture, biochemistry, art history, the social sciences, and chemistry.

In this Cheminar, Dr. Charles Durfor ’74 (Senior Archaeologist at Jamestown Rediscovery) and Dave Givens (Jamestown Rediscovery’s Director of Archaeology) will describe major finds at Historic Jamestowne during the last 29 years and show how such information tells the story of individuals both known and unknown in the historical record. The presentation will also highlight the role of chemistry (e.g., elemental analyses and stable isotope studies) in revealing the diet, social status, and site(s) of immigration for the earliest English settlers. Finally, the presentation will also discuss future studies of Native American ceramics found at Jamestown that seek to learn more about the Virginia Indians that traded and lived with the early 17th-century colonists.

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