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Armor and weapons discovered in ancient Jamestown pit. Search for English settlers’ first church goes on. Date published: 5/10/2007
By CLINT SCHEMMER As organizers finish preparing for America's 400th birthday party this weekend, archaeologists at Historic Jamestowne are busy unearthing what appears to be a weapons cache left by the English colonists inside James Fort. They showed their earliest finds to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip when they visited Historic Jamestowne on Friday. Since then, they've discovered more arms and armor--as well as personal items--in what may be the settlers' first well, dug by Capt. John Smith. "It may be like the tip of an iceberg," said Dr. William Kelso, director of archaeology for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. "We expect that these exciting artifacts may be buried with many other related finds. We'll see as we uncover more of it in the next few days." At the same time, archaeologists are excavating near a 1607 graveyard in the fort's west corner, close to the James River. Between those 22 graves and another burial that was recently unearthed, they've discovered an undisturbed area, about 15 feet by 20 feet, where a building may have stood. It could be the site of the Englishmen's first church, which they built in the center of the fort. "It would make sense to find the church near the graveyard," APVA senior archaeologist Danny Schmidt said. The APVA team will keep searching for the place of worship as they dig toward the triangular fort's center. That work will accelerate quickly after a summer field school begins June 4. In the fort's north corner, nearest Historic Jamestown's new visitors center, lay a nearly complete broadsword, thigh armor, rapier hilt (sword handle) and iron pole left in a 400-year-old, 19-foot-wide trash pit. In June 1610, after a terrible drought and a deadly winter the colonists called the "Starving Time"--when dozens perished and some survivors were reduced to cannibalism--the colonists packed up and prepared to abandon the settlement. They buried unneeded military gear at James Fort before they left to seek passage back home to England aboard fishing ships off the New England coast, according to period accounts. But as luck would have it, they ran into the fleet of Lord De Law Warre, the colony's governor, at the mouth of the James River the next day--and returned to Jamestown to pick up where they left off.
Date published: 5/10/2007
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