So…. Family Trails readers, welcome back!
I am very glad that you have come back, seeing how last week's edition was a bit overwhelming! There are so many books and articles to dig into to learn about our "first settler" to America. They are all vey interesting, but at the same time, confusing, and at times, very sad. The story of the Powhatan Indians and their involvement with the settlers on the James River creates so much conflict in our 21st century minds. As I reread the article from "Colonial Williamsburg" magazine, In Search of Lost Forts, (Spring 2007), my mind races from interest to sadness to a bit of shock that anyone did survive life in the 1600's in The New World, Indian or settler.
If you want to read more about any of this, please refer to the sidebars on this blog, "Books of Interest" and "Other Publications of Interest." Also, you can search on the internet for any of these subjects in our family story:
Isabella Smyth and Richard Pace
Pace's Paines
Jamestown (James City)
Wolstenholme Towne at Carter's Grove
William Perry (Isabella's second husband and James River inhabitant)
Chanco
Opechancanough (Powhatan King)
The "Colonial Trail"
Pallizadoes (word in 1624/25 census for timbered-walled defense works)
Captain John Smith
Governor Wyatt
The Virginia Company of London
Now, if you can hang in here for a little bit more information, I will attempt to retype this article below. I had saved it in my family memorabilia book , and so again, I will repeat the title of this post,
HOW DID WE EVER GET HERE?
BONEYARD SHOWS EARLY JAMESTOWN ENDURED HARD LIFE
by David Brown, The Washington Post
printed in the Birmingham News, April 15, 2001
printed in the Birmingham News, April 15, 2001
Archaeologists at Jamestown have uncovered what they believe may be the Virginia colony's oldest graves, a finding that hints of desperate times at America's first English settlement.
The site contains skeletons of people who appear to have been hastily and shallowly interred without regard to the conventions of 17th century burial practice. Preliminary analysis suggests it may contain victims of the "starving time," an eight-month period in 1609 and 1610 when three-quarters of the colonists died.
The burial ground is about one-sixth of a mile from the fort that housed colonists, a long distance in the scale of the original settlement. Archaeologists speculate that common people were probably buried there-workers and artisans were not Jamestown's "gentlemen."
"What we believe we have is the potter's field," said William Kelso, head archaeologist at Jamestown Rediscovery, as the dig is called. "In a way, that's good news; these are the unsung heroes of the colony."
Archaeologists have known of the burial ground's existence since 1954, when it was found by chance. Seven graves were opened at that time briefly studied and covered up. The ground is also the site of Virginia's first statehouse, a building erected over a long time, starting about 1645. By that time, a generation after Jamestown's founding, it appears the graveyard's existence had been forgotten.
The current dig is the first scientific study of the burials, part of a burst of archaeological research in preparation for the 400th anniversary in 2007 of Jamestown Settlement. Over the last nine months, 24 graves have been excavated and their contents removed for research. About 25 more will be uncovered this year.
Forensic anthropologists and archaeologists hope the project will provide a picture of the demographic patterns of mortality in the colony's early years and possibly some causes of death.
The graves suggest evidence of hard conditions in the years immediately after the colony was founded in May 1607 by 105 men and boys. None of the conclusions are certain, however, and all involve a certain amount of speculation , Kelso said.
While not a mass grave, the site suggests that many people were buried quickly and over a short period.
For example, Christian custom of the time was for the corpse to be on its back with its head at the west; this latter convention was so that on Judgement Day the dead could rise and face the rising sun in the east. Many of the graves, however, are oriented other than east-west. In some cases, the body is in a contorted position, or even face down, suggesting it "was just dumped in ," Kelso said.
In the two of the 24 burials, archaeologists found buttons and aglets, which are brass cylindrical reinforcements at the end of cords and laces. This is evidence that these bodies were clothed. Normally, only royalty and clergy were buried dressed. Everyone else was naked and wrapped in a shroud, Kelso said.
"Our immediate conclusion was this was a contagious disease," he said. Although the germ theory of infections was unknown by the colonists, experience with plague and smallpox taught people that clothing transmitted diseases.
The researchers also found graves containing more than one body. The skeletons were separated by layers of soil, indicating the burials occurred at different times.
"What we believe we have is the potter's field," said William Kelso, head archaeologist at Jamestown Rediscovery, as the dig is called. "In a way, that's good news; these are the unsung heroes of the colony."
Archaeologists have known of the burial ground's existence since 1954, when it was found by chance. Seven graves were opened at that time briefly studied and covered up. The ground is also the site of Virginia's first statehouse, a building erected over a long time, starting about 1645. By that time, a generation after Jamestown's founding, it appears the graveyard's existence had been forgotten.
The current dig is the first scientific study of the burials, part of a burst of archaeological research in preparation for the 400th anniversary in 2007 of Jamestown Settlement. Over the last nine months, 24 graves have been excavated and their contents removed for research. About 25 more will be uncovered this year.
Forensic anthropologists and archaeologists hope the project will provide a picture of the demographic patterns of mortality in the colony's early years and possibly some causes of death.
The graves suggest evidence of hard conditions in the years immediately after the colony was founded in May 1607 by 105 men and boys. None of the conclusions are certain, however, and all involve a certain amount of speculation , Kelso said.
While not a mass grave, the site suggests that many people were buried quickly and over a short period.
For example, Christian custom of the time was for the corpse to be on its back with its head at the west; this latter convention was so that on Judgement Day the dead could rise and face the rising sun in the east. Many of the graves, however, are oriented other than east-west. In some cases, the body is in a contorted position, or even face down, suggesting it "was just dumped in ," Kelso said.
In the two of the 24 burials, archaeologists found buttons and aglets, which are brass cylindrical reinforcements at the end of cords and laces. This is evidence that these bodies were clothed. Normally, only royalty and clergy were buried dressed. Everyone else was naked and wrapped in a shroud, Kelso said.
"Our immediate conclusion was this was a contagious disease," he said. Although the germ theory of infections was unknown by the colonists, experience with plague and smallpox taught people that clothing transmitted diseases.
The researchers also found graves containing more than one body. The skeletons were separated by layers of soil, indicating the burials occurred at different times.
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