Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology.

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology.," at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Since 2016, the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeology team have been excavating the purported location of the first, and longest-meeting representative governmental body in English North America. Virginia’s General Assembly met for the first time in late July, 1619. Scant historical documentation indicates that this nascent form of democratic government met inside the 1617 church, a timber frame structure located in the ever-expanding colonial capital. The site was the focus of limited excavations from 1897 to 1906 with the express intention of defining the multiple iterations of churches on the site and high-status individuals buried within. This session explores and highlights the archaeological discoveries, analyses, and interpretations of these lost spaces.

Other Keywords
Jamestown • Churches • Colonialism • Virginia • Conservation • Burials • Interpretation • Archaeology • Collections • Catalog

Temporal Keywords
17th Century • Post Medieval • Seventeenth Century • 17th to 18th century • 17 century

Geographic Keywords
Coahuila (State / Territory) • New Mexico (State / Territory) • Oklahoma (State / Territory) • Arizona (State / Territory) • Texas (State / Territory) • Sonora (State / Territory) • United States of America (Country) • Chihuahua (State / Territory) • Nuevo Leon (State / Territory) • Delaware (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)

  • Documents (8)
Documents
  • The Archaeological Context of the 1617 Church Excavations (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Givens.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 2016, the Jamestown Rediscovery team began excavations inside the 1907 Memorial Church with the intentions of locating and contextualizing the location of the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere. In anticipation of the construction of...

  • Conservation of the Knights Tomb (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dan Gamble.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.                 In 1627, a gravestone was laid over the remains of Sir George Yeardley, who served as Governor of Virginia during the meeting of the first legislative assembly in 1619. Called the Knight’s Tomb, this stone was unique, being one of the first of...

  • High Frequency Ground-Penetrating Radar Survey in the Jamestown Church: Mapping Structural Elements and Human Burial Orientation (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter Leach.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Ongoing investigations at the Jamestown Church include novel implementation of high-frequency (2.3GHz to 2.7GHz) GPR antennas to generate high-resolution and non-invasive subsurface data. The main targets were: 1) a potentially high-status Euro-American burial...

  • Interpreting Lost Landscapes Within a Historic Standing Structure, the 1617-1647 Timber Frame Church at Jamestown. (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Lavin.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Jamestown Rediscovery conducted a two year archaeological investigation within the 1907 Jamestown memorial church and revealed new information on the construction of the 1617 timber frame building. Research of surviving examples in England offered direct links...

  • Jamestown’s 1617 Church: Finding the Founder and Foundations of Representative Government (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary R. Hartley. David Givens. Sean P. Romo.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Excavations conducted by pioneering women archaeologists in the 1890s uncovered evidence of the 1617 Church, where the first meeting of the General Assembly occurred in July 1619. However, those excavations did not determine the church’s complete limits....

  • The state of the Jamestown Collection: Preparing for 2019 and the future (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Leah Stricker.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Over the past four years, Jamestown Rediscovery staff has been working towards the anniversary year of 1619 by developing research initiatives to further understand the beginnings of democracy and slavery. While this work occurred, providing support for ongoing...

  • Understanding the Materials and Methods Used in the Construction of the 1617 Church at Jamestown, Virginia (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles Durfor. Kaitlyn Fitzgerald.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. From 2016 to 2018 Jamestown Rediscovery excavated the 1907 Memorial Church where the foundations of: 1) a 1617 timber-framed church and 2) a 1640s brick and mortar church are located. The 1617 church is where the first legislative assembly in British North...

  • Visualizing Jamestown’s 1617 Church: Creating a 3D Model of the Site of the First General Assembly (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lisa E. Fischer. Cynthia Deuell.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. 3D modeling, an effective tool for envisioning historical sites, has been used to visualize the interior and exterior of Jamestown’s 1617 church, where the first General Assembly was held form July 30 to August 4, 1619. The digital and archaeological teams have...