Conservation of the Knights Tomb

Summary

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 its kind in the colony. Over the years, it had been broken and removed to another area within the church relocating it from its original position. Discovered in 1901 by early founders of Preservation Virginia, conservation practices were primitive and work done to preserve the stone did more harm to the stone. In 2017, it was determined that the stone should be restored and returned to its original placement within the Jamestown Memorial Church. Staff conservators have worked over the past two years to preserve this unique artifact, and in conjunction with archaeological evidence, place the stone back where it belongs.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology.   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 526