Botanical Material from Jamestown: A New Survey

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "New Avenues in the Study of Plant Remains from Historical Sites" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Funded by the Surrey-Skiffes Creek Conservation and Curation project, Jamestown Rediscovery has undertaken an ambitious plan to better conserve, curate, and analyze botanical material from the past 25 years of excavation. Material from waterlogged contexts is of special interest, particularly to address conservation needs of artifacts made from plant material and plant artifacts which have been stored in water. Unprocessed samples have been stabilized via rehousing according to higher archival standards. Unidentified collected botanicals have undergone preliminary identification. New identifications and previously identified material not yet included in the artifact database have been cataloged. Preliminary sorting of contexts which have undergone flotation will enhance the database of finds and provide, for the first time, a broad picture of botanical material at Jamestown in the early seventeenth century. This paper will provide a preliminary report on the progress of this multi-year project, including findings to date, initial conclusions, and next steps.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Avenues in the Study of Plant Remains from Historical Sites   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology