Jamestown, Virginia: The Curators’ View

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Opening the Vault: What Collections Can Say About Jamestown’s Global Trade Network", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Jamestown, England’s first successful settlement in North America, was established in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London as an economic venture. Though the colony struggled to survive, let alone profit for the first several years, the site transformed from a precarious outpost into a vital commercial center until the capital of Virginia was relocated to Williamsburg in 1699. The Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeological project launched in 1994 and remains an active archaeological site today. Excavations have focused on fort-period features and archaeologists have recovered a variety of early 17th century trade goods from all over the globe. These have recently been the subject of several interesting collections-based research projects. This paper will serve as an introduction to the symposium; briefly covering Jamestown’s history, the Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeological project and some of the archaeological highlights, and the current status of the collection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Opening the Vault: What Collections Can Say About Jamestown’s Global Trade Network

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow