February 2026

North of the Memorial Church, at a site called “North Church” by the archaeologists, the team is working furiously to excavate the areas that will be affected by upcoming construction. Workers will soon break ground on a pathway that spans from James Fort to the Archaearium museum. The pathway will be raised, allowing the site to be used even during flooding, and will also be ADA compliant, enabling wheelchair users to more easily travel the length of the Preservation Virginia portion of Jamestown.

The eastmost excavations opened last month, close to the beginning of the proposed path, have been completed. Staff Archaeologist Caitlin Delmas and Archaeological Field Technician Hannah Barch found part of a boundary ditch here running east/west that has turned up in other squares to the west as well. The ditch separates the church property from that of John Howard, a colonist who patented the property to the north in 1694. Caitlin and Hannah also found fence postholes here, running parallel to the ditch. The ditch cuts part of the postholes, indicating that the ditch is newer than the postholes. Both the ditch and the fence postholes served the same purpose, separating the two properties, and the archaeological evidence suggests there were multiple iterations of fence posts in the same locations, with replacements likely installed when the original posts rotted.

A large, thick sherd of ceramic with striking brown, orange, and black residues on the exterior was found in these eastmost excavations this month. This fragment is part of a melting pot. Melting pots were used for different types of activities which required extremely high heat. The melting pot at Jamestown may have been used to make a “trial of glass” that was sent back to England in 1609. Senior Curator Leah Stricker is excited to see if the sherd mends to the rest of the vessel, some of which is on display in the Archaearium museum.

In the westmost square, called the “Tetris Square” by the archaeologists because its “L” shape resembles a piece from the video game, Staff Archaeologists Natalie Reid, Ren Willis, and Archaeological Field Technician Eleanor Robb have discovered another portion of the churchyard/Howard ditch. Including previous excavations, the team have now found both ends, 130 feet part, matching the dimensions listed on the plat of John Howard’s property. As with the eastern side of the ditch, Natalie, Ren, and Eleanor have found postholes here that were once part of a fenceline separating the two properties. The archaeologists have also found three additional postholes in this square that are currently of unknown purpose.

Moving to the squares a few feet to the east, the team discovered planting furrows dating to 1607/1608. These furrows are among a group of them discovered in this area over the past several years, this new section being the northmost extent of the furrows. Senior Staff Archaeologist Anna Shackelford explained that other sections of these furrows have been found inside the footprint of the Memorial Church, and also outside the south wall of the Church. The furrows predate the first church of four to be built on the same spot there (the 1617 church) by around a decade.

Perhaps the most interesting feature to be exposed during the excavations is the footprint of the 1608 palisade extension. This wall of logs was the northmost section of an expansion that transformed James Fort from a three-sided structure to a five-sided one. This northern wall of the 1608 extension was discovered by archaeologists in 2009 but not all of it was exposed. The team knew that the wall should pass through some of the squares they were opening and they were not disappointed. The wall’s post molds — that is the rotted wood-stained soil where each log once stood — are readily visible. This extension cut the planting furrows, meaning that the furrows are older than the extension. The furrows run parallel to the triangle fort’s east wall, a possible clue that they were situated with respect to the 1607 fort and were created very early in the settlement’s existence.

The post molds really stand out, even to the untrained eye, but just as interesting is where there aren’t post molds. There is a break in the line, about 2.75 feet wide, that is almost certainly the location of a gate. In 2017, along the same wall but several feet to the east, the archaeologists found another break in the palisade, but this one was smaller. The ends of the palisade on either end of that break were offset from the wall’s normal angle by several degrees, forming a tiny hallway that might have been a sally port. Just to the north of the palisade in the current excavations lies a burial which cuts one of the planting furrows, indicating that it’s newer than the furrow. Multiple thin features, likely plowscars, blemish the squares containing the palisade extension.

In addition to the melting jar, quite a few other artifacts have been found in the North Church excavations this month. A lead seal was found, but at this point, before conservation, no details are readily discernible. Wine bottle glass, a jetton, a Yadkin projectile point, an abundance of glass, flint, a gooseberry bead, and dozens of ceramic sherds have been found including Spanish olive jar, Frechen, sgraffito, Westerwald, and more. Senior Conservator Chris Wilkins took an X-ray image of a rusted iron object found in the North Church excavations this month. The X-ray revealed the object to be a curry comb, a brush used for grooming horses, with the design suggesting that it dates to the late 19th or early 20th century.

Senior Curator Leah Stricker is in the beginning stages of creating the glass reference collection. As with other artifact types, the glass reference collection will include unique and representative examples of each type of glass artifact in the Jamestown collection. By viewing the reference collection, typically housed in a drawer or a set of neighboring drawers, staff and researchers have a convenient place to examine examples of each artifact type in one place. Should they need to see additional examples, the artifacts can be pulled from archive storage.

One of the first steps Leah has taken is to assemble all glass artifacts under consideration for the reference collection on the main display table in the Vault. There are a multitude of glass object types that our archaeologists have found over the years. These include drinking vessels, scientific instruments, window panes, linen smoothers, and more. Some highlights of the glass in the collection include pharmaceutical phials, cupping glasses, wine bottle seals, and decorative figurines. The collection not only includes finished objects, but also evidence of glassmaking, with waste pieces found in abundance. While she is gathering and analyzing these artifacts, Leah is flagging any that need conservation work. Look for progress reports on the creation of the glass reference collection in future updates.

The collections team has a bit more information on a Spanish coin found last September in the cellar excavations. Thanks to a cleaning by Senior Conservator Dan Gamble, a few more details can now be seen. On the obverse, few markings of this well-worn coin can be seen save the Jerusalem cross, a clue that it was a coin of the Spanish Empire. On the reverse, the Pillars of Hercules can now be discerned as can an ocean wave (representing the Atlantic) just below. Unfortunately wear has destroyed other details on the coin, but this design would typically bear markings representing mint location, date, an assayer’s mark, and denomination. Senior Curator Leah Stricker speaks about this coin in the latest edition of Dig Deeper.

In the Vault, Assistant Curator Magen Hodapp is working through a variety of faunal remains analyzed by outside zooarchaeologists Susan Andrews, Steve Atkins, and Dr. Joanne Bowen. These researchers have lent their expertise to many projects at Jamestown, including the analysis of the remains Magen is working on from Pits 5, 9, 10, 11, and Structure 166, known as “the Quarter“. Magen is grouping remains by type and feature and bagging them up, including a label containing information used to identify them. She is then entering all the information into our artifact database. This allows our staff and researchers to view artifacts by criteria such as context or type, a powerful tool for research that allows one to get the “big picture” without needing to pull a single artifact from the archives.

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