Archaic Point

Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists often find things that are centuries — if not millennia — older than the evidence of the fort built by English settlers in 1607. James Fort was built on a hill sandwiched between the James River and an inland marsh. Before the English landed, that hill provided Virginia Indians with fish and starchy resources. As the food sources were seasonal, it is likely that Jamestown was used as a seasonal hunting camp for centuries by the American Indians who lived nearby.

Most of the pre-James Fort artifacts found in the fort area are from the production and resharpening of stone tools — such as this 6- to 8,000 year-old spear point. Eventually, the soil around James Fort was plowed, and centuries of artifacts mixed together into the plowzone layers where it is common for Rediscovery archaeologists to find these ancient artifacts.