Deer Bones

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are one of the most common native faunal finds at Jamestown, and they were of great importance to both the English colonists and the Powhatan Chiefdom. For both groups, deer were a food and supply source. Deer provided meat, hides, antlers, and bone to craft into tools or other objects. Antler tines could be worked into arrow points or pressure flakers, and deer long bones were used to create tools like needles, scrapers, and fleshers. Deer was also traded between the colonists and the Virginia Indians, as John Smith states, “With fish, oysters, bread, and deere, they kindly traded with me and my men, beeing no lesse in doubt of my intent, then I of theirs.”

During the Starving Time, deer were an especially important resource, particularly after the colonists ate their livestock populations. Though it would have been difficult for the colonists to hunt too far beyond the fort, as they were under siege by the Powhatan Chiefdom, deer bones are found in many Starving Time-era features, including many with butchery marks.

Archaeological and written evidence from the Early Fort Period indicates the colonists were likely hunting or trading for deer outside of the fort. Unlike animals that were processed within or near the fort, which result in a spread of bones from the entire body being discarded, only certain deer bones are found in earlier contexts. It is likely that few deer lived near the fort, as John Smith writes, “Of beasts the chief are Deere, nothing differing from ours. In the deserts towards the heads of the rivers, there are many, but amongst the rivers few.” This further supports that the colonists were initially traveling away from the fort to hunt for deer.

Throughout North and South America, white-tailed deer are one of the most widespread land mammals. Many subspecies of white-tailed deer exist, and they are found in almost every US state. Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina all claim white-tailed deer as their state animal, and they are the national animal of both Honduras and Costa Rica. Visitors to Jamestown today may spot groups of deer running along the isthmus.