Jamestown Rediscovery - Rediscovery: Archaeological Project Beginning in 1994

Rediscovery: Archaeological Project Beginning in 1994

In 1994, the Jamestown Rediscovery project was created by Preservation Virginia to archaeologically explore their land. The original goal of the archaeological campaign was to locate archaeological remains of "the first years of settlement at Jamestown, especially of the earliest fortified town; the subsequent growth and development of the town".

Beginning their work in the area protected by the 1900 sea wall, the archaeologists began to explore. Early on, the project discovered early colonial artifacts. This was something of a surprise to some historians as it had been widely thought that the original site had been entirely lost due to erosion by the James River. Many others suspected that at least portions of the fort site remained.

In 1996, they successfully located the site of the original 1607 James Fort. Subsequent excavations have shown that only one corner of the first triangular fort (which contained the original settlement) turned out to have been destroyed. The sea wall built in 1900 to limit the erosion turned out to be a rich investment in the past and the future.

Since it began, the extended archaeological campaign has made many more discoveries including retrieving hundreds of thousands of artifacts, a large fraction of them from the first few years of the settlement's history. In addition, it has uncovered much of the fort, the remains of several houses and wells, a palisade wall line attached to the fort and the graves of several of the early settlers.

Visitors to the NPS Historic Jamestowne attraction can view the site of James Fort, the 17th century church tower and the site of the 17th century town, as well as tour an archaeological museum called the Archaearium and view many of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by Jamestown Rediscovery.

As of 2007, visitors can also often observe archaeologists from the Jamestown Rediscovery project at work, as archaeological work at the site continues and is greatly expanding knowledge of what happened at Jamestown in its earliest days.

Among the discoveries, a grave site with indications of an important figure was located. Some theorizes the remains to be that of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, though others have claimed it to be the remains of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr. It had long been thought that Baron De La Warr, who died en route back to the colony from England on his second trip, had been buried elsewhere but some recent research concluded that his body was in fact brought to Jamestown for burial.