News

A drone shot of the first 5' x 5' excavation squares in Smithfield

April 2025

The area to the south and west of the Archaearium is abuzz with the scrapes of archaeologists’ shovels and trowels carefully exposing the historic layers beneath […]

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Handle with Care: Glass

Conserving glass artifacts at Jamestown April 30, 2025. Dr. Chris Wilkins, Senior Conservator. The general role of an archaeological conservator is to stop degradation and corrosion […]

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Archaeological Field Technicians Josh Barber and Hannah Barch share their findings with visitors to the excavations southwest of the Archaearium.

March 2025

The archaeology team is welcoming the onset of spring and the opportunity to get back outside. They have resumed their excavations close to the Archaearium, working […]

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A button and a partial Turk's head pipe found at the Godspeed Cottage excavations

February 2025

Excavations continue just to the east of the Godspeed Cottage. Three postholes — likely for a fence — were found approximately 5 feet apart from each […]

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Sketches of the 2024 burial excavations of the 1607 burial ground by Archaeological Field Technician Eleanor Robb

Drawing the Dead

Behind the Scenes of Illustrating the 2024 Burial Excavations February 27, 2025. Eleanor Robb, Archaeological Field Technician. Every year, the field crew at Jamestown Rediscovery excavates […]

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A snowy day at Jamestown, January 2025

January 2025

During January most of the archaeologists are focused on indoor tasks including report writing, digital mapping of features, and helping the collections staff with artifact processing. […]

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Associate Curator Emma Derry, Director of Archaeology Sean Romo, University of Connecticut's Cassie Aimetti and Dr. David Leslie, and Director of Collections and Conservation Michael Lavin examine the latest batch of vibracore samples from Jamestown.

December 2024

As the weather grows colder the majority of the archaeological team has transitioned indoors, writing reports on recent field work and helping collections staff with artifact […]

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Staff Archaeologist Natalie Reid explains the Archaearium excavations to some visitors. Archaeological Field Technicians Eleanor Robb and Hannah Barch are at work behind her.

November 2024

Our archaeological excavations are focused on an area just south of the Archaearium. Work there began during the Field School and Kids Camps in the summer […]

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The archaeologists prepare for excavations in the 1607 burial ground.

October 2024

The Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists have successfully excavated the remains of four colonists, three from the 1607 burial ground and one from Smithfield, the field northwest of […]

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The Jamestown Rediscovery team prepares the area of the 1607 burial ground where this year's burial excavations will take place. The three dark rectangles are the top of the grave shafts. The brick scatter at center may be a robbed hearth from a later building. The brick and cobblestone feature at left is a chimney base for a fort-period building that paralleled the west palisade wall and was approximately 92 feet long.

September 2024

The Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists are busily preparing for excavations of burials at both the 1607 burial ground and at Smithfield just south of the Archaearium. The […]

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A birds-eye view of the survey float in the green, mucky swamp. The green water swirls behind the kayaks as they're pushed through the water

Finding the “Greate Road”

Moving from terrestrial archaeology to maritime archaeology September 27, 2024. Sean Romo, Senior Staff Archaeologist, Mary Anna Hartley, Senior Staff Archaeologist, David Givens, (former) Director of […]

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A 360 degree photo of the excavations in the north field

August 2024

In the field north of James Fort, Archaeological Field Technician Ren Willis is finishing up excavations on one of a series of subfloor pits spread across […]

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