New Discoveries at Jamestown Part 5

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JAMESTOWN COOPER WAS A BUSY CRAFTSMAN. MANY BARRELS, HOGSHEADS, AND CASKS WERE NEEDED IN THE COLONY, AND LARGE QUANt.i.tIES OF BARREL STAVES WERE MADE FOR SHIPPING TO ENGLAND. (Painting by Sidney E.

King.)]

Artisans and Craftsmen

Numerous objects recovered at Jamestown are extremely important as they reveal the kinds of craftsmen and artisans who worked in Virginia's first capital, the nature of their tools and equipment, and examples of their handiwork.

THE CARPENTER

Scores of tools used by the men who helped build the Jamestown houses have been unearthed, including chisels, augers, gouges, hammers, reamers, saw fragments, bits, axes and hatchets, plane blades, gimlets, files, calipers, compa.s.ses, scribers, nail pulls, and a saw wrest. A grindstone was found in a refuse pit not far from the historic church tower.

THE COOPER

Some tools used by the cooper, including draw shaves, adzes, plane irons, and race knives, have been excavated. Several barrel staves--probably made at Jamestown--were found in a few wells. Because of the great demand for barrels, casks, and hogsheads (both in Virginia and England) the Jamestown cooper was a busy artisan. His products were needed at all times, especially after 1620 when the Virginia settlers began shipping large quant.i.ties of tobacco to England in wooden hogsheads.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TIMBERING--ONE OF THE FIRST ENGLISH INDUSTRIES IN THE NEW WORLD. (Painting by Sidney E. King.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY 17TH-CENTURY, TWO-MAN, CROSSCUT SAW.]

THE WOODCUTTER AND SAWYER

Numerous tools found on Jamestown Island relate to timbering, including felling axes, hewing axes, hatchets, saws, and wedges. An early 17th-century two-man crosscut saw has been recovered almost intact.

Records indicate that pit saws were used, although none has been excavated.

THE IRONWORKER

A small, primitive hearth or furnace, where small amounts of iron may have been smelted during the early part of the 17th century, was uncovered during archeological explorations in 1955. A few miles upriver from Jamestown, at Falling Creek, the English built their first iron furnace in America in 1620-21. Iron was smelted in the furnace, and a few tools were forged--the first iron objects made in the New World by the English. In 1622 the Indians ma.s.sacred the ironworkers and their families, and destroyed the furnace. Although it was never rebuilt, its importance cannot be overstressed, for the Falling Creek site can rightfully claim the honor of being the birthplace of the American iron industry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW OF MANY TOOLS UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN WHICH WERE USED FOR TIMBERING: FELLING AXES, A HEWING AXE, ADZE, HATCHET, WEDGE, AND SAW FRAGMENT.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAKING "TRIALLS" OF IRON. EVIDENCES OF AN EARTH OVEN OR SMALL FURNACE WERE DISCOVERED AT JAMESTOWN DURING ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. SMALL AMOUNTS OF IRON MAY HAVE BEEN SMELTED IN THE FURNACE DURING THE EARLY YEARS OF THE SETTLEMENT. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)]

THE BLACKSMITH

In 1955, archeologists discovered the remnants of an early 17th-century forge. At the site, blacksmith's tools, bar iron, sword guards, unfinished iron objects, and slag were found. This gave evidence that a blacksmith once plied his trade only a few yards west of the ancient brick church. Many blacksmiths worked at Jamestown (there was one among the first group of settlers). In the Jamestown collection are many tools which they left behind, including pliers, pincers, chisels, punches, hammers, and a small anvil.

THE BOATBUILDER

Many small boats were built at Jamestown. They were built by English shipwrights and carpenters, who came from a long line of efficient craftsmen. These small vessels afforded the princ.i.p.al means of transportation through the uncharted wilderness tidewaters of Virginia.

They were used for fishing, trade, and discovery. A few small handwrought iron tools used by Jamestown boatbuilders have been excavated on the historic island.

THE POTTER

In 1955 a pottery kiln site was discovered at Jamestown. Nearby were found many utilitarian earthenware vessels of the 1625-40 period--definite evidence that pottery was made in Virginia over 300 years ago. Although made for everyday use, many of the pieces unearthed are symmetrical and not entirely lacking in beauty. The unknown Jamestown potters were artisans, trained in the mysteries of an ancient craft, who first transplanted their skills to the Virginia wilderness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OBJECTS FOUND AT A 17TH-CENTURY FORGE SITE AT JAMESTOWN: BLACKSMITH'S TOOLS, BAR IRON, A FEW INCOMPLETE ITEMS, SWORD GUARDS, AND SLAG. IT APPEARS THAT THE FORGE WAS IN OPERATION AS EARLY AS 1625.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUILDING A SMALL BOAT AT JAMESTOWN ABOUT 1650. (Painting by Sidney E. King.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOAT-BUILDING TOOLS FOUND, ALL MADE BEFORE 1700.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: EARTHENWARE VESSELS MADE AT JAMESTOWN BETWEEN 1625 AND 1640. THE SITE OF AN EARLY 17TH-CENTURY POTTERY KILN WAS DISCOVERED ON THE ISLAND IN 1955.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAKING POTTERY AT JAMESTOWN, ABOUT 1625-40. (Painting by Sidney E. King.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARTIFACTS FOUND NEAR THE SITE OF THE JAMESTOWN GLa.s.sHOUSE WHICH WAS IN OPERATION AS EARLY AS 1608: A SMALL MELTING POT, PART OF A WORKING HOLE, FRAGMENT FROM LARGE MELTING POT, CULLET (BROKEN OR REFUSE GLa.s.s SHOWN IN LOWER LEFT CORNER), AND GREEN GLa.s.s FRAGMENTS (LOWER CENTER AND LOWER RIGHT).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLOWING GLa.s.s AT JAMESTOWN IN 1608. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)]

THE GLa.s.sBLOWER

Gla.s.sblowers were working at Jamestown in 1608-09, and again in 1621-24.

The trial gla.s.s they made in 1608 was sent to England--the first gla.s.s manufactured by Englishmen in the New World. The small gla.s.s fragments excavated at the furnace sites do not reveal what was produced, but probably nothing more complicated than window gla.s.s, bottles and vials, and plain drinking gla.s.ses. It is believed that the small gla.s.s factory at Jamestown was the first English "factory" in America.

THE BRICKMAKER AND TILEMAKER

Four brick kilns have been excavated. In two of them roofing tile and bricks were found. An iron spade, probably used in preparing the clay for brickmaking, was found in one of the kilns. The oldest kiln unearthed is believed to have been in use as early as 1625. Many brickmakers emigrated to Jamestown during the 1600's.

THE LIMEBURNER

Four lime kilns were unearthed on the historic island, where oyster sh.e.l.ls from the James River were burned and converted into lime by the limeburner. As early as 1610 "lymeburners" emigrated to Virginia, and thereafter many such workers came to the colony from England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOUR BRICK KILNS HAVE BEEN EXCAVATED. THE ONE SHOWN HAD FIVE FIRING CHAMBERS. ROOFING TILES WERE ALSO MADE IN THE JAMESTOWN BRICK KILNS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A 17TH-CENTURY LIME KILN EXCAVATED AT JAMESTOWN. IN IT OYSTER Sh.e.l.lS FROM THE JAMES RIVER WERE BURNED FOR MAKING LIME. THE IRON HOOPS WHICH SUPPORTED THE ARCHED TOP OF THE KILN BUCKLED FROM THE INTENSE HEAT.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAKING LIME FROM OYSTER Sh.e.l.lS IN A KILN, ABOUT 1625.

(Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)]

OTHER CRAFTSMEN

Contemporary records, confirmed by certain objects found at Jamestown (especially small tools), reveal that pewterers, silversmiths colliers, wheelwrights, calkers, bricklayers, millwrights, shoemakers, masons, cordage makers, tanners, tobacco pipemakers, armorers, gunmakers, braziers, and others worked in the capital city at various periods between 1607 and 1699.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SILVERSMITH WEIGHING CLIPPED COINS. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRa.s.s WEIGHTS AND A PIECE OF Sc.r.a.p BRa.s.s UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN. RECORDS INDICATE THAT MANY METALWORKERS EMIGRATED TO VIRGINIA DURING THE 17TH CENTURY.]