The Archeology of Colonial Williamsburg ^ 



By Thomas J. Wertenbaker 



Edwards Professor Emeritus of American History 

 Princeton University 



[With 4 plates] 



In America archeology formerly was employed almost entirely to 

 throw light upon the life and customs of the Indians. Scholars, dig- 

 ging into Indian mounds, or at the sites of villages and forts, have 

 found much of interest — ^knives, arrowheads, spearheads, scrapers, pot- 

 tery, skeletons — and they have been able, by examining the earth and 

 noting where it was discolored, to determine the exact position of 

 prehistoric palisades. Americans have also taken a leading part in 

 European, Egyptian, and Asiatic excavations. But until recently it 

 had not occurred to anyone that beneath the soil at Jamestown, or 

 Plymouth, or Williamsburg there might be historic treasures whose 

 discovery would be as important for American history as the opening 

 of an Egyptian tomb, or the uncovering of the market place of a 

 Greek city for ancient history. 



The pioneers in the field of colonial archeology were the staff of the 

 National Park Service. At Jamestown they unearthed so many foun- 

 dations and so many fragments of hardware that this historic village, 

 where Nathaniel Bacon, that heroic young defender of American 

 liberty, defied the fury of Gov. William Berkeley, could be restored 

 with a large degree of accuracy. In fact the first brick church, which 

 the foundation showed to be in the Gothic style like charming old 

 St. Luke's at Smithfield, has been rebuilt. Also the many artifacts 

 discovered — farm implements, household utensils, china — throw a flood 

 of light on the habits and everyday lives of those first Americans. 



It is unfortunate that we have been so blind to the importance of 

 archeology and so careless in digging on historic sites. In London 

 recent work made necessary by the German bombings has disclosed 

 evidences of walls and pavings dating to the Koman period. But in 

 New York, when excavations have been made for the skyscrapers, there 

 has been little, if any, regard for history. For all we know the great 



1 Reprinted by permission from Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 

 vol. 97, No. 1, February 1953. 



447 



