Jamestown, the Buried Truth [Paperback]

William M. Kelso (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2008

What was life really like for the band of adventurers who first set foot on the banks of the James River in 1607? Important as the accomplishments of these men and women were, the written records pertaining to them are scarce, ambiguous, and often conflicting, and those curious about the birthplace of the United States are left to turn to dramatic and often highly fictionalized reports. In Jamestown, the Buried Truth, William Kelso takes us literally to the soil where the Jamestown colony began, unearthing the James Fort and its contents to reveal fascinating evidence of the lives and deaths of the first settlers, of their endeavors and struggles, and of their relationships with the Virginia Indians. He offers up a lively but fact-based account, framed around a narrative of the archaeological team's exciting discoveries. Once thought to have been washed away by the James River, James Fort still retains much of its structure, including palisade walls, bulwarks, interior buildings, a well, a warehouse, and several pits, and more than 500,000 objects have been cataloged, half dating to the time of Queen Elizabeth and King James. Artifacts especially reflective of life at James Fort include an ivory compass, Cabasset helmets and breastplates, glass and copper beads and ornaments, ceramics, tools, religious icons, a pewter flagon, and personal items. Dr. Kelso and his team of archaeologists have discovered the lost burial of one of Jamestown's early leaders, presumed to be Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and the remains of several other early settlers, including a young man who died of a musket ball wound. In addition, they've uncovered and analyzed the remains of the foundations of Jamestown's massive capitol building. Refuting the now decades-old stereotype that attributed the high mortality rate of the Jamestown settlers to their laziness and ineptitude, Jamestown, the Buried Truth produces a vivid picture of the settlement that is far more complex, incorporating the most recent archaeology to give Jamestown its rightful place in history and thus contributing to a broader understanding of the transatlantic world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In what is certainly one of the more substantial of the many commemorative tomes that will be published as Jamestown, Va., turns 400, Kelso, head archeologist at the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, describes the process of unearthing America's oldest permanent English settlement and the new light his findings shed on it. Like most archeologists, Kelso rejoices when he finds garbage heaps: Jamestown's trash pits hold evidence of glass making, and recovered armor confirms the existence of a military barracks. Butchered skeletons of dogs and rats testify that, during months of starvation, colonists ate whatever they could find. Kelso's team also excavated an elaborate row house, a grander building than historians thought the earliest colonists had built. The most intriguing chapter examines several grave sites: among the surprising skeletal discoveries are the remains of a young man who apparently died of a gunshot wound in his leg. The shot suggests some heretofore unknown "political intrigue" in Jamestown's earliest years. At times, Kelso could have gone further in sketching the day-to-day life his artifacts reveal. Nonetheless, this slim book will join the ranks of James Deetz's In Small Things Forgotten and Ivor Noel Hume's Martin's Hundred, archeological studies that find a broad readership among colonial American history buffs. 150 color and b&w illus. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

The unearthing of Jamestown is truly the autopsy of America, an amazing dissection and reconstruction of four-hundred-year-old artifacts and human remains that reveal how the first settlers spent their days, how they lived and died, and what they accomplished and suffered. Without chief archaeologist William Kelso's almost mystical vision that the original site still existed and his persistence against all odds to unearth it, we would have little to rely on but legend to tell us how modern America began. Jamestown: The Buried Truth, is brilliantly written, a story and adventure unlike any other that will forever change the way we think about what happened when John Smith and his brave followers sailed to Virginia in 1607 and established the first permanent English settlement. -- Patricia CornwellAnticipating the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Bill Kelso and APVA/Preservation Virginia began thirteen years ago the archaeological exploration of the site of England's first permanent settlement in North America. What Kelso and his team have found there since the first shovel was turned is nothing less than astounding. Evidence of everything that was built, abandoned, and then lost during Jamestown's first decades survived, literally inches beneath commemorative statues of John Smith and Pocahontas. It is clear that Kelso's discovery and excavation of James Fort is, by far, the most important archaeological event in the long and distinguished history of archaeology in Virginia and that its contributions to historical understanding of Jamestown are significant for early Virginia and for the history of the Atlantic world. -- Carter L. Hudgins, Hofer Distinguished Professor of Early American Culture, University of Mary WashingtonThe exciting story of a momentous archaeological project, told firsthand by the scholars who uncovered the real Jamestown -- the original fort from John Smith's day. Based on information derived from thousands of artifacts uncovered amid the graves and foundations of England‚s earliest permanent settlement in America, William M. Kelso's Jamestown, the Buried Truth tells the world what his team found -- and what it means. Their scholarship is impeccable, their maps and illustrations are magnificent, and their discoveries are amazing.

(Jon Kukla, author of Mr. Jefferson's Women and A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America )

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press (October 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813927706
• ISBN-13: 978-0813927701
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars C.S.I. Jamestown... Indiana Jones Meets Gil Grissom!, January 15, 2007

By 

David M. Garrett (San Antonio, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jamestown, the Buried Truth (Hardcover)

During a visit in 1994, I witnessed the early stages of the Jamestown Rediscovery team's dig and wondered, "What do they expect to find that hasn't turned up in the last (then) 387 years? Don't we know the story of the first permanent English settlement in America? During my 2005 visit I chatted with several of Kelso's team. They answered my question. I was amazed. You will be too.

"Jamestown: The Buried Truth" chronicles an historical treasure rediscovered in America's backyard. William Kelso's perspectives are fresh and the history flavored with insight into the patient techniques and tools of archeology. A consummate scientist, Kelso is objective in interpreting the facts and balanced in posing scenarios where facts are absent or ambiguous. Though reading like a doctoral dissertation at times, soon enough the pages begin to turn revealing a captivating story. Published by the University of Virginia Press, this 238 page book is elegant and neatly executed. The text is complemented, not overwhelmed by photographs, maps and diagrams, many in color. Excluding footnotes, that are relegated to the back, visual aids are available for immediate reference, located adjacent to the applicable discussion.

The book is divided into five parts. The first chapter examines the written record including a selection of primary sources from journals, reports, and letters. With this as context, Kelso digs into the site's physical evidence. Included is a fascinating account of the rediscovery of James Fort, long believed lost to the adjacent river. Also included is a more tedious narrative of various buildings discovered proximal to the fort. The pace accelerates in chapter three - Recovering Jamestownians - as the reader is treated to a gripping account of life in the colony as witnessed through the study of its human remains. Take the circumstances of "JR102C," the skeleton of a gunshot victim. The colonist's identity and the circumstances of his shooting are inconclusive. Nevertheless, Kelso elaborates on accident, Virginia Indians, and political intrigue as plausible scenarious involving both the individual and the colony at large. Later Kelso ponders if another find - "The Captain" - is actually Bartholomew Gosnold, a leading figure in the founding of the colony? The quest for identification takes the Rediscovery team to graves in Suffolk, England in search of maternal ancestors and DNA confirmation. This is a fascinating story in itself.

In chapter four Kelso summarizes the written, archeological and forensic findings into a revised, revealing view of Jamestown. In light of the new evidence, the author discusses the colony's performance relative to its charter; i.e., where it adhered to or departed from Virgina Company guidance; its successes and shortcomings; and always "Why?" The author also tells us how the experiences of these Englishmen and -women began their transformation into Americans. The final chapter documents outlying sites where our representative government took root. The book concludes with the abandonment of Jamestown (for Williamsburg) in 1698.

Kelso concludes, "...history and archaeology rediscovers Jamestown. The lost 1607 James Fort is found. Burials reveal its people. Thousands of objects open windows on daily life. And documents and digging lay bare the places of American democracy." Even after the ink has dried, the rediscovery of Jamestown continues.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why I Appreciate Jamestown, December 20, 2006

By 

Lucie Peek "LJP" (SBI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jamestown, the Buried Truth (Hardcover)

My husband and I visited Jamestown Settlement on our honeymoon to Williamsburg this year, and this coming year of 2007 is the 400th anniversary of the settlement that literally began American culture as we know it today. This book highlights all of the hidden things that nobody thinks about in history anymore and is an excellent history of Jamestown. It contains some very cool pictures and little known facts. I think that I appreciate this book more because I have been to the Jamestown Settlement (twice actually) and we got to see up close the artifacts and the land. Next year, a huge new wing of the Jamestown Museum will open up, just in time for the 400th anniversary celebration, and will contain many of the artifacts and pieces mentioned in the book. I really feel that this is an important read and the Jamestown is more than a place for schoolchildren to visit. American culture began at Jamestown. This is really where things got started, and it's a piece of our heritage as Americans that is quite often overlooked or skimmed over. What better time to get aquainted with our history than now, when it's about to turn 400 years old?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars impressive archeological methods, January 15, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jamestown, the Buried Truth (Hardcover)

Kelso's book targets the 400th anniversary of this European settlement in North America. In a very readable narrative, he describes to a lay reader the results of recent intensive archeology into what remains of Jamestown. There are copious photos and diagrams, in black and white and colour, that help to convey how the diggings were conducted, and how the settlers lived.

It is also an enjoyable education of how archeology is currently conducted. A reader might [and indeed should] be impressed by the painstaking methodology of extracting relics, while all the time striving to record the context in which they were found. Along with what is possible in terms of scientific dating techniques.

We see that Jamestown was a very precarious place to be. Starvation was a real danger, and the colonists were simply unaware of effective agricultural methods in the New World. Those would come later, to other settlers at other colonies. At Jamestown, this ignorance carried a heavy price.