Excavators find new evidence of wall August 17 2004 BY MARK ST. JOHN ERICKSON 247-4783 Excavators have uncovered the best-preserved evidence of Jamestown's palisade wall found so far revealing previously unknown details about the 1607 fort's construction. Archaeologists recovered the remains of a 1600s bone-handled dinner knife, pushing the number of examples found inside the fort to more than two dozen. Carried to the table by its owner, the blade would have been used to pick food up as well as cut it. It also bears what might have been distinguishing decorative marks on the handle. "The fork wasn't commonly used at the table during the 17th century," curator Bly Straube says. "You ate with a sharp-tipped knife and a spoon." Archaeological feature of the week Extending a previously found line of about half-a-dozen post molds, staff archaeologist David Givens and others have uncovered more than 25 feet of what appears to be Jamestown's original 1607 palisade wall. The soil stains clearly come from logs measuring 5 to 10 inches in diameter rather than sawn boards. "The settlers had a great incentive to get this built quickly - and this was the quickest way to do it," Jamestown Rediscovery director Bill Kelso says. "This demonstrates the construction in a way we haven't seen this clearly before." In the lab Conservator Michael Lavin has separated and treated two rust-encrusted iron tools found near the fort's east palisade wall. The artifacts appear to be related to a growing number of leather-working tools recovered from the same 1607-1610 context. "They would have been used to maintain the leather straps that held their armor together - and to take care of the equipment used with horses," curator Bly Straube says. "They also may have been pressed into service to repair the colonists' shoes, which were always in miserable shape. We know that they made several requests to have a shoemaker sent from London." Outside the dig Curator Bly Straube has located more than a dozen documentary references that may explain three freshwater pearls found in the fort's west bulwark trench. Prized by the Powhatan Indians, the artifacts may have been part of a Native American bracelet or necklace. They also may have been part of a trinket fashioned by a colonist as a trade item. "In 1610, the colony asked for two pearl drillers," Straube says. "But these are the first pearls that we've found inside the fort." Putting the puzzle together The sprawling remains of the west palisade wall and rowhouse have provided archaeologists with a panoramic yet still incomplete picture of Jamestown's landscape during the colony's earliest years. "It's one thing to find the first evidence of these features. It's another to uncover the whole thing," Kelso says. "Getting all the details takes a long time." Copyright © 2004, Daily Press