Werowocomoco:
Rediscovering a Forgotten Landscape
in Gloucester County
David A. Brown and Thane H. Harpole
The Fairfield Foundation
804-815-4467
[email protected]
A magnificent landscape of power
situated in the often overlooked
Middle Peninsula…
1783
Part 1:
Werowocomoco - “Place of the King”
• Early 17th c. capital of Powhatan chiefdom
• Residence of the paramount chief
• Location of contact with Jamestown colonists, 1607-09
Colonial Encounters at
Werowocomoco
• December 1607
Smith captured by Opechancanough,
brought to Chief Powhatan
• February 1608
Newport, Smith trade with Powhatan
Setting described
• Fall 1608
Powhatan’s “coronation” by Newport
• January 1609
Powhatan and Smith trade for corn
Werowocomoco’s Location
• Cartography: Projections of 17th century maps
• Ethnohistory: Descriptions of village’s environs
• Archaeology: Large Contact Period village on Purton Bay
Werowocomoco Research Group
•
College of William & Mary
•
Virginia Department of
Historic Resources
•
Gloucester-based
archaeologists from
The Fairfield Foundation
Forging Partnerships
with Virginia Indian Communities
• Contacting the Virginia Indians first
• All Native Advisory Board to the WRG
• Property owners’ hospitality to Virginia Indian visitors
Archaeological
Research Issues
•
•
•
Origins and development of the
Powhatan Chiefdom
Colonial interaction in the Chesapeake
Capital of a powerful polity:
A landscape of power?
D itches
T re
eL
in
e
P asture
Tree Line
R esidential
C ore
W ell
R iverfront
W ater P um p
W ater P um p
C ornfield
W E R O W O C O M O C O S IT E
4 4G L32
C ornfie ld
200
0
0
20
ft
60
m
E xcavated U nits
T opo graphic L ines
W etlands
S tructures
D atu m P oint
Tree hole filled with
midden refuse from
the Middle Woodland
period
N2220
E0377
D
F187b
F202
F201
F200
F186
C
E
C'
E'
CERAMIC
F203
F199
F188
F187a
F246
D'
F251
F247
F248
F249
F252
F250
F198
F260
F190
F191
F263
F192
F253
F256
F255
F193
F194
F189
F257
F225
F261
F226
F230
F224
F220
F195
F227 F228
F234
F229
F253
F235
F231
F197
F232
F204
F278
F218
OYSTER
SHELL
F208
F207
F209
F206
B
F214
F268
F269
F274
F273
F275
F237
A'
F184
F185a
F212
F213
F266
F272
A
F264b
F279a F264c
F264a
F'
F211
F210
F279b
F271
F270
F
F219
F217
F267
F245
F216
F262
F259
F223
F196
F258
F254
F276
F239
F240
F181
F180
F241
F277
F282
F283
F215
F185b
F222
BRICK
STP
CHARCOAL
B'
F221
44GL32
WEROWOCOMOCO SITE
KEY:
GN
MN
HOUSE ADDITION MITIGATION
May 18, 2004
Scale:
0.0 ft
0.0 m
2.5 ft
0.5 m
5.0 ft
1.0 m
House
patterns?
MDG
(AP PR OX)
7.5YR5/6 STRONG BROWN CLAYEY SAND
10YR4/3 DARK BROWN SANDY LOAM
25.35°
10YR4/3 DARK BROWN SANDY LOAM
10YR5/2 GRAYISH BROWN
10YR3/4 DARK YELLOWISH BROWN
10YR4/3 DARK BROWN MOTTLED WITH
10YR3/4 DARK YELLOWISH BROWN
10YR4/4 DARK YELLOWISH BROWN
7.5YR4/4 BROWN
7.5YR5/6 YELLOWISH BROWN
Pasture excavations: Discovering two unusual ditches
N2265
E0945
F161
F4
F162
F99
F61
F123
F99
F182
F180
F22
F175
DEEPER AREA
OF F161
F128
F173
F124
F174
F168
F129
F161
ROCK
F23
F176
F161
F177
F163
F164
F162
F171
F127
F167
DEEPER AREA
OF F161
F126
F178
F162
F172
F125
F179
DEEPER AREA
OF F161
F95
F133
F165
F161
F161
F97
F162
F98
F162
F141
F96
ROCK
F166
F19
F134
F135
F18
F181
F19
F183
F66
F138
F170
F139
F20
F136
F21
F63
F137
F122
F64
10.0
5.0
0.0
SCALE IN FEET
Zuniga Map
Tyndall Map
Werowocomoco
44GL32
Feature 161
North Profile
N2255
E942
N2255
E950
Level Line
Strat. I
Strat. II 10YR5/4 silty sand mottled w/10YR4/4 clay sand, 10YR3/3 clayey silt and
10YR5/4 sandy loam
Strat. III (same soils as above, slightly different mottling)
Feat. 65 charcoal = 10YR2/1 silty loam charcoal mottled with 10YR5/6 sandy clay
and 7.5YR5/4 clayey sand
Feature
161
Silty lens within Strat. III = 10YR4/6 sandy silt mottled with 10YR4/4 sandy clay silt
Strat. IVb = 7.5YR4/6 strong brown sandy clay mixed with 10YR4/6 dark yell.
brown sandy silt, 10YR7/3 pale brown sandy silt, and 10YR4/4 dark yell. brown
sily sand
Subsoil
0 ft.
1 ft.
N1780
E960
N1780
E955
Level Line
Plow Zone: 10YR4/3
brown sandy loam
2.5Y4/2 dark grayish
brown sandy loam
2.5Y4/4 olive brown
sandy loam
Subsoil: 10YR5/6
yellowish brown sandy
clay
0 ft.
1 ft.
WEROWOCOMOCO SITE
44GL32
N2245
E1295
GN MN
25
0
ft
20
20
Excavated Units
Historic Features
Native Features
Topographic Lines
Indian and Colonial
Structures in the Pasture
Yihakan c. 1600
Early Colonial Structures
N2180
E1260
15
Experienced Landscape
River
Village and
corn fields
Ceremonial
area
From Werowocomoco on the York River, looking east…
For more information, see…
…on the web at
powhatan.wm.edu
You can also contact us for a visit of Fairfield plantation
[email protected]
and visit us on the web at
www.fairfieldfoundation.org