PRESS RELEASE

Archaeology journal celebrates 400th anniversary of the founding of America's Jamestown settlement

Leeds, UK, 8 January 2007

May 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first European settlement in America at Jamestown, Virginia. The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology and Maney Publishing commemorate this event in a special issue of their leading journal Post-Medieval Archaeology.

Jamestown was settled on May 14th 1607 by explorers from the Virginia Company, an organisation of London gentlemen charged by King James I with the settlement of Virginia. The Company began a harsh, vulnerable existence, facing regular attack from the native Algonquin tribes and periods of starvation. Eventually King James revoked the Virginia Company Charter, and the town became a Crown Colony in 1624. Jamestown grew into a 'New Town' to the east, and the capital moved to Williamsburg in 1698 after fire destroyed the original fort. 

Preservation and archaeological exploration did not begin until the 20th century under the joint cooperation of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service. Hundreds of thousands of artefacts have been discovered dating to the first half of the 17th century, especially the first three years of English settlement, as well as walls, cellars and buildings from the original James Fort.

The issue (Vol 40/1) reviews the symbolic construction of Jamestown as 'America's Birthplace', shedding new light on the lives of the European settlers, the native presence in Virginia, and understanding of the site in the context of the broader Atlantic world. It also re-examines the history of archaeological research on the site, presenting important early 17th-century artefacts from the fort of Jamestown. 

Articles include 'Archaeology and the construction of America's Jamestown' by Audrey Horning, 'Jamestown Rediscovery: an introduction' by William Kelso, and 'Subsistence fishing at Jamestown, 1607-24' by Daniel W. Schmidt. The authors have all been closely involved with the excavation, recording and preservation work of the Jamestown site.

The President of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, Geoff Egan, who has also been involved in assessment work in Jamestown, provides the foreword for the special issue: “Not only is the site of international archaeological importance; its remarkable range of structural and artefactual evidence offers much to inform our understanding of many aspects of European life in the 17th century.”

The first major event of the 400th anniversary is the 40th Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology which will be held in Williamsburg from 10-14th January. Entitled 'Historic and Underwater Archaeology', the conference will focus on early European settlements along the Atlantic rim and what they reveal about cultural change among Europeans, Africans and native peoples. Both Maney Publishing and the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology will be exhibiting at the conference where copies of the special issue will be available. Maney will be at stand number 36.

Further celebrations will take place in America during 18 months of festivities including a journey along the James River on a newly commissioned replica of the original ship Godspeed. There will be public exhibitions and lectures, and a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in May, culminating in America's Anniversary Weekend on 11-13th May. 

About Post-Medieval Archaeology, Journal of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology

Post-Medieval Archaeology is an international journal devoted to the study of the material evidence of European society around the world. The increasingly broad scope of post-medieval archaeology includes pottery, glass, metalwork, fortifications, vernacular architecture, landscape studies and industrial archaeology, to produce articles engaging in the latest theoretical debates. The journal is published both in print and online, and selected colour illustration is now available online. For more information on the journal please visit www.maney.co.uk/journals/pma and to visit the Society website visit www.spma.org.uk 

For online journal contents please visit www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/pma 

About Maney Publishing

Maney Publishing was founded in 1900 and has offices in the UK in Leeds and London, and in North America. With a collection of nearly 70 journals in materials sciences, the humanities and healthcare, Maney is committed to publishing high quality journals in print and electronic formats that are international in scope and peer-reviewed. For more information please visit www.maney.co.uk 

For further information please contact Alison Holgate, Marketing & PR Assistant, Maney Publishing. Email: a.holgate@maney.co.uk  Tel: 0113 386 8160