Do I go to bed at a decent hour so I am well rested for Monday or do I stay up to 3am watching a channel Thirteen special on an archaeological dig currently taking place at historic Jamestowne? Guess which one I chose.  Cool stuff.

Apparently the exact footprint of the first Jamestown fort -James Fort- has officially been discovered along with a 12ft by 14 ft well (believed to be the first of many at this location) full of preserved artifacts discarded by the colonists dating back to about 1609 - think John Smith (and yes, Pocahontas). To date, hundreds of artifacts have been excavated from this well- pottery, tools,  shoes, weapons (an entire Halberd) - giving forensic anthropologists & archaeologists keen insight about the people who forged through the first few years of life in the New World. In the case of Jamestowne many of these artifacts can be directly traced to the individual colonists who lived there, since the first trip over to Virginia was relatively well documented (passenger lists) and the members of the colony all hailed from the same county in England.

The excavation also informs us that these colonists were major litterers. I’m not surprised that a major cause of death in the first few months at Jamestowne was bad water…maybe they should have stopped throwing their crap in the well.

To find out more about historic Jamestowne and the dig visit this site

To watch a beautiful but rather dull, 4 hr Colin Farrell film with little dialogue, distorted history and too many birds used as forced symbolism about Jamestowne Netflix - The New World