Thomas Hooker - in 1636 left Massachusetts to found a colony in Hartford, Connecticut. Only 7 years after Puritans first arrived in America I think.
Christina Adolphus - monarch of Sweden in 1600s, considered to be one of the most "cosmopolitan and intellectually nimble monarchs in European History" by Russell Shorto.
Peter Minuet - The man who bought Manhattan for $24 (see previous post). One of the early governors of New Amsterdam, and one of the more able. Was unfairly dismissed from his post and sent back to Amsterdam. Returned sometime later to found a Swedish colony on Dutch territory.
Monday, 23 July 2007
More history
I've been watching the first episode of Simon Schama's History of Britain, and also am reading 'Island at the Centre of the World' by Russell Shorto. A few things of interest to read more about and research
Britain
The Venerable Bede - considered the father of English history. Lived around 700AD. Wrote a book on English history up to that date, with an obvious religious slant. Also wrote scientific papers, theology, philopsophy etc.
Alfred the Great - King of Wessex, only English king called 'Great'. First man to unite the majority of England under one rule. Sent to Rome early on in his life, travelled a bit, came back to England to rule, push back the Vikings etc. Sounds a very interesting man.
Skara Brae - The stone age settlement on Orkney. Mentioned it before, but looks very interesting.
America
So far, English explorer Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson River and site of New York, while working for the Dutch. The Dutch set up a colony, a few houses, a fort on Manhatten. Broadway is pretty much what was the main Indian track/path through Manhattan in the earliest days of the colony. The site is strategically very advantageous. Navigable river (by portage) through hundreds of miles into the interior (and ultimately to Lake Erie, Mississipi etc.) Peter Minuit 'buys' Manhattan off the native Indians for the 19th century equivalent of $24. Indians have different concept of land ownership though. They see this as right for Dutch to use land and ally themselves with the Indian tribe who 'sold' it them. Dutch colony not run especially well in the early days. Also sound like quite a dissolute lot (see page 120-124). Right from the early days, the English dispute the Dutch claims on the colony, saying since Henry Hudson was English that the colony belongs to them, and the fact that earlier English settlers in Virginia laid claim to all the East coast!
More in due course.
Britain
The Venerable Bede - considered the father of English history. Lived around 700AD. Wrote a book on English history up to that date, with an obvious religious slant. Also wrote scientific papers, theology, philopsophy etc.
Alfred the Great - King of Wessex, only English king called 'Great'. First man to unite the majority of England under one rule. Sent to Rome early on in his life, travelled a bit, came back to England to rule, push back the Vikings etc. Sounds a very interesting man.
Skara Brae - The stone age settlement on Orkney. Mentioned it before, but looks very interesting.
America
So far, English explorer Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson River and site of New York, while working for the Dutch. The Dutch set up a colony, a few houses, a fort on Manhatten. Broadway is pretty much what was the main Indian track/path through Manhattan in the earliest days of the colony. The site is strategically very advantageous. Navigable river (by portage) through hundreds of miles into the interior (and ultimately to Lake Erie, Mississipi etc.) Peter Minuit 'buys' Manhattan off the native Indians for the 19th century equivalent of $24. Indians have different concept of land ownership though. They see this as right for Dutch to use land and ally themselves with the Indian tribe who 'sold' it them. Dutch colony not run especially well in the early days. Also sound like quite a dissolute lot (see page 120-124). Right from the early days, the English dispute the Dutch claims on the colony, saying since Henry Hudson was English that the colony belongs to them, and the fact that earlier English settlers in Virginia laid claim to all the East coast!
More in due course.
Monday, 11 June 2007
Crannogs, Priest Holes and D H Lawrence!
Some weeks I hardly seem to learn anything, other times I'm learning and discovering so much that I can't possibly document it all, so I will have to stick to the things that are most interesting to me. Today I'm going to focus on three little snippets, all originating from different sources.
Crannogs - I read about this in the June 2007 issue of BBC History magazine. In prehistoric and early historic times, people sought to protect their homes from attack by invaders, rival tribes and other nasties - the most common example of this is the castle. However in Scotland, many people instead constructed a crannog. This was essentially a small building which was built in the middle of a loch, raised up out of the water on tall stakes buried into the loch bed. These homes were connected to land by gangways that were easily defended, often including a drawbridge that could be pulled up to disconnect them from the mainland. None have survived as they were made of wood, which has rotted in the thousands of years since. The evidence for these constructions - including some of the timbers and other artifacts - can sometimes be found buried in the peat underneath lochs. On Loch Tay in Perthshire (a Loch which evidence suggests had at least 30 crannogs at one time), one has been faithfully recreated using only original crafts and materials.
Priest Holes - I came across priest holes last night while watching 'How we made Britain' with David Dimbleby on BBC1 (a great programme, the 2nd of 6 episodes - I missed the first due to being on holiday). Starting in Elizabethan times and following the reformation under Henry VIII, Catholicism was outlawed, and many priests and ordinary catholics were put to death. Catholics had to practise their faith in secret, and priests were often smuggled from one home to another, trying to stay ahead of the priest-finders. Priest holes were built into many Catholic houses at the time - hidey holes artfully concealed in the home. Nicholas Owen was one of the most famous builder of priest holes, going from home to home building the priest holes, each one unique. He would never reveal the secret of the priest holes to anyone else. Sometimes the authorities would spend weeks searching a suspect house looking for these priest holes (with the priest starving and struggling for air inside), pulling up floor boards and panels but often never finding them. Nicholas Owen was executed on the rack following the gunpowder plot.
Interesting parallels can be drawn between this, and hideouts on the 'underground railroad' in America, smuggling slaves to safety before and during the US civil war. I know next to nothing about the underground railroad, something I imagine I will correct as I continue my reading about American history. However I read about it in a David Baldacci novel of all things, where one of the characters discovers a hideout in an old civil war era ranch, used to hide slaves as they were smuggled to the safety of the northern states.
D H Lawrence - I listened to another of Alistair Cooke's 'Letter from America' broadcasts this evening. It was an early broadcast describing Cooke's first meeting with an American Indian in Sante Fe in 1933. I've only ever come across D H Lawrence for his controvertial book 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' however it seems he was very interested in native American Indians, and later in his life he went to live with them and effectly became a native. He wrote many essays and possibly some stories/novels about the American Indians. Apparently he is better known in America for being an artist too. I may read more about him soon, he sounds a rather interesting man.
That's all for now, more soon.
Crannogs - I read about this in the June 2007 issue of BBC History magazine. In prehistoric and early historic times, people sought to protect their homes from attack by invaders, rival tribes and other nasties - the most common example of this is the castle. However in Scotland, many people instead constructed a crannog. This was essentially a small building which was built in the middle of a loch, raised up out of the water on tall stakes buried into the loch bed. These homes were connected to land by gangways that were easily defended, often including a drawbridge that could be pulled up to disconnect them from the mainland. None have survived as they were made of wood, which has rotted in the thousands of years since. The evidence for these constructions - including some of the timbers and other artifacts - can sometimes be found buried in the peat underneath lochs. On Loch Tay in Perthshire (a Loch which evidence suggests had at least 30 crannogs at one time), one has been faithfully recreated using only original crafts and materials.
Priest Holes - I came across priest holes last night while watching 'How we made Britain' with David Dimbleby on BBC1 (a great programme, the 2nd of 6 episodes - I missed the first due to being on holiday). Starting in Elizabethan times and following the reformation under Henry VIII, Catholicism was outlawed, and many priests and ordinary catholics were put to death. Catholics had to practise their faith in secret, and priests were often smuggled from one home to another, trying to stay ahead of the priest-finders. Priest holes were built into many Catholic houses at the time - hidey holes artfully concealed in the home. Nicholas Owen was one of the most famous builder of priest holes, going from home to home building the priest holes, each one unique. He would never reveal the secret of the priest holes to anyone else. Sometimes the authorities would spend weeks searching a suspect house looking for these priest holes (with the priest starving and struggling for air inside), pulling up floor boards and panels but often never finding them. Nicholas Owen was executed on the rack following the gunpowder plot.
Interesting parallels can be drawn between this, and hideouts on the 'underground railroad' in America, smuggling slaves to safety before and during the US civil war. I know next to nothing about the underground railroad, something I imagine I will correct as I continue my reading about American history. However I read about it in a David Baldacci novel of all things, where one of the characters discovers a hideout in an old civil war era ranch, used to hide slaves as they were smuggled to the safety of the northern states.
D H Lawrence - I listened to another of Alistair Cooke's 'Letter from America' broadcasts this evening. It was an early broadcast describing Cooke's first meeting with an American Indian in Sante Fe in 1933. I've only ever come across D H Lawrence for his controvertial book 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' however it seems he was very interested in native American Indians, and later in his life he went to live with them and effectly became a native. He wrote many essays and possibly some stories/novels about the American Indians. Apparently he is better known in America for being an artist too. I may read more about him soon, he sounds a rather interesting man.
That's all for now, more soon.
Saturday, 9 June 2007
Lots new knowledge
OK it's several weeks since my last post, partly due to being on holiday in Crete. I'm not going to be able to cover all of what I've learnt in a single post, but they include the following:
- Visit to Knossos, site of the largest city of the Minoan civilisation, 4000+ years ago, home to the fabled labyrinth. Learnt an overview of Minoan civilisation.
- More modern history of Crete, when it was occupied by Venetions and later the Turks.
- Cretan resistance to German occupation during WWII (having read an excellent first person account, 'The Cretan Runner' by George Psychoundakis while on holiday).
- Spinalonga - the island off Crete, Venetian fortress turned leper colony.
- Various stuff on the Tudors (from my course).
- Historical techniques from my course.
- Local history of Lancaster.
- Greek alphabet.
There's more but that's what sticks out. Hope to cover some of this soon. Firstly a couple of other items.
How to convert farenheit to celsius
While on holiday, I kept seeing temperature in farenheit. Since I only work in celsius I never know what it means. I vaguely remembered that there was an easy way to convert between the two, so decided to look it up. Apparently the formula is:
C=(F-32) x 5/9
Crikey and I was hoping for something I could easily do in my head! To convert celsius to farenheit by the way, you do: F=(9/5 x C) + 32. As a useful check, zero degrees celsius is 32 degrees farenheit, and human body temperature is 37 degrees celsius or 98.6 degrees farenheit.
Alistair Cooke and his 'Letters from America'
I've recently been reading Alistair Cooke's landmark history book, 'America'. I've been vaguely aware that he was most famous for his 'Letter from America' broadcast, every week for 58 years between 1946 and 2004. Being relatively young (though admittedly 24 when the last broadcast happened), I had never heard or read any of the 2800+ broadcasts (15 minutes each). Having a fascination with America and its history myself, this is something I thought I should really look at. There's 3 volumes of the 'best of' on CD, a total of a paltry 36 episodes. There's several extracts and highlights on the bbc's official website. Also on the website, you can listen to the last 5 years of broadcasts, 1999-2004. I've now listened to the very first broadcast, originally broadcast in 1946, but rebroadcast in 1996. What struck me is that Mr Cooke's voice is very easy and enjoyable to listen to. The first broadcast was about GI brides going to America, rationing and black market profiteering of butter etc. I'm really looking forward to listening to more soon.Saturday, 19 May 2007
Early American Colonization attempts continued...
With Mantao and Wanchese in England, the next stage was to teach them English. The task was given to Thomas Harriott, who took the challenge with relish. He firstly had to come up with an alphabet to capture all of the sounds in the natives' tongue, as the English alphabet couldn't do it. It is thought he eventually came up with a dictionary and phrase book too, but if so these did not survive -only the English-Algonquin alphabet survives today. Before long, Harriott had learned a lot of the Algonquin tongue, and starting quizzing Manteo and Wanchese, in the process learning a lot about the land and peoples over the ocean.
With a wealth of information now available, Raleigh set about planning the colony with gusto. He knew that it had to be meticulously planned, and consulted many of the experts of the time - military men, farmers, doctors, builders etc. He decided upon what supplies and equipment would be needed. Unlike earlier expeditions, this was a meticulously planned operation. Sir Richard Grenville was engaged to command the fleet taking over the colonists, and a soldier named Ralph Lane was employed to command the colony once they had reached the new world. Also accompanying them was Thomas Harriott and John White, a painter who had been commissioned to paint the flora, fauna and people of Virginia.
After landing, Ralph Lane had intended to build stone fortifications around the settlement, but unfortunately there was precious little stone to be found so it was mostly made of wood. They made contact with the Natives (Manteo's tribe among them), White painted many watercolours, and they mapped out a lot of the land and learned many things. Unfortunately, many things went wrong - provisions were destroyed and there were brutal clashes with the Natives. The following year, the colony was in dire straits when a fleet of ships arrived - Sir Francis Drake. He was going to leave men and supplies with the colonists, but then disaster struck, a ship was lost in the storms, with most of the supplies going down with it. Left with little choice, it was decided that all the colonists were to evacuate and head back to England. Unfortunately in the rush to leave, one of the sailors dumped a chest with many of John White's watercolours, the maps and notes etc. into the sea. So much vital information lost!
Some time later, Sir Richard Grenville landed with supplies only to find the colonists gone. Shocked as he was, he decided to leave a band of 15 soldiers to occupy the land for England.
Many of the colonists had had enough of the new world and wanted nothing more than to stay in England for the rest of their days. Sir Walter Raleigh had difficulty getting colonists and also someone to lead them, for another mission to re-establish the colony. John White was one of the few who wanted to go back, and persuaded Raleigh to let him lead the mission and the colony. With him he took his pregnant daughter, and his son in law. Unfortunately however he proved to be a poor governor, and the rest of the colonists eventually persuaded him to go back to England 'to personally organise more supplies'. In reality they wanted rid of him. Once back in England however, due to political difficulties and conflict with Spain (the pesky Spanish Armada) no supply mission happened. Eventually, in 1590, a mission was organised to go to Virginia and supply the colonists on Roanoake Island. Unfortunately, when they got there, there were no colonists to be found. The settlement was abandoned, and the only clue to their wearabouts was 'Croatoan' carved into a tree (this was a prearranged message to say where they had gone in the event they had moved the colony). This was a strange choice to move to as it wasn't very hospitable, there was poor defenses (although home of Manteo's tribe), bad land for planting crops and so White was puzzled. They resolved to head for Croatoan Island, but due to bad weather, being blown off course and low on supplies they never made it and the captain of the ship decided to return to England. It was many years before any more ships went to Virginia, and even longer until anyone went looking for the lost colonists. They were never found, and the English learned from the natives that they had been massacred, the same day that the Jamestown colonists landed, 17 years later in 1607. It was thought some survived and though they were never found, natives on Croatoan Island in future decades were curiously white in colour - presumably the surviving lost colonists had given up on ever returning to England and instead thrown in their lot with the natives, inter-marrying. There are Americans today who claim to be descendants of the lost colonists...
With a wealth of information now available, Raleigh set about planning the colony with gusto. He knew that it had to be meticulously planned, and consulted many of the experts of the time - military men, farmers, doctors, builders etc. He decided upon what supplies and equipment would be needed. Unlike earlier expeditions, this was a meticulously planned operation. Sir Richard Grenville was engaged to command the fleet taking over the colonists, and a soldier named Ralph Lane was employed to command the colony once they had reached the new world. Also accompanying them was Thomas Harriott and John White, a painter who had been commissioned to paint the flora, fauna and people of Virginia.
After landing, Ralph Lane had intended to build stone fortifications around the settlement, but unfortunately there was precious little stone to be found so it was mostly made of wood. They made contact with the Natives (Manteo's tribe among them), White painted many watercolours, and they mapped out a lot of the land and learned many things. Unfortunately, many things went wrong - provisions were destroyed and there were brutal clashes with the Natives. The following year, the colony was in dire straits when a fleet of ships arrived - Sir Francis Drake. He was going to leave men and supplies with the colonists, but then disaster struck, a ship was lost in the storms, with most of the supplies going down with it. Left with little choice, it was decided that all the colonists were to evacuate and head back to England. Unfortunately in the rush to leave, one of the sailors dumped a chest with many of John White's watercolours, the maps and notes etc. into the sea. So much vital information lost!
Some time later, Sir Richard Grenville landed with supplies only to find the colonists gone. Shocked as he was, he decided to leave a band of 15 soldiers to occupy the land for England.
Many of the colonists had had enough of the new world and wanted nothing more than to stay in England for the rest of their days. Sir Walter Raleigh had difficulty getting colonists and also someone to lead them, for another mission to re-establish the colony. John White was one of the few who wanted to go back, and persuaded Raleigh to let him lead the mission and the colony. With him he took his pregnant daughter, and his son in law. Unfortunately however he proved to be a poor governor, and the rest of the colonists eventually persuaded him to go back to England 'to personally organise more supplies'. In reality they wanted rid of him. Once back in England however, due to political difficulties and conflict with Spain (the pesky Spanish Armada) no supply mission happened. Eventually, in 1590, a mission was organised to go to Virginia and supply the colonists on Roanoake Island. Unfortunately, when they got there, there were no colonists to be found. The settlement was abandoned, and the only clue to their wearabouts was 'Croatoan' carved into a tree (this was a prearranged message to say where they had gone in the event they had moved the colony). This was a strange choice to move to as it wasn't very hospitable, there was poor defenses (although home of Manteo's tribe), bad land for planting crops and so White was puzzled. They resolved to head for Croatoan Island, but due to bad weather, being blown off course and low on supplies they never made it and the captain of the ship decided to return to England. It was many years before any more ships went to Virginia, and even longer until anyone went looking for the lost colonists. They were never found, and the English learned from the natives that they had been massacred, the same day that the Jamestown colonists landed, 17 years later in 1607. It was thought some survived and though they were never found, natives on Croatoan Island in future decades were curiously white in colour - presumably the surviving lost colonists had given up on ever returning to England and instead thrown in their lot with the natives, inter-marrying. There are Americans today who claim to be descendants of the lost colonists...
Early English attempts to start a colony in America
After learning quite a bit recently about Jamestown, England's first permanent successful colony in the New World, the natural thing to do would be to progress forward. Instead I found a book by Giles Milton 'Big Chief Elizabeth' about the earlier attempts to found a colony, culminating in a few chapters on Jamestown.
After the discovery of America, several merchants from England had gone over to America to try and trade with the natives, only to discover they weren't interested. In 1536, a man named Richard Hore, a wealthy London leather seller, decided it would be a good idea to travel to America to capture a native and bring him back to England, to be paraded around - for a fee. The attempt ended in disaster, they failed to capture a native (they ran away) and were so close to starvation that they were about to resort to cannibalism when they were rescued by a French ship.
Davy Ingrams - In 1567, a common sailor called Davy Ingrams was one of the crew on a ship captained by the slaver Sir John Hawkins. The mission to South America ended in disaster, and Hawkins had to abandon half his crew in Mexico. Ingrams, not content to spend the rest of his like in Mexico, selected a band of his more advenurous colleagues and decided to hike along the coast to Nova Scotia - aware that European fishing vessels operated in those waters. 3,000 miles late Davy and two of his men made it there, were picked up by a French vessel and eventually made it home - much to the astonishment of his family! Along the way he had encountered many natives, and learned much of the land along the American coastline.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a keen adventurer, heard about Davy Ingrams trek and interviewed him to get information and a map - he wanted to set up an expedition to explore America and found a colony (he made money by 'selling' plots of land to English merchants before he had even gone). He set up an expedition and fleet of ships to set sail for America (chronicled by Edward Hayes he went on the voyage). He reached Newfoundland, had a big party with many European fishing vessels there, decided it was not a hospitable area and headed for home. Along the way they lost most of their supplies, Sir Humphrey's ship sank, killing him and all on board, and the rest of the ships limped home, the crew and adventurers half starved.
Who now to continue the American adventure? No one else was interested, enter Walter Raleigh (half brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert). Raleigh became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and through her he became one of the richest and most influential men in the country. He stepped forward and announced his intention of setting up a colony in America, getting a royal charter from the Queen in the process. He recruited intelligent men to help plan this new colony. In particular Thomas Harriot, considered extremely intelligent, a genius (a friend of Raleigh's since they had been at Oxford together). He set about teaching Raleigh's sailors how to sail across the Atlantic. Also Richard Hakluyt, an old friend of Raleigh's and another American enthusiast. It was he who suggested they launch an expedition to capture a native to bring back to England, teach English, and thus learn from him about his native land (he got this idea from French explorers who had done the same). They landed near Roanoake Island in present day Virginia, explored and brought back with them two natives Mantao, from Croatoan Island, and Wanchese from Roanoake Island. They were brought back to England.
After the discovery of America, several merchants from England had gone over to America to try and trade with the natives, only to discover they weren't interested. In 1536, a man named Richard Hore, a wealthy London leather seller, decided it would be a good idea to travel to America to capture a native and bring him back to England, to be paraded around - for a fee. The attempt ended in disaster, they failed to capture a native (they ran away) and were so close to starvation that they were about to resort to cannibalism when they were rescued by a French ship.
Davy Ingrams - In 1567, a common sailor called Davy Ingrams was one of the crew on a ship captained by the slaver Sir John Hawkins. The mission to South America ended in disaster, and Hawkins had to abandon half his crew in Mexico. Ingrams, not content to spend the rest of his like in Mexico, selected a band of his more advenurous colleagues and decided to hike along the coast to Nova Scotia - aware that European fishing vessels operated in those waters. 3,000 miles late Davy and two of his men made it there, were picked up by a French vessel and eventually made it home - much to the astonishment of his family! Along the way he had encountered many natives, and learned much of the land along the American coastline.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a keen adventurer, heard about Davy Ingrams trek and interviewed him to get information and a map - he wanted to set up an expedition to explore America and found a colony (he made money by 'selling' plots of land to English merchants before he had even gone). He set up an expedition and fleet of ships to set sail for America (chronicled by Edward Hayes he went on the voyage). He reached Newfoundland, had a big party with many European fishing vessels there, decided it was not a hospitable area and headed for home. Along the way they lost most of their supplies, Sir Humphrey's ship sank, killing him and all on board, and the rest of the ships limped home, the crew and adventurers half starved.
Who now to continue the American adventure? No one else was interested, enter Walter Raleigh (half brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert). Raleigh became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and through her he became one of the richest and most influential men in the country. He stepped forward and announced his intention of setting up a colony in America, getting a royal charter from the Queen in the process. He recruited intelligent men to help plan this new colony. In particular Thomas Harriot, considered extremely intelligent, a genius (a friend of Raleigh's since they had been at Oxford together). He set about teaching Raleigh's sailors how to sail across the Atlantic. Also Richard Hakluyt, an old friend of Raleigh's and another American enthusiast. It was he who suggested they launch an expedition to capture a native to bring back to England, teach English, and thus learn from him about his native land (he got this idea from French explorers who had done the same). They landed near Roanoake Island in present day Virginia, explored and brought back with them two natives Mantao, from Croatoan Island, and Wanchese from Roanoake Island. They were brought back to England.
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Jamestown - Time Team Dig
I saw a Time Time special at an archeological dig at the site of the original Jamestown settlement in Virginia, USA. The colony was burned down at the end of the 17th century and subsequently abandoned. Over time it was forgotten about and for a long time it has been believed that the remains of the settlement had been lost to the sea due to erosion. However 13 years ago, it was discovered that this was not the case and they've been digging ever since.
First they found the 3 walls of the triangular shaped fort, then they started digging inside what was the fort. One of the most important finds was a square well. After considerable research back in England, it is thought that the reason it is square is because a couple of the colonists were miners who had dug square mineshafts very similar to the well (workers in a mining company owned by one of the Jamestown company's investors). Digging in the well they found all sorts of items, a child's shoe, tobacco pipe (one of the colonists was a pipe maker), a pistol, a halberd, items of clothing. In the mud they had been remarkably well preserved.
The houses in the fort were made of wattle & daub walls, thatched roof and wooden frame. The type of house particular to a part of Lincolnshire where Capn John Smith was from (also a carpenter from Lincolnshire was in the first wave of colonists - he probably built the houses).
It was an interesting programme, and one of the interesting things about it was the way they related archeological finds to the actual colonists by doing historical research into the colonists that set up the colony, where they were from, their occupations etc. It personalised the story a lot more - prior to seeing this programme the majority of names I knew were the names of the colony's many governors/presidents. It would be an interesting exercise to research the names, occupations and backgrounds to all the colonists, and see how they may have fitted in the overall building of the colony etc. If I wished to research further, there are many layers of the Jamestown onion to peel back yet...
First they found the 3 walls of the triangular shaped fort, then they started digging inside what was the fort. One of the most important finds was a square well. After considerable research back in England, it is thought that the reason it is square is because a couple of the colonists were miners who had dug square mineshafts very similar to the well (workers in a mining company owned by one of the Jamestown company's investors). Digging in the well they found all sorts of items, a child's shoe, tobacco pipe (one of the colonists was a pipe maker), a pistol, a halberd, items of clothing. In the mud they had been remarkably well preserved.
The houses in the fort were made of wattle & daub walls, thatched roof and wooden frame. The type of house particular to a part of Lincolnshire where Capn John Smith was from (also a carpenter from Lincolnshire was in the first wave of colonists - he probably built the houses).
It was an interesting programme, and one of the interesting things about it was the way they related archeological finds to the actual colonists by doing historical research into the colonists that set up the colony, where they were from, their occupations etc. It personalised the story a lot more - prior to seeing this programme the majority of names I knew were the names of the colony's many governors/presidents. It would be an interesting exercise to research the names, occupations and backgrounds to all the colonists, and see how they may have fitted in the overall building of the colony etc. If I wished to research further, there are many layers of the Jamestown onion to peel back yet...
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