Synopses & Reviews
What was life really like for the band of adventurers who firstset foot on the banks of the James River in 1607? Important as the accomplishmentsof these men and women were, the written records pertaining to them are scarce, ambiguous, and often conflicting, and those curious about the birthplace of theUnited States are left to turn to dramatic and often highly fictionalized reports.In Jamestown, the Buried Truth, William Kelso takes us literally to the soil wherethe Jamestown colony began, unearthing the James Fort and its contents to revealfascinating evidence of the lives and deaths of the first settlers, of theirendeavors and struggles, and of their relationships with the Virginia Indians. Heoffers up a lively but fact-based account, framed around a narrative of thearchaeological team's exciting discoveries. Once thought to have been washed away bythe James River, James Fort still retains much of its structure, including palisadewalls, bulwarks, interior buildings, a well, a warehouse, and several pits, and morethan 500,000 objects have been cataloged, half dating to the time of Queen Elizabethand King James. Artifacts especially reflective of life at James Fort include anivory compass, Cabasset helmets and breastplates, glass and copper beads andornaments, ceramics, tools, religious icons, a pewter flagon, and personal items.Dr. Kelso and his team of archaeologists have discovered the lost burial of one ofJamestown's early leaders, presumed to be Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and theremains of several other early settlers, including a young man who died of a musketball wound. In addition, they've uncovered and analyzed the remains of thefoundations of Jamestown's massive capitol building. Refuting the now decades-oldstereotype that attributed the high mortality rate of the Jamestown settlers totheir laziness and ineptitude, Jamestown, the Buried Truth produces a vivid pictureof the settlement that is far more complex, incorporating the most recentarchaeology to give Jamestown its rightful place in history and thus contributing toa broader understanding of the transatlantic world.
Synopsis
From the lead archaeologist who unearthed the secrets of America's birthplace
Kelso's extraordinary findings are sure to inspire a new generation of tourists, and scholars from around the world, to visit and revisit Jamestown. -- New Yorker
This is a truly remarkable archaeological detective story. -- Seattle Times
This is the story of perhaps the most dramatic discovery in historical archaeology in America, and it is still going on. Kelso tells it with flair and passion, aided by 150 color and black-and-white illustrations and maps. -- American Archaeology
What Mr. Kelso and his team have found is rewriting the history that began with the 104 men and boys who landed on this swampy bit of land on May 14, 1607. -- Chronicle of Higher Education
Jamestown, the Buried Truth is brilliantly written, a story and adventure unlike any other that will forever change the way we think about what happened when John Smith and his brave followers sailed to Virginia in 1607 and established the first permanent English settlement. -- Patricia Cornwell
Based on information derived from thousands of artifacts uncovered amid the graves and foundations of England's earliest permanent settlement in America, William M. Kelso's Jamestown, the Buried Truth tells the world what his team found -- and what it means. Their scholarship is impeccable, their maps and illustrations are magnificent, and their discoveries are amazing. -- Jon Kukla, author of Mr. Jefferson's Women and A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America
William M. Kelso is Head Archaeologist of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.