#GiftArticle

Centuries-old documents told of #NativeAmerican settlements in the Fones Cliffs area of the #Rappahannock River in #Virginia’s Northern Neck.
In the 1600s, English explorer #JohnSmith wrote of how he & his men were attacked by #NativeAmericans along the river. A document from the 1660s detailed how the Rappahannock Tribe was promised 30 blankets in exchange for more than 25,000 acres of their land.

#archeology #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
https://wapo.st/48Dnft9

Then this summer, they came upon items on land the #Rappahannock Tribe has been working to reclaim. The archaeologists are now revealing their discoveries of roughly 11,000 artifacts — some dating to the 1500s — ranging from tiny beads & shards of pottery with detailed markings to pieces of stone tools & pipes.

It was physical proof of the Rappahannock towns & villages that #JohnSmith had described.

#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning

Then this summer, they came upon items on land the #Rappahannock Tribe has been working to reclaim. The archaeologists are now revealing their discoveries of roughly 11,000 artifacts — some dating to the 1500s — ranging from tiny beads & shards of pottery with detailed markings to pieces of stone tools & pipes.

It was physical proof of the Rappahannock towns & villages that #JohnSmith had described.

#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning

But the exact location of these towns had never been pinpointed until now.

Archaeologists cross-referenced historic maps, documents & deeds with oral histories from #Rappahannock tribal members. Then last fall, in the woods of #Richmond County on areas near the bluffs, they started digging.
For months, the crew from St. Mary’s College of Maryland surveyed the land to try to find the early settlements but found nothing that could be linked to #JohnSmith’s foray.

#archeology #NativeAmerican

#GiftArticle

Centuries-old documents told of #NativeAmerican settlements in the Fones Cliffs area of the #Rappahannock River in #Virginia’s Northern Neck.
In the 1600s, English explorer #JohnSmith wrote of how he & his men were attacked by #NativeAmericans along the river. A document from the 1660s detailed how the Rappahannock Tribe was promised 30 blankets in exchange for more than 25,000 acres of their land.

#archeology #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
https://wapo.st/48Dnft9