[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 6-May-2003
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Contact: William Walker
wtwal2@wm.edu
757-221-2624
College of William and Mary

An important archaeological press conference on May 6, 2003

17th century site of Chief Powhatan’s village located in Virginia

Archaeologists have identified the location of a 17th-century American Indian settlement on Virginia's York River that appears to be the village of Werowocomoco – the principal residence of the Virginia Algonquian chief Powhatan from 1607 – 1609. Powhatan, father of Pocahontas, presided over the Powhatan chiefdom that encompassed coastal Virginia from the James to the Potomac rivers during the early 1600s. The Powhatan chiefdom represented one of the most complex political entities in eastern North America during this period.

Preliminary investigations have recovered Native American and European artifacts in numbers that correspond with a substantial village settlement dating to the early colonial period. These archaeological deposits, combined with descriptions of Werowocomoco by several Jamestown colonists, lead the archaeologists to hypothesize that this site is the central village of the Powhatan chiefdom.

What: Press Conference on the Site

When: 1:30 PM Tuesday, May 6, 2003

More Information:
William T. Walker
Office of University Relations
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA
757-221-2624
wtwal2@wm.edu

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