…forasmuch as meat and drink are transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance…
Since 1994 when archaeologists uncovered the 1607 James Fort, researchers have been studying artifacts to learn more about the living conditions in Jamestown. With the 2006 discovery of a 17th Century groundwater well on site, the team has been able to piece together knowledge about what the colonists ate, and in approximately which years. According to the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily:
The colonists used the well for only a short time before abandoning it and filling it with trash, including food waste, said Jamestown Rediscovery Assistant Curator Hayden Bassett. Researchers know the well was built before 1617, because documents say the governor’s residence was built on the same site at that time.
As we celebrate the post-Thanksgiving holiday season, the Jamestown diet may seem familiar to some readers. “They were consuming turkey,” Environmental Archaeologist Joanne Bowen tells the Daily. Other remains include butchered rats, horses, venomous snakes.
Jamestown Unearthed: Colonists had a taste for turkey.
What more can you say about what they ate??