WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA—A team from William & Mary is excavating Kiskiack, a pre-colonial town of some 200 residents that was part of the chiefdom of Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. Located on a bluff overlooking the York River, the mostly intact site is known to have been a center of clamshell bead production, and it had probably been occupied for hundreds of years before the arrival of the English Jamestown colonists in 1607. This season, the team has unearthed a hearth and a series of postholes that may represent a defensive palisade. “One reason this town became so big was because of its political importance. There is evidence of political authority here in the form of a chief in residence by 1607. There is also evidence of economic activity here in the form of craft production,” archaeologist Martin Gallivan said in a press release. To read about an instance of cannibalism at the Jamestown colony, go to "Chilling Discovery at Jamestown."
