Mysterious Iron Artifact Unearthed at Virginia’s James Fort

JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA—According to a report in the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, archaeologists from Jamestown Rediscovery found an iron object, described by conservator Katharine Corneli as a “semi-circle with a squiggly line in it,” in a cellar that lies just outside the boundaries of the original 1608 James Fort. Researchers think that it could be a fragment of a tool for cooking and baking, which would have had small legs to support a pot or Dutch oven over a fire. A pot fragment in the Jamestown Rediscovery artifact collection has marks on its base that may have come from cooking on such a grill. This object may have been deposited in the cellar as filler when the structure was abandoned. The rest of it may have been recycled into another item, but archaeologists will keep an eye out for additional grill pieces. For more, go to "Jamestown’s VIPs," which was one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2015.