Jamestown Rediscovery
  Home: Resources: Journal: Volume 1: Owsley: 3.1 Burial Recovery
Recovery and Analysis of Jamestown Rediscovery South Churchyard Burials from the 1999 Field Season
Douglas Owsley, Karin Bruwelheide, and Rebecca Kardash
 
3. Burial 5 (JR-320D-500)

3.1 Burial Recovery

An in situ examination of Burial 5 revealed the skull and post- cranial skeleton of an adult female with the remains of a hexagonal wooden coffin. The individual was fully extended in a northwest-southeast orientation and resting on her back. The head was oriented to the northwest and the face to the southeast. The right arm was extended at the side and the hand was pronated with the palm on the upper right femur. The left arm was at an obtuse angle with the left elbow in contact with the sidewall of the coffin. The femora are complete and the patellae are resting on the distal condyles. The left foot is collapsed vertically and the metatarsals are straight. The right foot is deviated medially.

The preservation of this individual ranges from fair to good. The better preservation of this individual may be related to the greater deterioration of the coffin wood. The coffin has a hexagonal shape and 50 associated nails are present. The burial appears to have been in a shroud, as evidenced by five stains from copper alloy pins.

On the basis of its close proximity, parallel alignment and similar grave-shaft fill as Burial 4, the individual in Burial 5 was likely interred in the late 18th century. On its own, however, Burial 5 contained no temporally diagnostic artifacts.


 



Copyright 2000 by The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
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