RICHMOND, Va. — Archaeologists have pulled a centuries-old slate tablet from what they think was an original well at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
The slate is covered with faint inscriptions of local birds, flowers, a tree and caricatures of men, along with letters and numbers. It was found at the center of James Fort, which was established in 1607 along the James River in eastern Virginia.
Research director William Kelso says the artifact shows the high level of interest the Englishmen had in the New World’s flora and fauna.
The archaeologists think a colonist deposited the tablet into what’s believed to be a well built by Capt. John Smith during the winter of 1608-09.
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