Abstract
The paper presents new research on an assemblage of metallurgical crucibles used in the assay of minerals at colonial Jamestown. The aim of the study is to explore the range of chemical operations carried out at the site of the first permanent British settlement in America, for which little is known in the documents. The results show that the colonists used high-quality Hessian crucibles to perform tests on different types of complex polymetallic sulphides. This was done to (1) prospect for potential silver and copper ores and (2) to find suitable sources of zinc and tin to be alloyed into brass and bronze through cementation with imported copper offcuts. This study makes a relevant contribution to the growing field of the archaeology of early chemistry and mineral prospection as well as the archaeology of early European colonies in the New World. In particular, material culture can shed fresh light on how European settlers reacted to the many challenges of a new and unfamiliar natural environment and how they tried to make sense and exploit it for financial profit.
Highlights
The 16th and 17th centuries saw exceptional technological and industrial progress in Europe, fuelled by both the increased consumerism of wealthy classes and a growing scholarly interest in the secrets of nature
This paper has presented new data on the archaeological remains related to early chemistry and mineral prospection at colonial Jamestown, the first English settlement on the American continent
The results offer new insight regarding the range of metallurgical experiments carried out and raw materials utilised, for which virtually nothing is known from documentary evidence, and which clearly spanned both noble and base metals
Summary
The 16th and 17th centuries saw exceptional technological and industrial progress in Europe, fuelled by both the increased consumerism of wealthy classes and a growing scholarly interest in the secrets of nature. In the laboratories that proliferated across Europe, chemical industries ranging from the analysis of minerals to the distillation of acids and the manufacture of glass and porcelain were established (Smith 1994; Dupré 2014). Their practitioners manipulated natural substances and made artificial products of both intellectual and commercial value. Archaeological remains of early laboratory equipment have been discovered at several sites both in Europe and the New World (e.g., Moorhouse et al, 1972; von Osten 1998; Thomas 2009; Bayley and White 2013; Mass and Russow 2015; Addyman 2015). Previous work on metallurgical remains from a range of sites such as La Isabela in the Dominican Republic (Thibodeau et al 2007), Frobisher Island (Beaudoin and Auger 2004) and Charlesbourg-Royale (Monette 2013) in Canada, Jamestown in Virginia (MartinónTorres and Rehren 2007; Hudgins et al 2009) or Roanoke in North Carolina (Nöel Hume 1994: 54–96) have provided hints of this world, but much remains to be unveiled
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