A study of these ancient objects, which were buried under the soil at Jamestown for many decades, reveal in many ways how the English colonists lived on a small wilderness island over 300 years ago. Artifacts unearthed include pottery and glassware, clay pipes, building materials and handwrought hardware, tools and farm implements, weapons, kitchen utensils and fireplace accessories, furniture hardware, lighting devices, eating and drinking vessels, tableware, costume accessories and footwear, medical equipment, horse gear, coins and weights, and many items relating to household and town industries, transportation, trade, and fishing. These artifacts provide invaluable information concerning the everyday life and manners of the first Virginia settlers. A brief description of many of them is given on the following pages. Excavated artifacts reveal that the Jamestown colonists built their houses in the same style as those they knew in England, insofar as local materials permitted. There were differences, however, for they were in a land replete with vast forests and untapped natural resources close at hand which they used to advantage. The Virginia known to the first settlers was a carpenter's paradise, and consequently the early buildings were the work of artisans in wood. The first rude shelters, the split-wood fencing, the clapboard roof, puncheon floors, cupboards, benches, stools, and wood plows are all examples of skilled working with wood. Houses Timber at Jamestown was plentiful, so many houses, especially in the early years, were of frame construction. During the first decade or two, house construction reflected a primitive use found ready at hand, such as saplings for a sort of framing, and use of branches, leafage, bark, and animal skins. During these early years--when the settlers were having such a difficult time staying alive--mud walls, wattle and daub, and coarse marshgrass thatch were used. Out of these years of improvising, construction with squared posts, and later with quarterings (studs), came into practice. There was probably little thought of plastering walls during the first two decades, and when plastering was adopted, clay, or clay mixed with oyster-shell lime, was first used. The early floors were of clay, and such floors continued to be used in the humbler dwellings throughout the 1600's. It can be assumed that most of the dwellings, or shelters, of the Jamestown settlers, certainly until about 1630, had a rough and primitive appearance. After Jamestown had attained some degree of permanency, many houses were built of brick. It is quite clear from documentary records and archeological remains, that the colonists not only made their own brick, but that the process, as well as the finished products, followed closely the English method. Four brick kilns were discovered on Jamestown Island during archeological explorations. [Illustration: AN EARLY JAMESTOWN HOUSE. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)]