Editing Gloucester County, Virginia (section)

=== Lost site of Werowocomoco ===
After the Powhatan moved their capital to a safer, inland location and abandoned the village around 1609, knowledge of this site was lost. Researchers later tried to identify it by Smith's historic writings. The current site of [[West Point, Virginia|West Point]] seemed to offer a clue to its location; from there, Smith had noted the distance downstream to Werowocomoco. Based upon his description, at one time scholars thought the former capital was located near [[Wicomico, Virginia|Wicomico]] (site of [[Powhatan's Chimney]]), about {{convert|25|mi}} southeast of present-day West Point. Smith also noted that Jamestown was {{convert|12|mi}} from Werowocomoco "as the crow flies." Using that measure, the site near Wicomico is about 12 miles from Jamestown.

In 1977, [[archeologist]] Daniel Mouer of [[Virginia Commonwealth University]] identified a site on Purtan Bay as the possible location of Werowocomoco; it was also about 12 miles from Jamestown. He was able to collect artifacts from the surface of plowed fields and along the beach, but the landowner did not want any excavation. Mouer found fragments of Indian [[ceramic art|ceramics]] dating to the Late [[Woodland Period]] and determined that the area was the possible site of Werowocomoco.<ref>[http://powhatan.wm.edu/aboutProject/index.htm "Werowocomoco"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228222351/http://powhatan.wm.edu/aboutProject/index.htm |date=February 28, 2009 }}, College of William and Mary</ref>

More than 20 years later, a different landowner authorized [[archaeological excavation]] on the property. Between March 2002 and April 2003, the Werowocomoco Research Group conducted excavations and analysis at the Werowocomoco site. The research group is a collaborative effort of the [[College of William and Mary]], the [[Virginia Department of Historic Resources]], and Virginia tribes descended from the Powhatan Confederacy. Initial testing included digging 603 test holes {{convert|12|to|16|in|cm}} deep and {{convert|50|ft}} apart. They found thousands of artifacts, including a blue bead which may have been made in Europe for trading.<ref>[http://powhatan.wm.edu/aboutProject/archaeologicalSurvey.htm Werowocomoco] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302004239/http://powhatan.wm.edu/aboutProject/archaeologicalSurvey.htm |date=March 2, 2009 }}, College of William and Mary</ref> Combined with the historical descriptions by English colonists of Werowocomoco, researchers believe these discoveries have established the site of the ancient capital. "We believe we have sufficient evidence to confirm that the property is indeed the village of Werowocomoco," said Randolph Turner, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources' Portsmouth Regional Office in 2003.<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/national/main552771.shtml "Powhatan's Tribal Village Found, 17th century Indian Chief Was Father Of Pocahontas"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228211041/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/national/main552771.shtml |date=February 28, 2009 }}, CBS News, May 7, 2003</ref>

Two Gloucester-based archaeologists, Thane Harpole and David Brown, have worked at the site since 2002 and continue to participate in the excavations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-28225sy0jan14,0,782007.story?coll=dp-news-local-wbg|title=Sites attract archaeology buffs|date=February 16, 2007|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216225626/http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-28225sy0jan14,0,782007.story?coll=dp-news-local-wbg|archive-date=February 16, 2007}}</ref> Archeologists have discovered a dispersed village community occupying the site from AD&nbsp;1200 through the early 17th century. They recovered artifacts (including native [[pottery]] and stone tools), as well as floral and faunal food remains from the large residential community. The research group has also recovered English trade goods produced from glass, copper, and other metals originating in Jamestown. The colonists' accounts of interaction at Werowocomoco during the early days of Jamestown emphasized Powhatan's interests in acquiring English objects (particularly copper, which the Indians used to create their own [[Objet d'art|''objets d'art'']].

The project is noted for the researchers' consultation and collaboration with members of the local [[Native Americans of the United States|Indian]] tribes – the [[Mattaponi]] and [[Pamunkey]], descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy. Such archeological sites often contain burials and associated sacred artifacts important to these tribes:

{{blockquote|When I step on this site folks...I just feel different. The spirituality just touches me and I feel it.|Stephen R. Adkins, chief of the [[Chickahominy people|Chickahominy]] Tribe and member of the Virginia Indian Advisory Board<ref>[http://web.wm.edu/news/archive/index.php?id=3841 "Werowocomoco ditches date back to at least early 1400s"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701073052/http://web.wm.edu/news/archive/index.php?id=3841 |date=2010-07-01 }}, University Relations, William and Mary</ref>}}

Gloucester County has celebrated Werowocomoco and other Powhatan-heritage sites as part of the county's history. Both the newly identified site on Purtan Bay and Powhatan's Chimney at Wicomico are within the territory which Indians have considered as part of Werowocomoco. In the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] language, the "village" of the chief was not defined as a small place, but the term referred to "the lands" where he lived. The custom of the Powhatan tribes was to relocate their villages within a general area to allow lands to recover from cultivation or move to better sources of water and game.