Archeologists Unearth 400-year-old Tobacco Pipes in Jamestown
- Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:18pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Archeologists at Jamestown have unearthed a trove of tobacco pipes personalized for a who’s who of early 17th century colonial and British elites, underscoring the importance of tobacco to North America’s first permanent English settlement.
The white clay pipes — actually, castoffs likely rejected during manufacturing — were crafted between 1608 and 1610 and bear the names of English politicians, social leaders, explorers, officers of the Virginia Company that financed the settlement and governors of the Virginia colony. Archeologists also found equipment used to make the pipes.
Researchers believe the pipes recovered from a well in James Fort were made to impress investors and the political elite with the financial viability of the settlement. They are likely the rejects that failed to survive the ceramic firing process in a kiln.
The find comprises more than 100 pipes or fragments. More than a dozen are stamped with diamond shapes and inscribed with the names or initials of luminaries including explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, who dispatched the colonists to the territory he named Virginia. He also is credited with popularizing tobacco in England and is said to have smoked a pipe just before being executed for treason in 1618.
Other names include Capt. Samuel Argall, a major Virginia Company investor and governor of Virginia; Sir Charles Howard, Lord High Admiral of England; and Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, a Virginia Company official who was also William Shakespeare’s major patron.
“It really brings the people back into the picture,” said Bly Straube, senior archaeological curator for the Jamestown Rediscovery Project. “We have a lot of artifacts that we can associate with types of people like gentleman or women or children, but to find things like the pipe that bears the name Sir Walter Raleigh, I mean, my goodness. … It just makes it very tangible and real.”
The discovery casts lights on the social, political and economic network behind the Jamestown venture that started in 1607, as well as the importance of tobacco to the settlement, said William Kelso, director of archaeological research and interpretation at Historic Jamestowne.
Smoking imported tobacco was very popular in Europe in the early 17th century.
After settlers arrived at Jamestown, tobacco quickly became the American colony’s chief export. Among the immigrants Capt. Francis Nelson brought to Jamestown in 1608 was Robert Cotton, a tobacco pipe maker who likely fashioned the pipes found in the well.
In 1614, the first shipment of Virginia tobacco was sold in London. Jamestown’s tobacco exports to Europe grew from 10 tons in 1619 to 750 tons in 1639.
“Tobacco, whose goodnesse mine own experience and triall induces me to be such, that no country under the Sunne, may, or doth affoord more pleasant, sweet and strong Tobacco, then I have tasted,” Ralph Hamor, a secretary of the colony, wrote in 1614. “I doubt not, (we) will make and returne such Tobacco this yeere, that even England shall acknowledge the goodnesse thereof.”
Tobacco’s popularity created a large demand for pipes that were typically made in London using white clay from Dorset, along England’s southern coast. Interested in the lucrative new industry, investors in the Virginia Company sought to add pipemaking to its trades and sought out adequate clay from the surrounding area.
Settlers, Kelso said, were under “tremendous pressure” to give investors the instant gratification they needed because “they put so much money into it,” and didn’t want to lose their lifeline to England. Colonists tried different trades such as silk making, glassmaking, lumber, sassafras and tar, with no financial success.
“The whole idea was to make money for investors and they enlisted all these specialists that would search Virginia for profitable resources that they could exploit,” Straube said. “Tobacco was the quickest and easiest and most successful.”
The survival of the pipes suggest that many more individualized pipes may have been made for investors and other powerful members of the 17th-century British establishment. Their discovery also may lead to new examination of thousands of other artifacts recovered at Jamestown for further context on colonists’ lives.
“Each new discovery has meaning beyond its own significance,” Straube said. “It can make us look at the past in a different way, and that’s kind of the exciting thing about these pipes.”
___
Online:
Historic Jamestown: http://www.HistoricJamestowne.org
Preservation Virginia: http://www.preservationvirginia.org
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Comments (59)
common everyday citizen
Posted on January 1, 2011 at 2:47pmThis was the early start of the manmade global warming SCAM where the numb nuts would first create a lot of hot air to scare the masses into a pay up or else ploy.
Report Post »firstamend
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 9:48pmThose are hemp pipes, ya’ll
Report Post »clockwatcher
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 8:28pmThe haters will now claim the pipes were mad by slaves and demand that they want social justice. More money for the race whores.
Report Post »Diamond Girl
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 6:39pmLove this interesting history, the recent find, will be looking more into this later, direct bloodline to one of those who fought and helped establish Jamestown, he came directly from England as well. my fathers side.
Won’t go any further, sure appreciate this info on New Years Eve, love history – love it more when it involves my blood line, good or bad on either side.
Happy New Year All! ~
Report Post »New White Tiger Party
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 6:30pmDoes anyone know whether or not the Hazmat team was called in?
Report Post »DenzlerMedia
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 6:09pmVery interesting article. History is cool even if you don’t smoke.
Report Post »TBTNK9
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 6:02pmThis is a great story that illustrates American exceptionalism at it’s very infancy. The men who made those pipes are exactly the kind who made this country great. Those who are not impressed/not interested should look beyond the pipes themselves to the initiative and long term goals of those that made them. Without them, we would not be here today.
Report Post »UnreconstructedLibertarian
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 5:04pmI appreciate this story. Great departure for me to read this given the other topics/discussions going on.
Not only do I love history, but I lived my life growing up and participating in a tobacco growing culture. Sadly, I raised my last crop of tobacco in ‘03. My namesake family was involved in the shipping and trade of tobacco from this region in Va to England in the timeperiod of these pipes. Its pretty exciting to see something like this that has significant historical connection to one’s long time vocation and family origins in America.
Thank you Mr. Seidl
Report Post »Coldheart
Posted on January 1, 2011 at 2:03pmI’m with you!
Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it! ( Ahs fergits who sed thayat ! )
I always loved history[particularly American} and archeology and still do. Most Americans do not. In fact, they seem to despise their own heritage. I always like talking to young people and ask them questions about America and our history.
The sad fact is that most have no idea what lies a few counties away, have no idea who George Washington was, and are totally clueless about our own government. What is truly shocking is that here in the buckle of the Bible belt, few have any knowledge regarding history such as this.
Most have no idea what drove people to leave the Olde World, and come to the new. Only a tiny minority of HS grads have any inkling of the Reformation and its impact on North America in general and Britain’s colonies in particular.
I’m pretty certain some of you will say what does this have to do with anything?
Well for a start let us look at the first permanent English Colony in North America, Jamestown. Jamestown is where capitalists, free markets, and personal and religious freedom came together in one giant leap for mankind. Many are simply unaware that Henry Wriothesly, Shakespeare, and many others were ardent Bible believer’s. Unfortunately The Official Church of England frowned heavily on such people and called them derisively, “dissenters.” Worst of all the settlers carried their ‘Geneva Study Bibles’ to the New World. Everything we base our form of government on came directly from that Bible.
Now that is why Jamestown is very important to every American!
Report Post »reaganyears
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:19pmThis article is absolutely perfect for The Blaze. It’s a perfect reminder for how entrepreneurship, capitalism, and American ingenuity helped to shape our great country. The colonists never gave up on trying to create a successful way to bring prosperity to Jamestown. When lumber and sassafras didn’t work, then they tried and tried until they found success in tobacco. Free enterprise on display.
Report Post »emertz8413
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:13pmHistory… I love it!
Report Post »texasfarmer
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:08pmOld news. They found a 425 year old bong in Berkley.
Report Post »EOS1911
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:27am@texasfarmer
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:08pm
Old news. They found a 425 year old bong in Berkley. thank you very much for making this sad ex Texan now residing in this sad state of California laugh!
Report Post »bookofwisdom
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 3:44pmThe Indians smoked tobacco in their peace pipes long before this land became America. May God Bless.
Report Post »Spawnomite
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 3:34pmThese people need to be made and example of and taxed for their tobacco products.
Report Post »Obama Van Jones social justice in the works.
Paleo Archer
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 3:21pmMaybe RBQUEEN is young…As one get’s older, our interest in History increases…along with conservatism.
Report Post »rbqueen
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:06pmMaybe rbqueen is 57, not so young. LOL
Report Post »rbqueen
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:23pmAlso, since when does being interested in a story or not have anything to do with conservatism? Methinks that perhaps some people are not educated as to what conservatism means? It is very interesting to me that some people decide that I‘m not a conservative because a story doesn’t mean that much to me. And yet others can make a liberal’s type statement – then they can say “I’m a conservative” – and it makes them so? I will or will not say that you and dagneyt are conservative or not because I do not know y’all. Like I told dagneyt, from the posts that I have read y’all appear to be conservative yet make liberal statements against someone because you do not agree with them and therefore they are “young and not conservative”? I am taking it as y‘all being conservative based on your posts and I am fine with that but don’t try to go labeling someone just because they don’t feel the same way as you do about a story. That is a liberalistic statement against me and anyone that truly believes in conservatism would have to agree. BTW: I am really not concerned or upset as being labeled a liberal because I know that a lot of liberals accuse other people of being one thing or another and it doesn’t make them what they are accused of. Again, conservatives believe in individuality enough to know who is conservatives or not because of all their posts not just one or two.
Report Post »Bernard
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 3:14pmI do not think this “discovery” is such a deal. I know people who have art and artifacts that belong in the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art that go to our founding fathers to Flemish paintings to Roman vases as personal property. Not impressed.
Report Post »the point
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:45pmI once saw pipes that looked like this in stores that are now closed dowm
Report Post »youguysready_letsroll
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:22pmA friend of mine has some land in nearby New Kent County. He found white tobacco pipes made of bone (I think) that he thinks were from Union soldiers during the Peninsula Campaign on their way to attacking Richmond. Tons of history here in Virginia. I LOVE stories like this.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:28pmI do too. I think I should have become an archaeologist. It’s amazing how archaeological digs in Israel are to this day verifying the veracity of the the Bible!
Report Post »bigdaddybernie
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:19pmit‘s bush’s fault !
Report Post »rbqueen
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:06pmWell considering that everyone already knew that the early pilgrims smoked either cigars or pipes it isn’t much of a story. I too have been interested in finding things from a long time ago like this but I would not expect it to make much of a story unless it was a really big find. Things like this get found all the time. Also, I too used to smoke a pipe but again I don’t think that it would make much of a story. I realize that to a lot of people this could make an interesting story and I’m glad that people find it that interesting. To me though it wasn’t that much of a story.
@dagneyt – Nothing personal but I would rather find this a total non-story than go around making rude insinuations, accusations or judgements just because someone differs in thinking than you do. I am not accusiing but that is a typical liberal democrat progressive thing to do. But hey, if that’s your thing, go for it. Unless of course you think that I should be shot or thrown in jail or something like that for thinking different than you do.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:26pmI find it interesting that you thought I was “rude insinuations, accusations or judgements”. Can you tell me how you came to that conclusion? I am a conservative, so perhaps you recognize “liberal democrat progressive” thinking from personal experience.
Report Post »rbqueen
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:50pm@dagneyt – #1 I didn’t say that you were a “liberal democrat progressive” – said that what you said sounded like one.
Report Post »#2 The easiest way to tell a “liberal democrat progressive” from a conservative is that they think that everyone feels or believes the way that they do. Your original statement was: “Hmmmm….says more about you than levels of interest.” You said that only because I said that this story was not interesting to me. If you make an innuendo about me because of that, then I can tell you that it sounds exactly like what a “liberal democrat progressive” would say, You know nothing about me yet you say that because only because you disagreed with me? I have read a lot of your posts and you strike me more as a conservative but only pointing out that that was not a conservative statement which I presumed was just you making a judgement without thinking. However, if you wish to continue to accuse me of being a “liberal democrat progressive” then I will only continue to point out how your statements keep indicating the liberalism within your statements. Also, if you have noticed, I have not claimed to be a conservative because I know that I can stand on all of my previous posts as showing what I am. I do not have to claim to be conservative to make someone believe that I am.
Rickfromillinois
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:04pmMr. Obama will next go in front of the U.N. and apologize to the whole world for hooking all these people on tobacco. Reparations will follow shortly.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:53pmAs far as irrelevant stories go, at least this one isn’t pop-culture shock jock trash.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:03pm“More than a dozen are stamped with diamond shapes and inscribed with the names or initials of luminaries including explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, who dispatched the colonists to the territory he named Virginia. He also is credited with popularizing tobacco in England and is said to have smoked a pipe just before being executed for treason in 1618.”
Now THAT is a cool find! Especially to find something so relevant to his purpose, and his eventual execution. Couldn’t ask for more.
Report Post »C.C.D.
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:44pmIf it has dope residue, it’s probably the one George “spooky dude” Soros lost. The age sounds about right…
Report Post »hkyfan36
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:29pmSounds like Obama admin will jump all over this one. They can have England sue the US for getting them hooked on tobaco and a quick redistrabution of wealth from the US to Europe
Report Post »clipper
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:34pm@HKYFAN36 Don’t laugh.There probably is somebody close to Obama who thinks like that.
Report Post »C.C.D.
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:46pmIf nothing else, they will investigate whether the pickers earned union scale or not.
Report Post »Joseff
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:26pmI just wanted to see more images of the pipes. I used to smoke a pipe, and I am a history enthusiast. I’d love to get an idea of what they looked like and how they were constructed.
Joe
Report Post »Ironmaan
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:34pmSmoke em if you got em. http://guerillatics.com
Report Post »guyperram
Posted on January 1, 2011 at 3:35pmFor the most part the pipes used in the early colonal period that have been found were the ones used primarily in taverns. The had a small barrel with a long. narrow stem and were made of fired clay (pipe clay- usually white, also used to whiten the belts of British troops). The pipe was supplied by the tavern keeper, and you would break off a small piece of the stem after use, leaving a fresh end for the next customer.
Report Post »Many examples have been found by the Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg folks.
rbqueen
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:24pmNow this story is one of those “who cares” moments!
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {cat folk art}
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:30pmNo, this is of some historic interest, but the part of smoking a pipe just before being executed for treason sounds like what the Obama administration will be planning for us who stand against him and his cronies.
It just goes to open the window on the times and lives a bit more; to see and hold a part of history from the colony, and even from the people who have become part of legends in our days. Think on how, if the world is actually still here, the future will look upon us as part of their history.
Report Post »Pilgrim Bill
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:38pmthen why
Report Post »1.click the story
2. respond to it
DagneyT
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:39pmWhy do you say that? Verifying our countries history in uninteresting to you? Hmmmm….says more about you than levels of interest.
Too bad they started adding additives to the pure tobacco. It would not be a pollutant & a health hazard, if it were simply the product God intended.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:45pmActually this is a very good historical article – kudos to the author!! http://maboulette.wordpress.com
Report Post »CatB
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:51pmI think this is very interesting .. not only the pipes but in the context of something actually owned and used by those in Jamestown .. I have been at a few dig sites and it is really cool to see.
Report Post »MAULEMALL
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:58pmrbqueen
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 1:24pm
Now this story is one of those “who cares” moments!
Wht didn’t you just post FIRST…
ya dick
Report Post »BeckIsNuts
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:12pmStill no story on Warren Jeffs.
Dagnyet, ever wonder why the Mormons reject God’s work like tobacco, tea, coffee etc.? It doesn’t make sense. God creates it and they call it bad.
Report Post »clockn63
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:22pmAs I get older history is so interesting. My hubby works on clocks and has worked on many that have come from the early 1800′s. So cool to think who the prez was and what the family did on a daily basis.
Report Post »Steverino
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:31pmHey Blazers – This is just a thought:
Report Post »Perhaps The Blaze is introducing things of this nature because they are expanding their scope, overall.
At this point, it may feel as though many things that appear are “random”, but I’m sure if you were to look at any great publication in their infancy, many things would appear disjointed.
There could be future room being created for archaeology, technology,biblical studies, rabbinical studies, language, arts, and on and on…
I, for one, am excited to see how The Blaze continues to grow.
Helicopters always look a little awkward when they’re getting off the ground, but LOOK OUT once they’re airborne.
If there any consensus we can all come to, it is that Glenn and his team DO NOT THINK SMALL.
Happy New Year, All!
Steve
Independent Tess
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 2:34pmI find the story very interesting. It is fascinating to learn more about early Americans. Makes them come to life for me and I see them as real people
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 3:09pmI find this particular story interesting myself, but I wonder if the Blaze is the right forum for it? I come here for political news and while I do not mind some light hearted fluff interspersed between the news stories, there seems to be more and more non-news type things. Like “sally farted in the wallmart” kind of things that no one really cares about…
But an above poster has it right: We are the ones choosing to come here, read insipid articles, and even take the time to respond…
Report Post »guyperram
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 3:17pmDid they have the federal warning against tobacco imprinted on the pipes? How did the colonists survive using demon tobacco?
Report Post »Must have been nice to be free.
Sledgehammer
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:19pmHey, this is my people’s revenge, 400 years ago we figured we would get you all hooked on tobacco!
Happy New Year
N37BU6
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 4:20pm@DAGNEYT:
“Too bad they started adding additives to the pure tobacco. It would not be a pollutant & a health hazard, if it were simply the product God intended.”
Just wondering… is that how you feel about marijuana?
Report Post »chazman
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 7:01pmWhat the hell, it’s an interesting story! I need a break from the doom and gloom on this site from time to time! When reading a story like this I don’t feel the need to, or the desire, to whack some nutjob LIBTURD!
Report Post »demsaredumb
Posted on December 31, 2010 at 9:36pmJamestown was interesting place to for this west coaster to visit and see all of the historical finds in the museum.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on January 1, 2011 at 7:57amIs there any writings on these pipes about the surgeon generals warning smoking can be harmful to your health?
Report Post »EOS1911
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:23amyour comment is of a who cares moments.
Report Post »Shoalster
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 7:38pmI care . After perusing all the story lines I clicked on this one. History is interesting to me. Not what the latest release on Netflix is.
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