]
[Illustration: FISHING PROVIDED FOOD AS WELL AS RECREATION FOR THE
COLONISTS. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)]
[Illustration: A FEW OF THE MANY ARTIFACTS RELATING TO FISHING UNEARTHED
AT JAMESTOWN: FISHHOOKS, FISH-GIGS, AND LEAD NET WEIGHTS.]
Handtools used by the Jamestown farmers during the 17th-century have
been found in abundance. These include axes, picks, billhooks,
pitchforks, spades, rakes, mattocks, sickles, scythes, broad hoes,
narrow hoes, and shovels.
Only a few parts belonging to heavy farming implements have been
unearthed, including a few ploughshares and small metal fragments from
wagons, carts, and harrows.
Fishing
When the first settlers planted their small colony at Jamestown, the
tidewater rivers and bays and the Atlantic Ocean bordering the Virginia
coast teemed with many kinds of fish and shellfish which were both
edible and palatable. Varieties which the colonists soon learned to eat
included sheepshead, shad, sturgeon, herring, sole, white salmon, bass,
flounder, pike, bream, perch, rock, and drum, as well as oysters,
crabs, and mussels. Seafood was an important source of food for the
colonists, and at times, especially during the early years of the
settlement, it was the main source.
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