]
[Illustration: A FEW OBJECTS UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN WHICH WERE USED FOR
TRADING WITH THE INDIANS. SHOWN ARE GLASS BEADS, SCISSORS, IRON KNIVES,
A HATCHET, AND BELL FRAGMENTS.]
Hatchets.--Many fine specimens of handwrought hatchets have been found.
These were valuable items during the early years of the settlement, and
much sought after by the Indians, so that a large number were used in
trading with them. But hatchets were used primarily by the carpenter,
cooper, and other artisans.
Pots and Pans.--A pot or pan made of brass or copper was almost worth
its weight in gold for trading purposes. A few complete examples,
together with numerous fragments, have been recovered.
Brass Casting Counters or Jettons.--Most of these thin brass tokens or
counters (similar in appearance to coins) were made in Germany during
the second half of the 16th century. In Europe they were used on
counting boards for making mathematical calculations, but in the New
World it is believed that they were used in the Indian trade.
Approximately a dozen have been found at Jamestown. Three were also
found on Roanoke Island (site of Raleigh's ill-fated "Lost Colony") and
one was recovered in an Indian shell mound near Cape Hatteras, not too
distant from Croatoan Island (known today as Ocracoke Island).
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