Jodi Lee Carpenter

Glimpsing Beneath the Waters: A Survey of Jamestowns Islands' Submerged Cultural Resources.

(Under the Direction of Dr. Lawrence Babits) Department of History, 2007.

Jamestown Island, Virginia, is recognized as the first permanent English colony in the New World. In 2007, Jamestown is observing the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of "James Cittie." The island has been the focus of archaeological investigation for more than a century. The bulk of this archaeological energy has been spent on the islands terrestrial resources. This is ironic considering that the island's waterways served the early English settlers as crucial lifelines for transportation, commerce and communication. Moreover, human use of Jamestown's' waterways pre and post-date seventeenth century, "James Cittie."

A 2006 underwater survey circumnavigating Jamestown Island has shed light on the island's abundant submerged cultural resources. This thesis analyses the survey's findings and determines whether temporal and cultural correlation exist between Jamestown Island's newly discovered submerged archaeological sites and the island's previously identified terrestrial sites, pointing the way for future underwater investigations around Jamestown Island.