Jamestown Settlement Special Exhibition
May 15, 2010 – June 30, 2011

Artifacts spanning 10,000 years from Werowocomoco – Virginia’s original “capital” city and the principal residence of Powhatan, paramount chief of 30-some Indian tribes in Virginia’s coastal region at the time English colonists arrived in 1607 – were shown for the first time in a museum setting in the Jamestown Settlement special exhibition “Werowocomoco: Seat of Power.”

The Werowocomoco archaeological site, located in Gloucester County about 20 miles from Jamestown, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register. Download the exhibition brochure or visit our “Werowocomoco: Seat of Power” webpage to learn more.

Lecture by Martin D. Gallivan: “Werowocomoco: Seat of Power”

Dr. Gallivan, guest curator of the Jamestown Settlement special exhibition, discusses the archaeological investigations at Werowocomoco that have uncovered evidence of interaction with Jamestown’s colonists and the ways that the Powhatan Indians constructed a powerful, central place in Tidewater Virginia from A.D. 1200 through 1607. Dr. Gallivan, College of William and Mary associate professor of anthropology, has been involved in the archaeological research at the Gloucester County site since 2003 as part of the Werowocomoco Research Group and has written numerous academic articles on the findings. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.

Lecture by Helen C. Rountree: “English Myth-Making and Indian Reality: Early English Stereotypes of the Virginia Indians”

Dr. Rountree examines the perceptions of Virginia Indians by early English colonists in the 17th century, the Virginia Indian reality behind those stereotypes, and views that persist about the culture in society today. Dr. Rountree is widely acknowledged as one of the leading researchers and writers on Virginia Indians and East Coast tribes. She is the author of nine books, including “Pocahontas, Powhatan, and Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown” and “Pocahontas’s People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries.”