Among the many objects brought to light is a wrought-iron sickle found in the very bottom of the fort ditch. Undoubtedly, it was one of the tools used at the time of the building of the fort, because archeological evidence shows that the loose dirt of the parapet of the fort began to wash back into the ditch almost as soon as the fort was completed. Even more interesting, perhaps, are three copper, or brass, counters, popular in Europe for keeping arithmetical accounts during the sixteenth century, which were found inside the fort. They carry the symbols of Tudor England and on one the name Hans Schultes Zu Nuremberg is readable. Schultes is known to have manufactured such counters in Nuremberg between 1550 and 1574, at which time Nuremberg was a center for the making of counters. He undoubtedly made this one for the English trade, as the Tudor symbols indicate. Likewise, of great interest are the fragments of large Spanish olive jars found in the excavations. As the colonists of 1585-86 traded in Puerto Rico and Haiti, in the Spanish West Indies, for goods and supplies on their way to Roanoke Island, it was to be expected that objects of this type would be found.
Iron sickle found during the excavations.
Indian pipe of red clay found at the bottom of the fort ditch.
Fragments of maiolica were also found, which appear to be either Spanish or Hispano-American. In addition, large iron spikes, buckles, a casement bar and other materials of interest came to light. Indian pottery and traces of Indian campfires found at various soil levels show that the Indians returned to Roanoke Island and inhabited the fort area after the last colonists had left.
Top of a Spanish olive jar found at the bottom of the fort ditch.
THE WATERSIDE THEATER.
At the water’s edge is the theater of the Roanoke Island Historical Association, in which Paul Green’s Lost Colony symphonic drama is given annually during the summer season through the cooperation of the State of North Carolina and the National Park Service.