Timbering—one of the first English industries in the New World. (Painting by Sidney E. King.)
An early 17th-century, two-man, crosscut saw.
The Woodcutter and Sawyer
Numerous tools found on Jamestown Island relate to timbering, including felling axes, hewing axes, hatchets, saws, and wedges. An early 17th-century two-man crosscut saw has been recovered almost intact. Records indicate that pit saws were used, although none has been excavated.
The Ironworker
A small, primitive hearth or furnace, where small amounts of iron may have been smelted during the early part of the 17th century, was uncovered during archeological explorations in 1955. A few miles upriver from Jamestown, at Falling Creek, the English built their first iron furnace in America in 1620-21. Iron was smelted in the furnace, and a few tools were forged—the first iron objects made in the New World by the English. In 1622 the Indians massacred the ironworkers and their families, and destroyed the furnace. Although it was never rebuilt, its importance cannot be overstressed, for the Falling Creek site can rightfully claim the honor of being the birthplace of the American iron industry.
A few of many tools unearthed at Jamestown which were used for timbering: felling axes, a hewing axe, adze, hatchet, wedge, and saw fragment.
