
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 11, 1995                   TAG: 9509110012
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

BITS OF BONE MAY YIELD CLUES TO LIVES OF SLAVES

Archaeologists have begun excavating centuries-old remains of slaves from the soil of a James City County housing development.

The tiny, crumbling shards of bone are believed to be the remains of slaves who worked at Kingsmill on the James in the days of tobacco plantations.

Researchers with the James River Institute for Archaeology hope the remains can reveal how the slaves lived and died.

``They've already told us some things,'' said Garrett Fesler, a senior archaeologist with the project. ``We've found out how old some of them were when they died, what their stature was and how they were buried. We're hoping they can tell us a lot more.''

Fesler and his team discovered the graveyard this summer.

Historians believe up to 150 slaves could have lived at Kingsmill at any given time.

Archaeologists have dug into the graves over the past few weeks, but have found only teeth, which are better-preserved than other remains. Bones have been harder to find.

Fesler says it won't be easy to remove the remains, which now are covered with layers of plastic, foil and cloth.

Once above ground, the remains will be wrapped in gauze and tin foil and taken to Radford University, where two physical anthropologists plan to examine them.

by CNB