ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: SUnday, December 29, 1996              TAG: 9612300045
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: JAMESTOWN
SOURCE: Associated Press

ARCHAEOLOGISTS MAY HAVE FOUND COLONIST'S RING STRACHEY'S SHIPWRECK MAY HAVE INSPIRED 'THE TEMPEST'

Scientists cataloging artifacts discovered at Jamestown Fort think they've found a ring belonging to prominent Colonist William Strachey.

Strachey's vivid account of the shipwreck that stranded a company of English adventurers, including himself, on the island of Bermuda during a 1609 voyage to Virginia is believed to have inspired William Shakespeare to write ``The Tempest.''

And the detailed description he wrote when he arrived at Jamestown Fort in 1610 helped scientists uncover one of the most elusive and sought-after sites in American archaeological history.

Marked with a splayed eagle and a distinctive cross, the brass signet ring bears the same coat of arms linked to the writer by heraldic records.

``It's rare in any archaeological dig to find some object that can be traced back to a single individual,'' said Jamestown Rediscovery curator Bly Straube.

``Being able to trace this back to Strachey - who was only here for a year - is even more exciting. We think it's pretty cool.''

Found in a rich lode of 17th century debris nicknamed ``the towne landfill,'' Strachey's ring is only one of more than 100,000 artifacts recovered by archaeologists during the 1996 digging season.

With excavations limited by cold weather until next spring, Straube and her colleagues are sorting through these objects, identifying and explaining what they unearthed.

Straube and project director Bill Kelso believe the Strachey ring and several other objects found this year may prove just as important in providing new evidence about America's beginning.

This year's dig yielded object after object from that colorful period, including many pieces of pottery, coins and medallions as well as military artifacts.

They paint a picture of Jamestown that differs significantly from the image shared by many scholars and the general public.

``Most people think of the Puritans and the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock when they think of the early English settlements,'' Kelso said.

``But what we're finding is that America's roots are really in the Elizabethan period, and that they may be far stronger than most people have realized before.''

What the archaeologists don't find could prove just as important as the contents themselves.

Three seasons of digging have turned up scant evidence of agricultural activity, for example, but that doesn't mean the early Colonists were lazy or unprepared, as some historians have argued.

It supports, instead, the growing belief that the English made deliberate plans to provide for themselves through barter, using copper trinkets, especially, to exchange with the neighboring Indians for food.

``They didn't want to waste their time putting in crops when they could be looking for gold,'' Straube said. ``Or at least looking for ways to make money.''

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