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ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS
  The current project began in 1994
when the site
of Fort St. George was confirmed at the tip of Sabino Head near the mouth of the
Kennebec River. In 1997, a series of annual excavations was started which
focused on locating specific structures within the fort, especially the
storehouse and Admiral Raleigh Gilbert's
house. The primary objective
of these excavations was to determine if the accuracy of the Hunt map was
sufficient for it to serve as a precise archaeological guide to the locations
and architectural features of these structures. The results to date have
established the reliability of the map, which informs us not only of Fort St.
George but perhaps also of other early English colonial sites, especially
Jamestown which may have had a similar layout of public buildings although the
overall configuration of the fort differed. Furthermore, the one-year occupation
of the fort encapsulates and forever preserves the year 1607.
 The
Popham Colony may have been the second Virginia colony, and second to Jamestown
in historical significance, but as a uniquely documented time capsule it ranks
first in the clarity of archaeological exposition of that crucial first year of
initial English colonization on these shores.
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POPHAM
COLONY
