Dig Deeper - 46 - Locked and Loaded, Part I: Recovering a Roman Lock Pistol from a 400 Year Old Well

Dig Deeper Episode 46 celebrates the first public display of a 400 year old Roman Lock Pistol in the Nathalie P. & Alan M. Voorhees Archaearium Museum at Historic Jamestowne.

In Part 1 - David Givens (Director of Archaeology at Jamestown Rediscovery) describes why finding artifacts in a well can be very rewarding. In addition, he describes his successful recovery of a loaded pistol from the bottom of a Jamestown well dug c. 1611.

In Part 2 (to be released mid-March 2002), Michael D. Lavin, Jamestown Rediscovery’s Director of Collections & Conservation, provides information on the types of firearms used 400 years ago at Jamestown. This information includes a detailed description of the 400 year old Roman Lock Pistol and why it is a uniquely rare find.

In Part 3 (to be released end of March 2022), Jamestown Rediscovery Conservator, Dr. James (Chris) Wilkins explains how this unique pistol was conserved over a 15 year period and why this effort was particularly challenging.

Finally, should you be interested in learning about the wood present in the pistol stock please view our previously released Youtube video, “Wood identification on the pistol stock recovered in 2006” at    • Wood identification on the pistol stock re...  


#Jamestown #JamesFort #JamestownRediscovery #archaeology #HistoricJamestowne #pistol #firearm #matchlock #Romanlock #JamestownIsland #Jamestownsettlement #JamestownColony #JackofPlate #17thcentury #1600 #conservation #artifact #conservation