What has happened to the Southwest corner of the Jamestown Fort

A Ditch and its Treasures. In the summer of 2003, archaeologists discovered the remains of the western bulwark ditch of James Fort. On the far southwestern end of the fort site, the topography sloped steeply to the concrete seawall and into the James River below.

Instructions in late 1606 from the Virginia Company stressed “above all things” the need to hide the numbers of English sick and deceased to prevent the Virginia Indians from seizing upon the colony's weakness. Archaeologists uncovered a large English burial ground inside the crowded confines of the fort walls.