Lead Toy

This is a lead figurine of a boy who appears to be
dancing. It is about 3 cm long and was found in the ca.
1610 context of Pit 3. It may be a toy brought for the
amusement of an adult or child in the colony. There were
probably a few women and children at Jamestown by
the spring of 1610. Four boys were named among the first
colonists who arrived in May 1607. It is also recorded
that at least two children were born in Bermuda during
the year that the survivors of the
Sea Venture
shipwreck lived there. A girl named Bermuda was born to
John Rolfe and his first wife. She died and was buried on
Bermuda before the colonists left for Virginia in May
1610, but there is no mention of the fate of a boy named
Bermudas Eason who was born in March of that year.
The lead boy could also be an object intended for
trade with the Indians. Eight similar leaden figures were
recovered during explorations of a 1596 Dutch encampment
in the arctic region of Nova Zembla. These toys, which
are depicting classical mythological figures, were
carried as trade goods by an expedition trying to find a
north-east passage to China.