Pocahontas's society was complex

Dig Casts New Light On Indian Culture

Va. Archaeological Findings Unveil Complex Society"There's no place like Werowocomoco," Gallivan said. For the Algonquians, for centuries the dominant tribe of Virginia's Tidewater region, it was the ancient center of the universe.

The discoveries at this site have provided a counter to impressions created by colonists such as Smith, who described the natives as "idle," "ignorant of the knowledge of gold" and "carelesse of any thing but from hand to mouth."

"Historians tend to portray Virginia Indians as a static, unchanging culture," said David Brown, another archeologist with the Werowocomoco Research Group. "This really widens our perspective of how complex this society was and had been for a very long time."