Scuppet

Resembling a modern day gardening hoe, the scuppet was an indispensable tool for the colonists at Jamestown. It was vital to fort construction in the 17th century and would have been a part of a military kit sent with the colonists. A cross between a hoe and a shovel, scuppets were used to dig the narrow but deep trenches in which the upright logs of the fort walls were placed. As with many of the edged tools found at James Fort, the tip of this scuppet was edged with steel to increase the durability. Known to have been first used by the Romans in battle, the modern equivalent is known as the entrenching tool, or E-Tool.