Wooden Tompion Part (VCU_3D_5009)

This portion of a wooden tompion was recovered from *Betsy*, a shipwreck (44YO0088) located in the York River, off the coast of Yorktown, Virginia. Tompions were plugs used to protect cannon barrels from the elements when the cannon was not engaged. Today, tompions have evolved into works of art. The remains of *Betsy* were in especially good condition (Broadwater 1992:39). It was part of a fleet of vessels that the British scuttled in 1781. See John Broadwater 1992 Shipwreck in a Swimming Pool: An Assessment of the Methodology and Technology Utilized on the Yorktown Shipwreck Archaeological Project. Historical Archaeology 26(4):26-46 and "Yorktown Shipwreck" in the June 1988 National Geographic. This artifact was 3-D scanned with a Go!Scan 50 at the archaeological curation facility of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond, Virginia. Courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources which has given permission for the model to be downloadable for non-commercial educational purposes.