Bar Iron and Smith's Tools
The artifacts in this photograph were found in an excavation at the site of colonial Jamestown in Virginia. The photo was originially published in the National Park Service publication New Discoveries at Jamestown: Site of the First Successful English Settlement in America, with the caption: Objects found at a 17th-century forge site at Jamestown: blacksmith’s tools, bar iron, a few incomplete items, sword guards, and slag. It appears that the forge was in operation as early as 1625.
For more information on excavation at Jamestown go to:
[Objects Found at 17th Century Forge Site at Jamestown]. 17th century. Iron. In New Discoveries at Jamestown: Site of the First Successful English Settlement in America. By John L. Cotter and Paul Hudson. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1957. Project Gutenberg. Relased 2005. http://gutenberg.readingroo.ms/1/6/2/7/16277/16277-h/16277-h.htm (Accessed December 14, 2018).
Public Domain
Public Domain is a copyright term that is often used when talking about copyright for creative works. Under U.S. copyright law, individual items that are in the public domain are items that are no longer protected by copyright law. This means that you do not need to request permission to re-use, re-publish or even change a copy of the item. Items enter the public domain under U.S. copyright law for a number of reasons: the original copyright may have expired; the item was created by the U.S. Federal Government or other governmental entity that views the things it creates as in the public domain; the work was never protected by copyright for some other reason related to how it was produced (for example, it was a speech that wasn't written down or recorded); or the work doesn't have enough originality to make it eligible for copyright protection.