A grant will allow a research team from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to protect Werowocomoco, an important Native American site in upper Gloucester County, from further erosion.

Scott Hardaway, director of VIMS’s Shorelines Studies Program, said the $199,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will help protect Werowocomoco’s shoreline from erosion. The site occupies an eroding headland on the north side of the York River on Purtan Bay.

Field work is expected to begin on the site later this fall, Hardaway said, with major construction to begin in the spring of 2015. The grant is for a two-year period.

The area to be protected first, Hardaway said, is “the most critical” upland portion of the property. Plans are to protect 300 feet of the 1,300 feet of shoreline with the initial funding.

Martin Gallavan, a College of William and Mary professor and head of archaeology at Werowocomoco, said “this area has seen considerable ero...