Scientists say they have identified the remains of four men who were among the early leaders of Virginia’s Jamestown settlement.
Jamestown was the first successful British colony that gave rise to modern day America.
The bodies were exhumed in November 2013 in the church where Pocahontas married Captain John Rolfe in 1614.
It took two years of detective work and the latest scientific techniques to identify the badly-preserved bones.
It’s now known the remains belong to important figures who lived in Jamestown between 1607 and 1610, when the colony almost collapsed.
“This was a time of food shortages, Indian attacks and disease,” says James Horn, president of Jamestown Rediscovery. “These men helped established the colony and bring to life the challenges faced by the first settlers.”
“We have two men from the first expedition of 1607 and two men from the second expedition that saved Jamestown and English America in 1610. So it’s highly significant in terms of understanding the success of Jamestown and its survival as an English colony in the New World.”
The bodies were found in the church’s chancel, indicating they were people of great status in the community.
Using physical evidence at the site, analysis of the bones and extensive historical research, scientists narrowed the search down to these four men.
Perhaps the most important of the four is Captain Gabriel Archer. He was deeply involved in the colony’s politics and led some of the first expeditions up the James river seeking gold and silver.
He also took a deadly dislike to Captain John Smith, arguably the most famous of the settlers, and conspired unsuccessfully to have him executed.
[…]
Complete text and video linked here.
