In 2013 , an archaeological dig in America ’s first dependency of Jamestown , Virginia , reveal four skeleton at a 1608 church ( the one where Pocahontas espouse John Rolfe ) . Now , after combine skeletal analysis , chemical substance testing , context cues , and genealogic work , a team of researchers has bring out the identities of the four badly - preserve remains : They belong to to colony founders and drawing card who sailed across the Atlantic , according to an declaration made at theSmithsonian Institution ’s National Museum of Natural Historythis week .
Because they were bury in a space at the front of the church around the altar , the hands had to have been lead member of the community of interests . So , the team of Smithsonian researcher andJamestown Rediscovery Foundationarchaeologists come up with a small list of prominent men who died between 1608 and 1617 using historical records . Then , they tested the frame to specify their approximate ages at death and used chemical substance psychometric test to figure out their diet . Using high - resolve micro - CT scanning , they were able-bodied to reveal narrate details of the artifacts swallow up with each of the men . eventually , the investigator traverse - reference theses data with elaborated genealogies .
Reverend Robert Hunt was the chaplain at Jamestown and the colony ’s Anglican pastor . Ministers were buried in a wide-eyed shroud , confront toward their fold , and without a coffin , Natureexplains . He died in 1608 at the age of 39 .
Captain Gabriel Archer was eat up alongside a captain ’s leading staff and a mysterious flatware box that suggested he may have been a ( surreptitious ) Catholic . As a council member , he oft battled with Captain John Smith and others over the leading of the colony , Los Angeles Timesexplains . He died at the historic period of 34 in 1609 or 1610 during what ’s known as the “ starving time . ”
Sir Ferdinando Wainman , who came to Jamestown with his first cousin , the governor of Virginia , died around age 34 in 1610 . His bones showed mellow level of lead exposure , an indicant of riches since valuable item at the time , like pewter and sugarcoat wares , contained more lead , Scienceexplains .
master William West died in 1610 during a clash with the Powhatan at years 24 . His military leader ’s waistband was adorned with fluent bullion bang and spangles .
The men lived and died at a turn full stop in the story of the settlement , when it was on the brink of unsuccessful person due to dearth , disease , and conflict , according toSmithsonian ’s Douglas Owsley . “ The skeletons of these men help fill in the stories of their biography , ” he adds , “ and impart to subsist knowledge about the former years at Jamestown . ”
[ ViaSmithsonian Science News ]
