Jamestown Rediscovery Artifacts : How Do We Recapture The Lives Of People Who Left No Written Record?

The Jamestown colonists were on the verge of becoming a dead colony, but somehow they pushed through the many challenges brought to the table, and became a successful colony. The Europeans sailed to Jamestown in 1607 on James Island. During this time period, life in Jamestown was very difficult because they had so many obstacles to overcome. The reasons why so many colonists at Jamestown died are because of starvation, disease, and conflict with the Indians.

Jamestown is thought by most of our general population to be the first colony in the New World. This is only half true. Jamestown is considered our first successful colony, however it was not our first attempt at a colony. There were a few attempts to colonize the New World before Jamestown and one in particular that is found to be interesting is Roanoke also known as the Lost Colony. It received this name due to the fact that the colonists that settled this colony disappeared very mysteriously.

As a young child many of us are raised to be familiar with the Pocahontas and John Smith story. Whether it was in a Disney movie or at a school play that one first learned of Jamestown, students want to believe that this romantic relationship really did occur. As one ages, one becomes aware of the dichotomy between fact and fiction. This is brilliantly explained in David A. Price's, Love and Hate in Jamestown. Price describes a more robust account of events that really did take place in the poorly run, miserable, yet evolving settlement of Jamestown, Virginia; and engulfs and edifies the story marketed by

Gary Brigg’s article offers detailed information on the mystery of the Lost Colony. In the article, Gary gives background information on the Queen Elizabeth and detailed information on the colony itself. The Roanoke Colony was the Second English colony in the New World. The Roanoke Colony was found at Roanoke Island and was the second English colony in the world. Researchers say, there were two settlements in 1586 and 1587.

For centuries, the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island has been a controversial issue. Many theories exist that explain the disappearance of the colony. Some theories suggest that the colonists left the island to live with friendly neighboring Indians. Others suggest that a hurricane wiped out the colony or that a savage Indian tribe massacred them. The possibility of disease destroying them is also a debated topic. However, evidence indicates that the men and women left behind on Roanoke Island did not die because of massacre, disease, or starvation but went to live with the Croatoan Indians.

The Enlightened Archaeologist – an article authored by Jeffrey Hantman and Gary Dunham chronicles Thomas Jefferson’s investigation of the Indian burial mound located on the South Fork of the Rivanna River in the 18th century. The site excavated by Jefferson, however, is no longer visible, most likely due to dissipation by inevitable natural occurrences (I.E. excessive rainfall, flooding rivers, etc.) or human activity such as farming. The “Father of American Archaeology” correctly predicts the latter in his book, Notes on the State of Virginia, in which he states, mounds “…put under cultivation are much reduced in their height, and spread in width, by the plough, and will probably disappear in time” (1787). Fortunately for Archaeologists of the late 20th century (1988) an Indian burial mound identical to that of the one Jefferson described in his book was uncovered just 14 miles from the South Fork of the Rivanna River.

Kennewick Man is one of the most complete ancient skeletons found to date. The discovery initiated scholarly and public debate of the legal and ethical implications of anthropological study of Native American human remains. The Kennewick Man controversy has called into question the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)’s ability to balance tribal, museum, and archaeological interest in ancient human remains.

3. What evidence do the scientists use to try to discover where the men were buried?

Death by Theory, written by Adrian Praetzellis, is an engaging and informational book written in a novelistic way that engages the reader to think critically about archaeology. Compared to other forms of informational text about archaeology, Death by Theory teaches archaeological theory by telling a story that incorporates the different theories of archaeology in a realistic setting. While standard textbooks about the theory of archaeology can come off a bit dry, Death by Theory skips the standard definitions and applies this in a way that aids the reader in understanding how these theories and terms can be applied in an actual archaeological setting. This text illustrates the adventure of plucky archaeologist Dr. Hannah Green and her nephew Sean Doyle as they seek to explain an unusual archaeological site while dealing with real life archaeological struggles. The protagonists deal with an egotistical colleague of Dr. Green who sought her out as a consult on a particularly strange archaeological case. All the while dealing with cults, the media, and incompatible data.

On May 14, 1607, a group of roughly 100 members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company, founded the first permanent English settlement in North America. The Jamestown colonists purpose is to find gold, silver, and other resources all they want is claiming land and riches. Smith left the Jamestown settlers without a strong leader so he left all his people alone. There’s no houses for them, there’s no supplies for them to survive due to the lack of leadership. So the settlers faced many hardships they had not expected. The settlers lacked some skills necessary to contribute for themselves like farming, hunting, etc. Many settlers died not only because of starvation & disease but also during the winter many settlers starve or froze to death because they don’t have anything for that season. After all what happens to them the settler adjusted to their new lives in America. The few remaining colonists turned to local Powhatan Indians to help them learn the process of planting and harvesting corn and tobacco. The settlers relied on

Forensic anthropologist examine skeletal remains for elements of a skeleton that can give clues to the person it belongs to. The Kennewick man’s skeleton was found in surprisingly good condition meaning the damage to the skeleton was done in his life, not due to deterioration. The skeleton showed a projectile point lodged in his hip, five broken ribs that did not properly heal, two small dents in his skull, and a bum shoulder. These wounds show an insight to the lifestyle

The new technologies have led to new discoveries about what lies beneath the ground in the surrounding areas. “The technology emits radio waves into the ground and measures the echo as the signal bounces off of various things buried underground” (Basu). The new technologies has been aid to have found fence like structures which may have been buried beneath the ground. These new discoveries are only the beginning of what the researchers may be able to find in the future. I believe that if the researchers are able to find something that represents objects from the early 1600’s it will just continue to make the mystery of Roanoke more interesting. One thing the findings don’t allow us to do, are say when exactly a certain object may be from because of the many different explorations and continued movement of many groups of colonists that may have come through

The lost colony of Roanoke is a very occult matter such as what happened to the people who were doing just fine until one day when all of a sudden, they disappeared. Roanoke was a first ditch attempt to set up a colony on the east coast of North America. They had traveled to America before to see if they could settle the land. This area was scanned by a colonizing expedition ordered by Sir Walter Raleigh so he sent Sir Richard Greenville and Sir Ralph Lane and they built the Citie of Raleigh in 1585 before heading back to England the next year. Its current location today is an island in Dare County in present day North Carolina, surrounded by the Atlantic coast. The next year in 1587, an English colony was settled by a group of 117 men, women,

The mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke is a puzzling mystery about what happened to the first English settlers in America. The question is, what actually happened to them, because even with evidence and research no one knows for absolute certain what actually did happen. The disappearance of an entire colony, who left behind a dismantled settlement and the word "Croatoan" etched into a tree has stumped many archaeologists. Countless theories have arisen, some more outrageous than the rest. Were they killed by Indians? Taken by aliens? Abducted? Sabotaged? The mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke has an abundance of theories, but the most plausible is that the colonist were assimilated into the Lumbee tribe.

Although, even before the Indian Massacre of 1622, archeologist were looking for any signs that something was done here. It could be a piece of pottery or even soothing that belong on clothing, something to show that there was occupancy on that particular plot of land. The same could be said for the massacre, where the accounts about the Indians really what archeologist said they were or