Four skeletal remains unearthed in the Jamestown excavation site back in 2013 have finally been identified. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation worked in tandem to discover who the remains found in the ruins of a historic church in Jamestown, Va. were of, according to Smithsonian Science News.
The task was a challenge because only 30 percent of each skeleton remained, and what was left was also poorly preserved. After analyzing results from forensics testing, micro-CT scans, archaeology, genealogy and historical records, the team concluded the four men were top leaders in the old Jamestown colony, which was also suggested by their burial location - in front of a church altar, a place reserved for prominent figures in the community.
The four men were identified as: Rev. Robert Hunt, Anglican minister who also served as Jamestown chaplain and died in 1608 at age 39; Capt. Gabriel Archer who died in 1609 or 1610 at age 34; Sir Ferdinando Wainman, who was the cousin of the governor of Virginia and died in 1610 at age 34; and Capt. William West, who died in 1610 at age 24 during a brief clash with the Powhatan.
Four lost leaders of Jamestown identified! New research w/ Jamestown Rediscovery: https://t.co/A81GkZkRfy #SIForensic pic.twitter.com/5aCbLCX9xu
— Smithsonian's NMNH (@NMNH) July 28, 2015
Jamestown Rediscovery president James Horn called the Jamestown excavation "an extraordinary discovery."
"Two of the men, Archer and Hunt, were with the first expedition, which established Jamestown in May 1607," said Horn. "And the other two, Wainman and West, arrived with Lord De La Warr and helped save the colony three years later. These men were among the first founders of English America," he added, according to the Smithsonian Newsdesk.
The four men lived during a particularly difficult time for the settlement. It was rigged by famine and disease, a period of early settlement history referred to as the "Starving Time." On top of that, the community faced conflict with the Powhatan.
"The skeletons of these men help fill in the stories of their lives and contribute to existing knowledge about the early years at Jamestown," said Douglas Owsley, who heads the physical anthropology division at the National Museum of Natural History.
One interesting find in the Jamestown excavation was a small silver box placed on top of Archer's coffin. The letter M and some arrows were etched outside the box, while seven bone fragments and two pieces of a lead ampulla, the kind that was used for holy water, were found inside.
A silver box, resting on Capt. Gabriel Archer’s coffin, was an unexpected find: https://t.co/d0KckqXWSj #SIForensic pic.twitter.com/wVH2WQWv1O — Smithsonian's NMNH (@NMNH) July 28, 2015
The box is believed to be a Catholic reliquary, leading many to wonder if Archer held on to his Catholic faith when the settlement was primarily Anglican. According to Horn, the silver box could hold clues to the early religious history in the colonies.
Although the men were the top leaders of the American colonies, and are so far the highest-ranking colony leaders ever discovered, they are not widely known.
"It is true that people don't know their names. It's not John Smith," said Owsley, referring to the more popular colony leader who married Pocahontas in the historic church where the four skeletons were unearthed. "Yet, these are investors and principals in that colony, and so I see this very much as at the core and foundation of America," he added, according to The New York Times.
The Smithsonian prepared a 3D viewer that people can use to explore the Jamestown excavation site. It features detailed scans of the burial ground, the graves, the silver box and other details.
