JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA—According to a Gizmodo report, paleontologist Marcus Key of Dickinson College has analyzed the black limestone tombstone found in the 1617 church at Jamestown. The stone features an outline of a person wearing armor, and probably a shield and sword, suggesting that the tombstone was carved for a knight. The stone is therefore thought to have belonged to Sir Thomas West, who died in 1618 while sailing to Jamestown, or Sir George Yeardley, the slave-owning colonial governor. Key determined that microfossils of single-celled organisms called foraminiferans were embedded in the limestone. “These species did not co-occur anywhere in North America,” he explained, but could have come from parts of England, Ireland, or Belgium. “Historical evidence of similar colonial tombstones around the Chesapeake Bay suggests the source was Belgium,” Key concluded. He thinks the stone had been shipped from Belgium to London, where it was carved and inlayed with brass as was fashionable, and then shipped to Jamestown. Read the original scholarly article about this research in International Journal of Historical Archaeology. For more on the tombstone, go to "Knight Watch."
400-Year-Old Jamestown Tombstone Analyzed
News September 20, 2024
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2022
Colonial Connection
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2022
Burn Notice
Features January/February 2021
Return to the River
Members of Virginia’s Rappahannock tribe are at work with archaeologists to document the landscape they call home
Mapping the Past May/June 2019
Catawba Map
-
Features September/October 2024
Hunting for the Lost Temple of Artemis
After a century of searching, a chance discovery led archaeologists to one of the most important sanctuaries in the ancient Greek world
Courtesy Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece -
Letter from Nigeria July/August 2024
A West African Kingdom's Roots
Excavations in Benin City reveal a renowned realm’s deep history
(Mike Pitts) -
Artifacts July/August 2024
Etruscan Oil Lamp
(Courtesy Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona; © DeA Picture Library/Art Resource, NY) -
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
A Taíno Idol's Origin Story
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography Turin