JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA—WHRO.org reports that an attempt to identify remains unearthed inside the chancel of a church constructed at Jamestown in 1617 through genetic analysis has ruled out Sir George Yeardley, an English captain who arrived in Virginia in 1610. Skeletal analysis indicates that the remains represent a European man who died between the ages of 38 and 44. No signs of heavy physical labor were found on the bones. Researchers were able to extract mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to child, from a sample of the bones. Genealogist Dave Annal then identified 10 living people descended from Katherin Yeardley, Sir George Yeardley’s sister. Mitochondrial DNA from one of these descendants was then compared with the seventeenth-century sample, but the two individuals were found to be unrelated to each other. To read more about recent innovative research in the field of archaeogenetics, go to "Ancient DNA Revolution."
