Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke and Jamestown Revealed
I learned three things from this video concerning the causes of deaths at Jamestown, which occurred between 1607 and 1610. First, starvation caused many deaths; as George Percy documented, “some were forced to search the woods and feed upon serpents and snakes” (Oppenheimer Ranch Project (ORP), 2018, 13:36). Secondly, some colonists died from attacks by Indians and other enemies, indicated by a musket ball in the bone of the excavated remains and the weapons discovered at the fort. Thirdly, Carville Earle proposed the presence of a fatal disease due to contaminated water, with Percy again documenting that “our drink was cold water taken out of the river, which was full of slime and filth, which was the destruction of many of our men” (ORP, 2018, 20:28).
America Unearthed: New Clues to the Lost Colony of Roanoke
Northern historians believe that Roanoke’s lost colony moved towards the south to the Croatoan Island, North Carolina. At the Histories and Mysteries Museum, Scott Dawson presents trade beads as evidence that the colony arrived at Croatoan. However, he admits that they cannot link the beads to the lost Roanoke colony yet. When the host inquires, “But we don’t have anything that is deadlock, if you will, connection to the last colony?” Scott replies, “That is correct” (History, 2020, 17:21).
On the other hand, the video presents the dare stones and John White’s map with a hidden fort as evidence that the lost colony moved west to the inland. The presenter notes that the colony might have moved inland to the fort or at least had plans to move there. Since the sassafras plant was of interest in those years, Scott concludes that “if there’s a place where the secret symbol on the map, the sassafras, and the dare stone clues all come together, we just might find the lost colony” (History, 2020, 33:54).
References
History. (2020). America unearthed: New clues to the lost colony of Roanoke (S1, E7) | full episode | History [Video]. YouTube. .
Oppenheimer Ranch Project. (2018). Death at Jamestown – narrator: Liev Schreiber – 17th century Jamestown’s dead secrets [Video]. YouTube.