Remains of 4 Jamestown colony leaders unearthed

A recent excavation in Jamestown, Virginia has led to the discovery and identification of the bodies of four long-lost leaders of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, and the discovery could provide new insight into what life was like there in the 1600s.

The discovery, which was announced on Tuesday by officials from the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, found the graves of four colony leaders that had died between the 1608 and 1610, a time marked by conflict and hunger, according to Scientific American. The men were identified through a combination of historical documents and chemical analysis of their skeletons.

They were: Reverend Robert Hunt, the first minister from the Church of England in the colony; Sir Ferdinando Wainman, the man in charge of artillery and horse troops; Captain William West, who was also a high-ranking officer; and Captain Gabriel Archer, an early leader who challenged John Smith for control of the settlement.

Forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, told LiveScience and Discovery News that each of the men had played a key role in the early days of the Jamestown colony. “They’re very much at the heart of the foundation of the America that we know today.”

Hints of a secret Catholic community in Jamestown

Owslety’s team first unearthed the bodies in 2013, and used a combination of genealogical and historical documents from England and the US, as well as artifacts and a detailed analysis of the chemicals in the bones. The presence of lead in two of the skeletons indicates that they were members of the colony’s elite.

Wainman (sometimes spelled Weyman in historical documents) was the uncle of Sir Thomas West, the governor of Virginia, and both men were also related to Captain West, whose body was also among those discovered at the dig. Both West and Wainman were buried in human-shaped coffins, while Captain Archer was found (along with an arrow tip staff that he would frequently use) in a small silver box also known as a reliquary.

Fragments of a lead container used to hold holy water atop his coffin suggests that Archer may have quietly held onto his Catholic faith after coming to the New World, LiveScience said. James Horn, president of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, told Scientific American that the finding suggests there may have been “a group of secret Catholics at Jamestown.”

William Kelso, director of archaeology at the Jamestown foundation, told the publication that the Jamestown settlement was emphatically non-Catholic. This was due to England’s split from the Pope back in the 1500s and the settlement’s conflicts with self-proclaimed champion of Catholicism Phillip III and Spain. The colony had even executed a suspected Catholic spy in 1607. Horn said that the artifact may have been repurposed for a New World religion, or that Archer may have been part of a network of Spanish spies or a secret order of Catholic practitioners.

The final man discovered, Reverend Hunt, was found in far more modest conditions, having been buried in a simple shroud and facing west towards his congregation, Discovery News said. He died in 1608 and was approximately 39 years old. The researchers are considering conducting additional analysis to further verify their identities, and hope to identify additional colonists – a feat that will prove difficult, given the sparse remains available for most other settlers.

(Image credit: Donald E. Hurlbert, NMNH / SI)