 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Science: Archaeologists find remains of first British settler in US">Archive of stories pre April 2007 | | | | | | | 
Archive of stories pre April 2007 | News submitted by: MIB
Archaeologists believe they may have discovered the skeleton of the man considered to be behind the first permanent English settlement in North America.
The age of the grave inside a fort in Jamestown, Virginia and artifacts found with the skeleton suggest it belongs to Captain Bartholomew Gosnold.
The Suffolk born explorer organised a new group of settlers to be sent to Virginia after the disappearance of North Carolina's Roanoke colony in 1587.
In 1602 he also led an expedition to the Maine and Massachusetts coasts, where he discovered and named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard.
As commander of the Godspeed four years later, he was second-in-command in the three-ship fleet that landed the 107 Virginia Company settlers at Jamestown in May of 1607.
Gosnold died in August, 1607, after three weeks of illness. About two-thirds of the settlers died that summer.
"This is just as significant as actually finding the fort," William Kelso, of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities said. "We're talking about finding one of the Columbus-era type guys."
The association, which began excavating the fort area in 1994, is arranging DNA tests to compare the remains to Gosnold's descendants. Mr Kelso described the skeleton, buried alone and found about 2 feet deep, as remarkably well-preserved.
© Associated Press
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_749599.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery
|
| | | | | | | |
| |
blocks-left.jpg
blocks-left.jpg
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
Article Rating |
|
|
| |
|
| |
Average Score: 3
Votes: 1
|
|
|
| |
|
blocks-left.jpg
|
Online Stats: 
