Archaeologists excavate two sites where Roanoke Lost Colony settlers may have gone

Archaeologists began digging on the mainland site after an X on a watercolor map drawn by John White was found underneath a patch. The site is on Ablemarle Sound. History.com reports on the map and its significance:

“Known as La Virginea Pars, the map shows the East Coast of North America from Chesapeake Bay to Cape Lookout; it is housed at the British Museum as part of its permanent collection. White began drawing the map in 1585, two years before he became governor. In 2012, researchers using X-ray spectroscopy and other imaging techniques spotted a tiny four-pointed star, colored red and blue, concealed under a patch of paper that White used to make corrections to his map. It was thought to mark the location of a site some 50 miles inland, which White alluded to in testimony given after his attempted return to the colony. If such a site did exist, the theory went, it would have been a reasonable destination for the displaced Roanoke settlers.”

Archaeologist Nichola M. Lucketti told The New York Times, “We have evidence from this site that strongly indicates that there were Roanoke colonists here.” Lucketti and colleagues with the First Colony Foundation have found at Site X the Border ware pottery that those colonists likely would have had with them, a baluster food-storage jar, priming pans from flintlock guns and a hook that the colonists would have used to stretch hides. “No signs of a fort or other structures have been found, but the aggregate of the artifacts convinced the archaeologists that at least a few of the colonists wound up there,” The NY Times says.

Mark Horton, the archaeologist working on Hatteras Island to the south, says he believes some of the colonists came there and assimilated with an Indian tribe. He has found European artifacts from the era too, including a rapier hilt, gun hardware, part of a slate writing tablet but no Border ware, which is a telltale sign of habitation.

Both archaeologists say it's possible the colonists split up and went to both sites. Officials and other scholars are calling for more evidence and further excavations and study.

“Charles R. Ewen, the president of the Society for Historical Archaeology and director of the Phelps Archaeology Laboratory at East Carolina University, says he wants incontrovertible proof of 16th-century occupation, such as a European grave from the period,” says The NY Times.

“He is also unconvinced that colonists removed to the Hatteras site, although the findings there could indicate contact between colonists and Native Americans. 'I know we want a definitive answer, and there’s just not enough evidence yet from either site to say that, yes, this is where some of the lost colonists went,” he said. “I’m not cynical, but I haven’t seen enough evidence to say, yeah, you bet, I’m on board with that.'”