Lost Roanoke Colony Found - Maps, Artifacts and DNA Evidence

Lost Roanoke Colony Found - Maps, Artifacts and DNA Evidence Where is "here"?

Emery, Theo (8-10-2015). The New York Times. The Roanoke Colonists: Lost, and Found?

Summary and Comments: DNA research had already found some links between the lost Roanokers and their present day descendants that also have Indigenous bloodlines and living in North Carolina (see information presented below in DNA sections). That research has become a major project in the 2010s.

Merry Hill, North Carolina or Site X is the "here" in the researcher's discovery declaration that involves about a dozen colonists. This place is on Albemarle Sound and labeled as Site X. A strong supporting x-ray spectrograph analysis by the British Museum of an old map belonging to the original colony leader, John White, lends credence to this second inland site of Roanoke adventures.

Previously, Chocowinity NC, a few miles southwest of Merry Hill, was determined to be a very possible settlement site of removed Roanoke colonists, based on artifacts found there, especially ceramic ware, but more research was required.

Increasing numbers of Border ware ceramic artifacts found are taken as a marker for the presence of the Roanoke colonists. In the future, Mr. Luccketti hopes for 15 acres of additional area be approved for further excavation and confirmation of lost Roanokers' presence.

Several archaeological sites around Albermarle Sound may prove to have been home to the 100 lost Roanoke colonists. The group of 100 or fewer may have spit up in to two or several smaller groups, as have past Native American Nations in the area.

Considering that the colony had only 100 individuals in the beginning, I think that we must consider the likelihood of death of a portion of the group related to diseases, exposure to some cold weather, the rigors of settling and moving, possible attack by non-friendly Indigenous Peoples, and perhaps a lack of food. I would estimate that the researchers and diggers may find evidence for the presence of about half of the colonists, who survived.

Important Evidence Is Found By Research Triangle Professionals Organized research from the renowned Research Triangle Park points to a link between the Roanoke Lost Colonists and the current descendants of early Native American peoples they met in and around the present town of Chocowinity, North Carolina. Evidence is found in maps, archaeological artifacts and DNA markers (Find some names of descendants living today and follow the research at http://dna-explained.com/).

Most importantly: A one-word code was found carved into a log in a fort wall as a message to Governor John White

upon his return from the sea, as the colonists under his authority fled their home. This was done in the prearranged fashion established by White and the single word was Croatoan. It was the key for White to understand where they went. The word refers to the Croatan Band of natives.

There is no Maltese Cross carved through or after the word in the log. A cross added would have meant that an attack was underway. Thus, there was no attack and the people moved.

The Croatans are not extinct as many reports state. They no longer have an official band, but their descendants live in Northern Carolina today, proved by Research Triangle professionals..

Croatan Island on maps used at the time of the colonists' disappearance is today's Hatteras Island, a nearby barrier island that contains Route 12 and is 42 miles long.

Per National Geographic (Tanya Basu, December 6, 2013), a large wooden structure surrounded by a palisade fence was found buried on Hatteras island.

English artifacts in a sizable number were unearthed on the current Hatteras (formerly Croatan) Island. This means that the likely lived there.

The lost colonists most likely joined the Croatan band of natives.

The Research Triangle Examines Local History North Carolina is home not only to our nation's remarkable Research Triangle covering eight counties and the site of the Wright Brother's inaugural flight in 1903, but also to mysteries and missing persons. Some of the professional researchers in the Triangle put their skills to interesting use in 2012 in solving a mystery of North Carolina that is over 430 years old.

The colony of Roanoke Island NC disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590. At least that is what Governor John White believed after he returned to his people with a new shipload of supplies from England. However, he was gone three years and many events might have unseated a new, small colony on an island in the outer banks of a seaboard territory.

Speculation has been wide: A disease, floods (earning the Roanoke River the nickname River of Death among Indigenous People), or fire may have destroyed the colony. However, no fire remains were found in 1860, according to records.

The colonists were attacked by Croatan or Roanoke "Indians." No hard evidence proves this notion.

The colonists were attacked by the Spanish and killed or kidnapped. No evidence exists of this notion, either.

The colonists ran out of supplies, experienced failed crops and drought, and went to live with the Croatan Band of Native Americans. This is a possibility. Some of the settlers were from Wales and a hundred years after the colony was lost, new English settlers found Croatan People on Hatteras island that could speak Welsh and read books.

The entire colony moved southward to another island for reasons unknown. This is also a possibility.

Some even posit that an alien abduction occurred. That makes for interesting stories.

Unfortunate Mishaps In Roanoke Approximately 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children sailed by ship sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587 to a point north of Roanoke Island to build a fort and a settlement to be called the Cittee of Raleigh.

Those people never arrived, but were put off the ship after a strenuous voyage of mishaps across the Atlantic Ocean.They were to stop or observations by their governor, John White, and then to sail further up to Chesapeake Bay. However, the ship's Captain was Spanish and had other ideas.

The ship's captain was Captain Fernandez. historical records state that this Spaniard put the English off with the excuse of returning south to warmer waters and his privateering business, but anchored off shore, watching, as the stranded people tries to construct a village. It is little wonder that the colony feared attack by the Spanish after this treatment.

A previous attempt in 1556 to colonize Roanoke Island ended badly. The 1587 settlers found a bleached human skeleton on the beach as soon as they were stranded. They found a fort that had been destroyed. They found wildlife eating the garden produce left behind, still on the vines.

The English did their best to repair and build houses, but they had no crop seeds or food and were starving. One of the men went into the waters off shore to gather crabs and was killed and mutilated by some Native Americans, so the colonists came to fear the Indigenous People very early on, as well as the Spanish.

Researchers found through tree-ring analysis in the late 1990s that the most severe drought in eight centuries hit Roanoke Island and surrounding areas between 1587 - 1589. Little crop food could survive. Thus, the colonists of Roanoke fought bad weather, fears of the Spanish, and some real Native Americans, although the Croatan Band was their friend.

Hatteras Island Is Croatoan Island on Old Maps The English had their first baby in America when Virginia Dare was born just a few days after the explorers landed on Roanoke Island in August of 1587.

Governor John White of Roanoke was Virginia Dare's grandfather. He found it necessary to return to England for supplies when the baby was but a month old (September 1587).

Fearing attacks by Native Americans or the Spanish in the area, the Governor developed a code to use in case the colonists fled elsewhere. They were to carve a word into the bark of a tree and the word was to be a key to their new location. The addition of a cross over the word would indicate that an attack had actually taken place.

John White did not land on Roanoke again until three years later. He found the single word Croatoan carved into a tree that had been made into a log in the colonists' fort palisade.

Scientists and historians recently found that the word means a specific location, since that was the plan that Governor White established for the event of a colony relocation - leaving a message as a clue. This new colony site is south of Roanoke Island at the 42-mile long Hatteras Island, now part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

This journey today from Roanoke Island to Hatteras (Croatan) Island is short and Hatteras Island is very long. The colonists and Croatans had plenty of room to hide from an impending attack..

Hatteras Island is marked as Croatoan Island on an old map of the region that gave researchers clues to the fate of the Roanoke Island colony.