Scientists Unearth Skeleton From Early American Settlement
JAMESTOWN, Va. — Archeologists have removed the skeleton of one of the first English settlers in America from its nearly 400-year-old grave on Jamestown Island.
It took 12 hours Sept. 24 to lift the skeleton in one piece surrounded by a half-ton cocoon of crumbling clay.
Archeologists originally planned to remove the skeleton in several pieces, but chief archeologist William Kelso rejected conventional excavation methods in an attempt to retrieve the skeleton undisturbed. This way, researchers can study it in the same position it was in when it was buried.
Archeologists unearthed the skeleton earlier in September, one day before announcing they had discovered evidence of the fort built in 1607 by the first permanent English colonists.
The 5-foot-6 skeleton is of a white man who may have died from a musket-ball wound to his right leg.
The Richmond-based Assn. for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities has been excavating the Jamestown site since 1994. More than 90,000 artifacts have been found.
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