Mysterious Origins of Possibly America’s Oldest Tombstone Are Revealed

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Researchers have shed new light on what may be the "oldest surviving tombstone" from what is now the United States.

The iconic black "marble" tombstone, from Jamestown, Virginia, features design elements that may connect it to an English knight.

Founded in 1607, Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It served as the capital of the Virginia Colony until the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg in 1699.

For a study published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, researchers Markus Key and Rebecca Rossi set out to determine the source of the knight's tombstone.

Conservator Dan Gamble working on the Jamestown tombstone. The tombstone may have belonged to an English knight. Conservator Dan Gamble working on the Jamestown tombstone. The tombstone may have belonged to an English knight. Jamestown Rediscovery Preservation Virginia Over the past decade, Key, of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, has been interested in determining the origin of stone artifacts using fossils contained within them.

While working on a project to uncover the provenance of colonial black "marble" tombstones from the Chesapeake Bay region, Key and colleagues found that the oldest was the knight's tombstone from Jamestown, which dates back to 1627.

"The particular historical archaeological question we were trying to answer was: How extensive was the trade network in the Chesapeake Bay during colonial times?" Key told Phys.org. "Little did we realize that colonists were ordering black marble tombstones from Belgium like we order items from Amazon, just a lot slower."

In the study, the researchers analyzed microfossils in the knight's tombstone, finding four species that do not co-occur in North America.

"The stone had to be imported," Key told Newsweek. "The fossils indicated northern Europe."

Historical evidence suggests Belgium as the most probable source. From there, the stone was likely transferred to London, England, and eventually shipped to Jamestown, according to the study.

During the 17th century, affluent English colonists often commissioned impressive tombstones for themselves. In the Chesapeake Bay region, these were often made from black "marble"—although in historical documents, any stone capable of being polished was referred to as marble at the time. In the case of the Jamestown knight's tombstone, like others, it was actually made from polished black limestone.

"The jet-black Belgian 'marbles' were the most in demand and expensive. Successful Virginia colonists who had lived in London would have been familiar with the latest English fashions and tried to replicate these in the colonies," the authors wrote in the study.

The design elements of the tombstone enabled the authors to narrow down who it may have belonged to, given that there were only two knighted English colonists in Jamestown, Key said. Perhaps the most likely candidate based on the available evidence is a man named Sir George Yeardley, who first came to Jamestown from England in 1610 after being shipwrecked on Bermuda. After a stint back in England, he eventually returned to Jamestown, where he died in 1627.

Assuming the knight's tombstone was Yeardley's, it may be the oldest surviving tombstone from what is now the United States, according to the study.

"There were undoubtedly older ones by Native Americans, but they were probably made of wood and did not survive," Key told Newsweek.

According to the researcher, the latest study helps us understand English colonial trade routes in the early 1600s, which included importing particular materials as heavy as black "marble" from Europe that were not available in the American colonies.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

Reference Key, M. M., & Rossi, R. K. (2024). Sourcing the Early Colonial Knight's Black "Marble" Tombstone at Jamestown, Virginia, USA. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-024-00756-4

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