Her Broken Skull Revealed That People Resorted To Cannibalism In Colonial Jamestown
In 2012, archaeologists excavating a cellar from 1608 in James Fort discovered the skull and severed leg bone of a 14-year-old English girl.
Archaeologists call her Jane. Her remains were found among butchered animal bones and other food scraps discarded by the Jamestown colonists during the winter of 1609 to 1610.
That winter was known as the “Starving Time.” It began with 300 settlers crowded inside James Fort and ended with only 60 survivors.
The girl’s skull contained marks left from blows and slices that were made by three different metal tools with sharp edges. It appeared that the marks were created in an attempt to separate soft tissue and the brain from bone.
This showed that the settlers resorted to taking desperate measures in order to survive the harsh winter. The girl’s skull was the first example of forensic evidence of cannibalism at an early European colony in North America.
There was no indication that the girl was killed. She most likely died of sickness and starvation like so many others.
Jamestown inhabitants first set sail in December 1606 and landed in Chesapeake Bay in April 1607. They chose a marshy peninsula as their home, which was not the wisest choice.
The wells within the fort were located between the James River and a Pitch and Tar Swamp, so the water had high levels of salt.
They had a hard time feeding themselves but got help through trade with the local Powhatan people. But war soon broke out between them because the tribes were tired of the settlers’ demands.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
There were no women among the first settlers in 1607. The first two English women arrived in October 1608.
Jane left Plymouth, England, in June 1609 and arrived in Jamestown in August 1609. During the journey, a hurricane caused the colonists to lose most of their supplies.
The settlers did not have any crops, and their water was barely drinkable. They turned to eating dogs, cats, horses, and then snakes and rats.
Jane was dead less than a year after her arrival. Very little is known about her and why she came to America because she was not recorded in the historical documents.
For centuries, written accounts were the only proof of cannibalism at James Fort. Jane’s remains have provided concrete proof that the colonists’ accounts of cannibalism were true.
More About:Freaky
