This secret was taken to the grave.
Archaeologists believe they have finally solved the origin of what is believed to be the oldest tombstone in the United States. This tombstone belonged to an English knight who died about 400 years ago.
This tombstone was erected in 1627 at the Jamestown Settlement after the death of Sir George Yeardley, governor of the colony of Virginia.
For decades, experts have struggled to determine the origin of this stone.
but, According to a new study published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.the stone was not from North America.
The study, titled “Procurement of the Black 'Marble' Tombstone of an Early Colonial Knight in Jamestown, Virginia, USA,” posits that the stone was transported across the Atlantic Ocean.
“In 17th century Virginia, one of the ways wealthy English settlers displayed their wealth and commemorated themselves was through carved tombstones,” the study said.
“At that time, wealthy settlers in the Tidewater region of the Chesapeake Bay made black 'marble,' which is actually polished, fine-grained black limestone, the preferred choice for tombstones.”
Researchers used fossils of single-celled organisms found in tombstone fragments to identify six species that do not exist in North America. In other words, this stone is thought to have been imported from Europe.
The stone was most likely transported from Belgium before making the months-long journey to Jamestown.
“This confirms the above conclusions regarding the transatlantic trade route from continental Europe to Jamestown,” the study states. “These were definitely not direct, but via London.”
The stone was quarried and cut in Belgium before being transported down the River Meuse and across the English Channel to London.
There it was further carved, fitted with brass inlays, and loaded as ballast on a ship bound for America.
This stone is thought to belong to Yeardley, who was leading the early colony at the time of his death.
“Assuming Knight's tombstone is that of George Yeardley, it is the oldest black 'marble' tombstone in the Chesapeake Bay region and may be the oldest extant American tombstone,” the study says. It is stated here.
“This is the only monumental brass inlay headstone known from a British colony.”
