Part Of Lost Roanoke Colony May Be Found In Bertie County

It seems that a part of a lost colony may have been in Bertie County all along.

Archaeologists recently discovered evidence suggesting that a part of a lost colony may have been found as Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reported an excavation of 850 square feet of track, finding with them dozens of artifacts. The findings include bale seals, which are used to verify cloth quality, 16^th-century nails, and pieces of pottery jars for storage, among others.

Evidence is mounting that at least part the Lost Colony may have ended up in Bertie County: https://t.co/ZfCHweRinQ pic.twitter.com/OAXdcLZ7hI

— NCDNCR (@ncculture) July 18, 2016

The Washington Times reported that Clay Swindell, an archaeologist and collections specialist at the Museum of Albemarle in Elizabeth City does not believe these findings to be proof of the presence of lost colony residents living in the area. He also noted that the rural site has been inhabited for centuries by Native Americans, and also by early English settler, later becoming the site of a plantation.

The discovery of what's in the site was a long time coming. A developer planned to build a large subdivision in the area in 2007, but was required for a search of historically significant sites or artifacts - and they found signs of a Native American village. However, as Archeaology.org noted, the site of the excavation was marked with a symbol of a fort on a map drawn by John White, a Roanoke colony leader, in the years 1585-86.

White left the colony in 1587 to resupply, but upon his return three years later, the colony was gone and the word "Croatoan" was carved in a post and "CRO" was carved into a tree. Search efforts later on did not make it to the excavation site, however, but findings indicated that it was in the presence of early English settlers, but not of a fort, and bad relations with Native Americans hindered such effort. The party never made it to the Bertie site.