Researchers are looking at a site in North Carolina to determine whether it may be the “Lost Colony” of settlers who disappeared from Roanoke Island in the 16th century.
According to The Associated Press, a clue on a map of Virginia and North Carolina created by explorer John White in the 1580s has led researchers to the site. The map includes a symbol appearing to be a fort in northeastern North Carolina.
Researchers with the First Colony Foundation and the British Museum noticed the clue in 2012. Since then, archaeologists have re-examined artifacts they previously found near the site and returned to the site to look for more.
"It's fair to say it's a site of very great interest to us," archaeologist Nicholas Luccketti told the AP.
Artifacts have included broken, everyday pottery.
"Domestic wares are interesting to us," First Colony Foundation President Phil Evans told the AP. "It tells us people were there long enough to break stuff. ... We're getting these types of wares in sufficient numbers that we think people are there and they're doing something and they're there for a good bit of time."
The Lost Colony included men, women, and children who arrived at Roanoke Island in 1587. Leader John White sailed back to England in 1587, and when he returned in 1590 the colonists had disappeared, with the only clues left behind being the word “CROATOAN” carved on a gate poste and the letters “CRO” on a tree,
according to the North Carolina History Project.
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