The study, conducted in one of the most historic regions of the United States, is fascinating for a few reasons. First, because it finally answers many of the questions about the first permanent English settlement in America. Second, it reveals that even 400 years ago, if you were a millionaire, you could buy anything you wanted, anywhere. Plus: There was no Amazon to deliver the package to you in 1600, but the goods did arrive, albeit a little late.

Study. Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, has always been considered the oldest gravestone in the United States. The problem is, despite being over 400 years old, no definitive answer has been found, meaning the black limestone monument is virtually meaningless to science.

A recent study by Professors Markus M. Key and Rebecca K. Rossi, who set out to determine the source of a Jamestown gentleman’s black “marble” tombstone, resulted in an unexpected discovery: The tombstone dates back to 3000 B.C. in the United States.

Inside the story. While historians have always had a good idea who the headstone belonged to, how it got there has remained a mystery. The reason? The early settlers were known to have had no experience carving headstones, so determining its origins will not only provide a deeper understanding of colonial America, but also help us better understand the trade routes of the time.

What was known? This stone was first placed on the floor of the Jamestown Church, built in 1617. It was later moved when the church was expanded in the 1640s. For the next 250 years, the stone lay forgotten until it was found and restored in 1907.

It was later moved to the then new Memorial Church of the historic colony. There it remained as a treasure and passers-by admired a respectable tombstone showing the silhouette of a person in armor and the presence of a shield and a sword in the decorative design, suggesting that the structure was built in his honor.

The millionaire and the tombstone. There are doubts here not about the deceased’s name, nor about his economic situation, but about the courage of erecting such a monument at that time. In fact, it is known that wealthy English settlers in the 17th century often commemorated themselves and their wealth with impressive tombstones. In the Chesapeake Bay area these were often black “marble” tombstones, of which the Jamestown Knight’s tombstone is an example.

It is also necessary to clarify that, despite its name, the tombstone is not made of marble, but of black limestone. In historical documents, any stone that can be polished is usually called “marble.” The monument has indentations carved into its place, indicating that it was once covered with brass.

Two possibilities. At this point in history, historians consider two options for the ownership of the tombstone; these are the only two knights to have died in Jamestown during the Second Jamestown Church (1617-1637). One of these was the colony’s first resident governor, Sir Thomas West. He died during the transatlantic voyage to Jamestown in 1618, and there is no historical or archaeological evidence that would connect the tombstone to Sir Thomas West.

The second gentleman was Sir George Yeardley. His adopted grandson, Adam Thorowgood II, requested his own black “marble” headstone in the 1680s, requesting that it be engraved with Sir George Yeardley’s coat of arms and the same inscription as on the “broken grave”. This would suggest that the knight’s headstone had already been broken in the 17th century, before its discovery in 1901. If the headstone were indeed Yeardley’s, as family evidence suggests, it would be the oldest surviving headstone in North America.

Unfortunately, no DNA testing could be done to confirm whether the bones at the original gravestone site belonged to Yeardley.

Where was it made? Whether Yeardley or West, the tombstone clearly belonged to a wealthy gentleman, but if no one had the technical know-how to build it, where did it come from? To find out, geophysicist Marcus Key of Dickinson College thought very small. Like, he observed microfossils embedded in the limestone.

In a subsequent study published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Key noted that due to evolutionary processes, fossils are often specific to time and place rather than chemical composition. Limestone is also an excellent medium for fossil preservation because it is resistant to heat and pressure.

Solution: Cut out the headstone. Yes, the researcher literally cut thin sheets from the preserved pieces of the tombstone, finding several microfossils of single-celled organisms called foraminifera. The organisms varied in age, the study notes, with some dating back to the Mississippi period, about 360 million years ago.

However, many of the species found were endemic to a single region of Europe, including parts of England, Ireland and Belgium. According to the researcher, “these species do not coexist anywhere else in North America. The knight’s tombstone had to be imported from Europe. “Historical evidence from similar colonial tombstones in the Chesapeake Bay clearly indicates a Belgian source.”

The rich, today and yesterday. As we have said, the bottom line is that when you have a fortune, your whims have no limits. The researcher says that he observed that black imitation marble tombstones were fashionable in England at the time of the Jamestown colony and that prominent residents were keen to follow the most modern burial customs.

The analysis concluded that the stone was likely found in Belgium, then shipped to London, where it was carved and covered with now-lost brass inlays. It was eventually loaded onto a ship and shipped to the New World—yes, to a real pasture that few could reach. As Key recalls, “It didn’t occur to us that wealthy settlers were ordering black marble headstones from Belgium the way we were ordering them from Amazon, only much slower.”

Image | International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Picryl

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