Posted on 06/12/2009 6:12:31 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Archaeologists in Jamestown, Virginia, have discovered a rare inscribed slate tablet dating back some 400 years, to the early days of America's first permanent English settlement.
Both sides of the slate are covered with words, numbers, and etchings of people, plants, and birds that its owner likely encountered in the New World in the early 1600s.
The tablet was found a few feet down in what may be the first well at James Fort, dug in early 1609 by Capt. John Smith, Jamestown's best known leader, said Bill Kelso, director of archaeology at the site.
If the well is confirmed as Smith's, it could help offer important insights into Jamestown's difficult early years.
Records indicate that by 1611, the water in Smith's well had become foul and the well was then used as a trash pit. Archaeologists discovered the slate among other objects thrown into the well by the colonists.
Slate tablets were sometimes used in 17th-century England instead of paper, which was expensive and not reusable.
According to Bly Straube, Historic Jamestowne's curator, people drew games and wrote on broken roofing tiles, which could be washed off and used over and over again. "Inscribed slates from this time period are rarely found in England, so little is known about them," she said.
Archaeologists and other scientists are still trying to decipher the slate, the first with extensive inscriptions to be found at any 17th-century colonial American site.
The scratched and worn 5-by-8-inch (13-by-20-centimeter) tablet is inscribed with the words "A MINON OF THE FINEST SORTE." Above the words are the letters and numbers "EL NEV FSH HTLBMS 508," interspersed with symbols that have yet to be interpreted.
To start figuring out what's inscribed on the slate it will be necessary for the analysts to put out of their minds the idea that Jamestown was some sort of English language isolate in the wilderness of America.
That’s after they’d built Brick Row.
except that they already know at least part of it is english. So there’s at least a 50-50 chance the rest of it is english too.
Spent some time watching the archeologists at work in Jamestown during the Quadricentennial anniversary in 2007. Fascinating.
Its always exciting to come upon things like this that can shed some light into its history.
What an awesome stroll back through time...
alas...
Centuries-old slate discovered at Jamestown dig[VA]
AP | 08 June 2009 | ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON
Posted on 06/08/2009 11:42:02 AM PDT by BGHater
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2267364/posts
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Gods |
Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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Artifacts of America’s first muslims.
Oh wait...
Aliens.
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