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To: RoosterRedux

A variant of your model question was tried in Jamestown.

It failed, fatally.


7 posted on 08/31/2024 11:44:15 AM PDT by citizen (Put all LBQTwhatever programming on a new subscription service: PERV-TV)
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To: citizen
It sure did. And cannibalism as result of its failure.

Here's what ChatGPT had to say about that:

Rooster:
There were rumors of cannibalism in the Jamestown experiment failure. What do you make of that?
ChatGPT said:

The rumors of cannibalism during the Jamestown experience, particularly during the "Starving Time" in the winter of 1609-1610, are not just rumors but are supported by historical evidence. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, faced extreme hardships, including food shortages, disease, and conflicts with Indigenous peoples. The winter of 1609-1610 was especially brutal, with the population dwindling from around 300 settlers to just 60 by the spring.

Cannibalism during this period was first reported by George Percy, one of the colony's leaders, in his writings. He mentioned that some desperate colonists resorted to consuming the bodies of their deceased fellow settlers. The accounts were long considered to be shocking but not entirely verified.

However, in 2012, archaeologists from the Jamestown Rediscovery Project unearthed physical evidence that corroborated these accounts. They discovered the remains of a 14-year-old girl, dubbed "Jane," whose skull and tibia showed clear signs of postmortem cuts and chops consistent with cannibalism. These findings provided concrete proof that some Jamestown settlers, in their desperation, did indeed resort to cannibalism to survive.

The discovery of "Jane's" remains has since given historians a more nuanced understanding of the extreme conditions faced by the settlers and the lengths to which they went to survive. This grim chapter of American history highlights the severe challenges of early colonial life and the often-overlooked darker aspects of the Jamestown settlement.


8 posted on 08/31/2024 11:49:54 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Thinking is difficult. And painful. That’s why many people avoid it.)
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