Posted on 08/23/2025 9:11:59 AM PDT by Ezekiel
Researchers believe they may have finally solved the mystery behind the disappearance of the infamous Lost Colony of the 16th century following a new discovery.
The so-called Lost Colony refers to 118 English settlers who vanished from Roanoke Island in North Carolina sometime after they set up in 1587.
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For centuries historians have speculated on whether the group evert made it to Croatoan as they seemed to suggest.
Now, researchers believe they did actually migrate there and assimilated with the Native Americans after finding iron filings known as hammerscale in a trash heap on Hatteras Island, Fox News Digital reports.
Hammerscale are flaky bits that contains iron forging byproducts, which the Native Americans would not have had yet, but English colonists would have been well–versed in.
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Their disappearance left centuries of people wondering if the colonists were killed or if they had immigrated to a new home.
This changed with the discovery of the hammerscale, which was accurately dated due to its position in the soil, buried in layers researchers say would have come from that century.
The team also found guns, nautical fittings, small cannonballs, and more, they told Fox News Digital.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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And my 6x great-grandmother was adopted by the Mohawk.
Bfl
I recently saw a documentary on this. The archaeologists even found some graves where Indian tribes were laid out the way European Christians were at the time and of course there were various European implements among one of the friendly tribes at the time. The missing colonists went to a nearby tribe of friendly Indians were they were assimilated.
Interesting. But maybe the real mystery is why they didn’t put much effort into finding them back then. Yes, it was the earliest attempt at colonization and the continent was alien and largely unexplored, but still it took decades before permanent settlements were established in NC and by that time, it would have been all the more impossible to find the survivors.
bttt
dm’s a day late & dollar short:
This was revealed YEARS ago...though no ‘researcher’ has ever broached the topic of ‘why’ they left in the first place (I’m pretty sure that I posted my own contribution to that, also years ago).
Guns & Cannonballs, naturally occurring. Hammerscale, proof that the English were there.
Post 10 — yes, sailing back to England is a much safer plan than waiting the storm out.
Jamestown was founded a couple of decades later. I think they made an effort to locate the people of the Lost Colony. Did the survivors not want to be found? Too content with their new life among the Indians?
LOL! Got to keep the intrigue going.
I just finished a book about the Comanches.
Anyone who has thoughts of the Native Americans as peaceful, humble, servants of the earth needs to read up on that Tribe.
One passage in the book recalled what other tribes called them. One tribe in New Mexico had a word for them that meant, “They don’t get along with ANYONE!”
Your ancestor is Lucky to have made it out of that tribe alive.
My 4x Great uncle was killed by Indians in the Midwest some time in the 1820’s.
I don’t hold a grudge. But it appears my 4x great grandfather did.
Empire of the Summer Moon? Great book
According to Jamestown colonists and their chroniclers, the powerful Powhatan chiefdom claimed to have massacred the Roanoke colonists
After the Jamestown settlement was founded, its leaders received several accounts regarding the fate of the "Lost Colony" that had vanished from Roanoke Island two decades earlier.
Key details from the accounts:
The alleged massacre: Powhatan told Jamestown leader Captain John Smith that his warriors had killed the Roanoke colonists to prevent them from allying with rivals and encroaching on his land.
The source of the tale: In 1612, colonial secretary William Strachey confirmed this story, claiming that Powhatan's brother-in-law, Machumps, also reported the Roanoke slaughter.
The fate of the survivors: Strachey added that a small number of survivors, including four men, two boys, and one girl, were spared and escaped up the Chowan River. They reportedly came under the protection of a different chief.
You could be elected Senator from Massachusetts.
First you need to write a recipe for “Pow Wow Chow.”
Very cool! I am 1/8 Cherokee; they kept amazing records, and still do. When my husband adopted our son 30 years ago, the adoption attorney wrote the Cherokee tribe for “permission”. It was really just a formality, as I don’t think they ever refuse but it does help them keep their records up to date.
My history is well documented too, this is my grandfather, 7 generations back: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragging_Canoe. Interestingly, he and his father took opposing stands during then revolutionary war. He fought the settlers, while his father tried to be more diplomatic. Interesting stuff.
Mark
Roanoke Island, and the surrounding area, experienced a serious drought shortly after the settlers arrived in 1587.
I am a little skeptical that the Local Natives would welcome 118 white strangers to share their limited supply of fresh water, native plants, agriculture, and meat protein.
When/if they find all the settlers’ intact graves, that will confirm it. But not until then.
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