America’s oldest gravestone has a new origin story, according to research

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The oldest known surviving gravestone in the United States is an elaborate display of wealth: an intricately carved slab of black limestone originally set into the floor of the Second Church of Jamestown, Virginia. first permanent British settlement in North America.

Often referred to as the “Knights Tombstone” because of the carvings of a knight and shield On the surface, the placement of the mysterious marker in the church dates back to 1627, but for many years little else was known. Now, researchers have found a new piece of the puzzle about the gravestone’s origins, providing a fuller picture of the prominent person to whom the gravestone likely belonged.

By analyzing microfossils — fossils the size of a thumbnail — in the limestone, researchers discovered that the tiny ancient organisms preserved in the stone came from Europe, according to a study published September 4 in the journal Nature. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. Historical evidence then pointed the study authors to a then-thriving Belgian tombstone export company, where they believe the tombstone began its journey.

“These stones are quite heavy and the most expensive part of the stone is not the stone itself, but the transport costs. … To me that was surprising that there was someone wealthy enough to display his wealth and commemorate himself with such an expensive proposal,” said lead study author Marcus Key, a geoscientist and the Joseph Priestley Professor of Natural Philosophy at Dickinson College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania.

The heavy stone left Belgium for London to be carved before being transported across the Atlantic Ocean to its final resting place in Jamestown, likely a year-long journey, according to Key.

It is believed that the gravestone belongs to Sir George Yeardleya colonial governor of the earliest English settlement and one of America’s first slave ownerswho was knighted in 1618. The early leader’s death would likely have prompted an elaborate burial and gravestone, which has survived for nearly four centuries.

“This guy was the governor of the colony, so he had a pretty big wig himself. He had the family resources to do that,” Key added. “A lot of people probably died there with just wooden gravestones carved on site, and they clearly won’t survive 400 years. … This is more about the history of our nation’s past and our colonial relationship with Mother England.”

The gravestone’s new origin story highlights Jamestown’s position in global transatlantic trade and sheds light on the burial procedures of early settlers, experts said.

A 2021 study also led by Key confirmed that the headstone is the oldest known extant headstone in the United States. His latest research was intended to determine the origins of the gravestone.

The stone contained four types of antiquity foraminifera – single-celled organisms – that only occur in what is now Europe, mainly in Belgium and Ireland. Based on when the species of the microfossils existed, the limestone is likely 340 million to 336 million years old, according to the study.

In the early 17th century, Virginia settlers did not have access to stone suitable for elaborate grave slabs — which were carved in England and transported to North America — so it is not surprising to discover that the limestone came from Belgium, said Mary Anna Hartley, a senior staff archaeologist at Jamestown rediscoveredan archaeological project studying and preserving the remains of the original English settlement. Hartley was not involved in the investigation.

But the extra effort to cross the Atlantic Ocean for the stone does emphasize the social status of the person to whom the stone belonged, she said in an email. “Acquiring this permanent monument would have been a very expensive undertaking and unaffordable for all but the most wealthy of the time,” she said.

Early 17th century graves in Jamestown are traditionally unmarked, so the discovery of the headstone — engraved to commemorate a knighthood and once decorated with copper inlays — is rare for this period, Hartley added.

This detail and the prestige required for such a prominent grave site within the church led archaeologists to believe the gravestone belonged to Yeardley, as did a reference to a broken grave with a coat of arms made by his step-grandson in the 1680s. Burials in a church were typically kept for high-status individuals and clergy, and Yeardley was one of two knights who died while the Jamestown church was in use, according to Rediscovery of Jamestown.

In the early days of the colony, Yeardley headed the General Assembly, the first representative governing body in North America, which met in the second church in 1619. Weeks later, he purchased several slaves following the arrival of the first enslaved Africans on American soil.

The gravestone is almost 6 feet long (less than 2 meters) and 3 feet wide (less than 1 meter) and was discovered in 1901 in the entrance of a third Jamestown church that was built around the second church around 1640. It is believed that the nearly 454 kilogram marker was moved during construction, so its original location is unknown.

When archaeologists discovered the gravestone in its new location, they found no remains beneath the slab. However, a 2018 excavation of the only grave in the chancel of the second church, the space just in front of the altar, uncovered remains that archaeologists theorize are Yeardley’s based on the location and the person’s estimated age at death . Yeardley was about 40 when he died.

DNA analysis of the bones and teeth is underway, which researchers hope will provide a more concrete answer next summer, Hartley said.

Hartley estimated that there were about 40 burials within the footprint of the second and third churches. Although most of the adjacent cemetery has not yet been excavated, it could contain hundreds of graves, she added.

Colonial-era cemeteries have suffered from neglect and vandalism, with the Knight’s gravestone likely surviving as long as vegetation hid it, she added.

“Jamestown is a unique place. The people who lived, died and interacted here – not just the English but other Europeans, First Peoples and Africans – laid the foundation for modern America,” Hartley said. “I think Jamestown is fascinating because it represents the very first seed of American culture.”

Key pointed out similarities between the Jamestown grave and That of Queen Elizabeth II final resting place. The British monarch, who died in September 2022, was buried under a black marble ledger stone that resembles the 400-year-old Knight’s Tombstone. Elizabeth’s stone was placed in the floor of the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

“The way we deal with death hasn’t really changed much. It seems to be quite inherent in nature, but most (settlers) didn’t have the resources to import a nicely carved stone,” Key said.

“They had a very high mortality rate in Jamestown at the time,” he added. “Many people were buried in the church, but only one of them had a large old black (limestone) gravestone from Belgium.”