The Roanoke Colony’s disappearance Did you know that even though Jamestown was England’s first permanent colony, it was not the first time colonists attempted to make their home in the new world. The Roanoke colony, also known as “The Lost Colony” was founded in 1585. The first couple years seemed to be going well until John White had to sail back to England for supplies. When he returned the whole colony had been deserted, and all 117 had gone missing. White found only a few clues that only add to the mystery of the lost colony. In the mystery behind the Roanoke colony, many archaeologists believe the colony was absorbed into a friendly native american tribe, but there are other explanations on what could’ve happened.
The disappearance of
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One of the reasons archaeologists assume the settlers went to croatoan is because they relied on them for food since they didn’t know how to farm the land (Heckscher). In addition, after stumbling upon a unique find dated to the 16th century, archaeologist Mark Horton explains that the evidence is the colonists “assimilated with the native americans but kept their goods.” Horton says this because the unique find was a piece of slate believed to be of european origin considering the natives didn’t have that sort of technology (Pruitt). The slate was found further inland in around the same area as a native tribe suggesting that europeans had lives there. Before sailing back to england, white left specific instructions on what to do if the settlers had decided to move the colony or if they were in danger. They were instructed to carve their destination into a tree trunk and put a cross above it if they were at risk. Although, the colonists didn’t leave a cross do White concluded that “the messages meant the colonists left the island and moved inland to croatoan” (Prentzas 9). Based on the scant clues left behind and the new discoveries made by archaeologists, the settlers moving to croatoan is the most popular theory for what happened to the lost