- In the chancel of the first English church in America
here at Jamestown,
we have discovered the remains of four prominent men,
the first leaders of early Virginia--
the Reverend Robert Hunt,
Sir Ferdinando Wainman,
Captain Gabriel Archer,
and Captain William West.
These men were involved in all the major decisions
that took place during the first four years
of the colony's history.
They were involved in the setting up of the Church of England,
the establishment of laws,
and the fighting that took place with Indian peoples
along the James River Valley.
- The northernmost burial was a person that was buried
in a shroud, a wrapping cloth, only.
And his head was oriented to the east,
which traditionally would mean that this person was a cleric.
We know that Robert Hunt, the first cleric, dies when the church was standing.
The next burial was buried in a very fancy type of a coffin,
a human-shaped coffin.
And that's probably Sir Ferdinando Wainman,
who was really the first knight to be buried in English America.
We had a very rare instance of the fact that artifacts
were buried with these last two burials,
and the one we think who is Captain Gabriel Archer
was buried with a captain's leading staff
and a silver box that turned out to be what's known as a reliquary.
It had in it a broken holy water container known as an ampulla
and bone, and that's often put together to make a reliquary
because the bones were said to be that of a saint.
The final burial in the south we think is Captain William West.
There was an artifact with that burial,
and it turns out to have been probably an officer's decorative sash.
And that, it's showing you that this was a high-status person
and a military man high up in rank.
- The James Fort burials are some of the most amazing discoveries of my career.
These are men that were absolutely at the foundation
of the settlement of this country.
In the laboratory, we do extremely thorough analyses
that in the case of these men ultimately will actually end up
with genetic testing, DNA testing.
There are other ways that we come at it, in the sense that we start looking
at isotopes, for instance, and there are different types of isotopes.
All four of these men share a very British, a very English, carbon isotope value.
These men as a general class do not show signs
of heavy, strenuous, repeated physical labor in their lifetime.
This is not their lot in life.
It's just a fascinating field of inquiry,
and it's a very sincere interest in, Who are you, and what has your life been like?
It's records that are only barely told, and yet these people are so critical
in terms of the history of the foundation of this country.
- This discovery represents a major addition to our understanding of early Virginia.
These were among the first leaders of English America,
and they gave their lives to establish
the first permanent and successful English colony in America.