Lost Colony of Roanoke | Searching for Traces | 3

American History Tellers

Wondery

History, Education For Kids, Kids & Family, Society & Culture

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2021

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The mystery of what became of the first English colonists has baffled historians for centuries. But over the past decade, archaeologists have uncovered some compelling clues, including parts of a 16th century gun, and fragments of English pottery at a place called “Site X,” both of which suggest that the Roanoke colonists survived longer than previously documented.

In this episode, Lindsay discusses those findings with author and journalist Andrew Lawler. In his book, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, Lawler explores the latest archeological evidence, as well as some of the most persistent myths surrounding the fate of the Roanoke colonists.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.6	Imagine it's early 2020.
0:20.6	You're an apprentice archaeologist working on your first excavation since grad school.
0:25.1	You're in Birdie County, North Carolina, with a group that is trying to solve the mystery
0:28.8	of the lost colony of Rono.
0:31.1	The site is close to the coastline, at the mouth of Alarmouse Sound.
0:35.1	You're digging here more than 50 miles west of Rono Island, to prove that at least some
0:39.4	of the first British colonists found their way to this spot after mysteriously abandoning
0:43.8	Rono in the late 16th century.
0:46.6	As you're digging, a young archaeology professor named Gerald walks up to your patch of scratch
0:51.0	earth.
0:52.0	Well, is today going to be as good as yesterday?
0:55.4	He's teasing you about yesterday's fine, your first on the site.
0:59.0	It was a shard of glaze pottery, but its color and the quality of the glaze were clear
1:03.7	evidence that it came from England.
1:05.9	It was an exciting discovery, but you smile modestly and shrug it off.
1:09.7	Oh, that's just one of the dozens we've already found, you know that.
1:13.1	Ah, but every bit helps.
1:14.1	It all gets a little closer to proving the colonists ended up moving here, rather than
1:20.0	wherever.
1:21.5	You continue to clean a large piece of rock with your brush.
	...

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