Ancient DNA Is Solving Colonial Mysteries in Jamestown, Virginia

At the start of the 17^th century, a group of Englishmen docked their ships on the coast of North America in a bid to start a settlement, which they named Jamestown, Virginia – after King James I [Updated, October 15, 2024]. It became the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

In the 20^th century, archaeologists became increasingly interested in what happened to the “lost fort” of Jamestown, which was built in 1607 as a defence mechanism against Native Powhatan Indians. Conflicting theories emerged as to where the fort and the town built by the first settlers was located. Eventually, this line of enquiry led to the launch of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project in 1994.

The private nonprofit project had two primary goals: locate the site of the earliest fortified town and share this moment of discovery with visitors – ideally in time for Jamestown’s 400^th anniversary. Incredibly, these goals were achieved within three archaeological seasons.

Three decades on, the Jamestown Rediscovery Project continues. Thousands of archaeological features have been mapped, including graves, wells and foundations. Millions of artifacts have been unearthed.

“As our work continues, thousands of new questions are forming. How did these Europeans adapt to the North American environment? What can we learn about the people whose lives at Jamestown were undocumented? How can material culture describe the relations between the English and the native peoples? What can the archaeological remains tell us about how experiments in industry, trade and agriculture came to include the first English experiment in representative democracy in North America in 1619?” the project reads.

More recently, ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has emerged as a new tool to explore the history of Jamestown and answer pertinent questions about early colonizers – human and canine.

Vintage engraving of Jamestown, Virginia, 19th Century. Site of the first settlement in Viginia, 1607. Credit: iStock.

A 400-year-old inheritance case

Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists uncovered the remains of the fort’s second church that was built in 1608. Human remains – buried in matching coffins – were discovered in unmarked graves. Considering the location of their burial, these individuals – two males – were likely of high status.

Researchers hypothesized that the men were Sir Ferdinando Wenman (1576–1610) and Captain William West (1586–1610), both believed to possess strong ties to the original settlers, having arrived at Jamestown with Thomas West, Third Baron De La Warr and the first Governor of the colony. The records, however, lacked insight on Captain West’s relatedness to Wenman or Governor West, or why he travelled to Jamestown.

American geneticist Dr. David Reich, professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, recently led a study analyzing aDNA from the two skeletons to try and solve this mystery.

“Initially, the study sought to retrieve Y-chromosome DNA of the West lineage through Capt. William West, who bore the family surname. The intent of this approach was to secure reference data for comparison with remains that may be uncovered in the future corresponding with the identity of Thomas West, who died at sea in 1618 during his return voyage to the colony,” the authors described.

Governor Thomas West’s burial site is not known. “Before Capt. West's Y-chromosome DNA could be used in this regard, his parentage needed to be confirmed, as it was not clearly defined in the documentary record. Therefore, the study also had the objective of exploring the familial relationship between William West and Wenman, whose well-documented genealogy shows him to be a cousin of Thomas West,” the researchers continued.

“Illegitimacy” led Captain West to North America

“Similarities in shape and the high quality of the nails used for their construction suggested that the same skilled carpenter built both coffins within a relatively brief period. This evidence, and the estimated ages at death for the two men, match with what is known about Sir Ferdinando Wenman and Captain William West,” Reich and colleagues said.

High levels of lead in the bone samples – measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry – confirmed that the men were indeed of high status.

Based on Captain West’s surname, the researchers believed that he could be related to Fernando Wenman via a paternal connection to William West, First Baron De La Warr.

William West, First Baron De La Warr, married twice in his lifetime – first to Elizabeth Strange, and second to Anne Swift. William and Elizabeth Strange had three daughters: Jane, Mary and Elizabeth, and a son, Thomas West – the Governor. Fenman was the son of Jane through her marriage to Thomas Wenman.

Reich and colleagues’ DNA analysis confirmed a connection between Sir Wenman and Captain West, but it was through the maternal line. A surprising discovery, which prompted the research team to dig deeper into the archives of Jamestown to try and identify who Captain West’s mother was.

They identified documentation of a court case initiated by Captain West’s Aunt, Mary Blount (formerly West – she was the daughter of Elizabeth Strange and William West, First Baron De La Warr) who was the beneficiary of his will. Mary claimed the rights to a set of jewels that had been left to Captain West by his mother – Elizabeth West, Mary’s sister.

“Jane, Mary and Elizabeth, as daughters of Elizabeth Strange, would have shared the same mitochondrial haplogroup. Ferdinando Wenman and Captain West, as children of Elizabeth Strange's daughters, would also share that same mitochondrial haplogroup” Reich and colleagues said.

Elizabeth West had given birth to Captain West as an unmarried woman, and after her death, he was raised by his Aunt. His illegitimacy likely explains his lack of genealogical records and why he journeyed to Jamestown.

“Parents of illegitimate children often moved from the community of birth to hide the child's status,” Reich and colleagues said. “The adult Captain West likely understood the personal advantages of leaving England and partaking in the Jamestown venture. Since he arrived accompanied by two older cousins, it can be assumed that Captain West's family also likely encouraged his departure to a place offering greater economic and social opportunities.”

Reich and colleagues believe their study emphasizes the need for multidisciplinary approaches when studying the history of colonization, to better understand who was involved and why.

Dog remains point to a “hybrid” society in Jamestown

Archaeologists have also discovered a high frequency of canid remains through the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, providing a useful sample for researchers interested in how colonization impacted populations of Indigenous dogs in North America. 

Historical records suggest that dogs were imported from Europe to North America, where they supported daily tasks such as herding livestock, hunting wild animals, catching pests and were used to represent a certain level of social standing.

“Previous studies had suggested that there were a lot of Indigenous dogs in the continental United States and that they were eradicated,” said Dr. Ariane Thomas, a recent PhD graduate of anthropology at the University of Iowa. “We wanted to understand what that entailed: when it happened, were they culled, was it the competition with European dogs, or was it disease?”

Thomas is the first author of a study that used genetic analyses of archeological canid samples to explore “the social entanglement intertwining colonization”.

“We focus on a small aspect of this complex colonial process by investigating the ancestry of canids from Jamestown colony, established in Tsenacomoco, the Algonquian name for the Powhatan chiefdom in the tidewater areas of the Chesapeake Bay that would later become the Commonwealth of Virginia,” the researchers said. “As the first permanent English colony in North America, it represents one of the earliest sites of long-term and continuous interactions between British settlers and Tsenacomocoans. Identifying whether canid bones at Jamestown are dogs and estimating the proportion of dog ancestry deriving from the Americas or Europe provide insight into European and Indigenous management of their dogs.”

If the sampled population showed predominantly European ancestry, it suggests that people from the British, Powhatan or both groups prevented their dogs from interacting together. The opposite would be true if the sampled dogs showed a high proportion of Indigenous dog ancestry, suggesting a more “complex entanglement” between the peoples, the authors said.

An aerial view of James Island and James Fort. The Jamestown colony was established in Tsenacomoco, the Algonquian name for the Powhatan chiefdom in the tidewater areas of the Chesapeake Bay and later became the Commonwealth of Virginia. Credit: Jamestown Rediscovery.

Indigenous dogs were present within the walls of the settlement

Thomas and colleagues identified 181 canid bones from at least 16 individual dogs. They selected 22 remains, which represented multiple timepoints (1607–1618) throughout Jamestown’s settlement history.

Most of the dogs resembled modern-day beagles or Schnauzer, based on analysis of their body size. Their bones also showed evidence of cutting and burning, which implies that they may have been eaten during periods of famine when food supplies were short.

While many of the bones excavated had lost their genetic material after being buried underground for so long, mitochondrial DNA was extractable from at least six dogs. Analysis of the DNA revealed that these pooches were of Indigenous North American ancestry.

“The preservation of mostly Indigenous dog ancestry in our sample indicates that neither side prevented multiple local dogs from entering and staying at Jamestown,” the authors said. “Tsenacomocoans permitted or at least overlooked the movement of their dogs into Jamestown or may have traded dogs with settlers.”

It’s possible that Tsenacomocoans also occupied areas of the settlement. Historical records include reports that some colonists married Native women. Indeed, many of the canid samples analyzed in the study were discovered alongside Native artefacts, such as Tsenacomocoan-made ceramic vessels, pipes, bone needles and cooking pots.

“The Powhatan society had pronounced gendered divisions of labor, in which women were involved in food preparation, farming, caregiving and craftwork. Thus, it is possible that Tsenacomocoan women were responsible for the presence of many of the Indigenous-produced artifacts at Jamestown Colony,” the researchers said.

Thomas and colleagues have expressed an interest in increasing the size of their study to obtain more samples with higher-quality DNA. This effort, they believe, will help to shed greater light on the complete ancestry, movement and diets of dogs, and their role in the periods of early European colonization.

What’s next for Jamestown Rediscovery?

According to a recent blog post, ancient DNA analysis work continues at Jamestown Rediscovery. Dr. Ashley McKeown, a biological anthropologist from Texas State University, is analyzing specimens from a burial site that was excavated last year, and dates back to 1607. The burial contained the unmarked graves of three individuals, likely male, that were positioned with their head facing West – a hallmark of European burials at that time period.

“The oldest was buried with a shroud based on the position of the body and the discovery of an aglet at his feet. There were no aglets in the other two burials and their body positions don’t confirm or disprove the presence of a burial shroud. The older two colonists were both between 5’6″ and 5’9″, these estimations based on measurements of their leg bones. Bone samples from the colonists’ petrous will be processed to extract DNA and then analyze it to check for colonist inter-relatedness and possibly even ancestors and descendants,” the post reads.

The article erroneously stated that a group of Englishmen docked their ships on the coast of North America at the start of the 15^th century, this was updated on October 15, 2024, to correctly state that it was the 17th century.