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Nov 07, 2024

A New Study Unlocked Secrets About the Oldest Tombstone in America

Spoiler: it’s not from America after all. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us? The oldest known “black marble” tombstone

Spoiler: it’s not from America after all.

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us?

The oldest known “black marble” tombstone in the Chesapeake Bay region was likely designed for a knight. But it turns out that it wasn’t actually marble, and it didn’t come from America.

A new study published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology sorts it all out. The tombstone (which dates back to 1627) is actually black limestone, and likely comes from Belgium. All of this was discovered thanks to tiny fossils and an English knight living in Jamestown.

Oh, the intrigue.

The researchers set out with the goal of determining the source of the Jamestown tombstone, originally laid in the floor of a church built in 1617. Dubbed the black marble knight’s tombstone—people of the day considered any polished stone to be marble, even though this was a fine-grained black limestone—the grave marker was decorated with carved brass inlays that may have (at one time) featured a shield and the depiction of an English gentleman holding a sword and hilt. This would have been a fairly common tombstone design for a knight.

The stone itself is the only known tombstone in the English colonies with engraved monumental brass inlays. “Successful Virginia colonists who had lived in London would have been familiar with the latest English fashions and tried to replicate these in the colonies,” the authors wrote.

But other than the likely rank of the body it marked, the story around this object was more legend than anything else. Now, it was up to science to step in and start deciphering fact from fiction.

The broken stone, which was moved from its original location during a construction project in the 1640s, was analyzed for fossil fragments. According to the study, the team found six species of single-celled organisms known as foraminiferans. These species never co-occurred in North America, but they did live alongside each other in both Ireland and Belgium. “Therefore,” the team wrote in the study, “the knight’s tombstone had to be imported from Europe. Historical evidence suggests Belgium, from where it was transshipped in London and on to Jamestown.”

Markus Key, a co-author of the study, told Phys.org that the tombstone shows an extensive trade network that included the Chesapeake Bay during colonial times. “Little did we realize that colonists were ordering black marble tombstones from Belgium like we order items from Amazon,” he said, “but a lot slower.”

The tombstone in question was eventually lost, but was rediscovered in 1901. It was subsequently repaired and placed in the chancel of the present-day Memorial Church during 1906 construction.

The fossil-finding results showed the stone had to have come from either Ireland or Belgium, and the team combined that new knowledge with existing historical evidence to land on Belgium as the likely source. The rock was determined to be Lower Carboniferous black “marble”—a rock that was popular for centuries, and especially sought after in the upper class of England during the colonial period for grave markers.

“The cost to import the stone to Jamestown, even using it as ballast, would have added greatly to the cost of the stone itself, the carving for the brass inlays, and the fabrication and fitting of the brass inlays,” the authors wrote in the study, adding that similar colonial tombstones around the Chesapeake Bay can also be traced back to Belgium. “Whoever was buried under the knight’s tombstone was a prominent member of the Jamestown settlement.”

That somebody could have been a knight. The authors wrote that two knights—Sir Thomas West and Sir George Yeardley—died within the 20-year time that would have allowed for a burial at the Jamestown church. Further information showed that the grave couldn’t have been for West, who died at sea, but Yeardley remained a possibility.

Yeardley’s step-grandson, Adam Thorowgood II, ordered his own black marble tombstone in the 1680s, adding the same inscription found on the “broken tomb”—potentially the tombstone in question. With all the movement and ground disturbances from the original burial site, the team couldn’t use DNA to match Yeardley to the original site or to the broken tombstone. However, the study suggested that it remains a distinct possibility that this stone shipped from Belgium is the oldest tombstone in North America.

As for the original owner, his identity will likely remain a mystery for now. But whatever earned him such a gravestone was likely more than a flesh wound.

Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.

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