Winter 2018, Featured Articles, Discoveries
The Update: Unearthing New Clues to America’s Lost Colony
By Dan McLerran Wed, Dec 13, 2017
Editor's Note: The following article is an update on a previous article published in the Winter 2015/2016 issue of Popular Archaeology.
Not at Jamestown Island, and not at Plymouth Rock, did the first English settlers step onto American soil.
It was at Roanoke Island, lying between the present-day North Carolina mainland and the barrier islands of the Outer Banks, where the very beginnings of English colonization took place. And though far from the shores of the Elizabethan England of its time, the site owes its inception in large measure to the geopolitics, culture and economic enterprise of the broader European 16th century stage. Queen Elizabeth I and her England, with its upstart naval prowess, were challenging Spain’s undisputed position as the world’s preeminent naval power. News of Spain’s solid and strengthening foothold in the New World and the vast new resources—especially gold—that flowed from it, quickly caught the attention of the Queen’s chief playmakers—men like the favored and influential courtier Sir Walter Raleigh.
http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/winter-2018/article/the-update-unearthing-new-clues-to-americas-lost-colony
