Native Americans and early colonists marked the graves of their dead, but markers made from wood don't last and stones weren't carved as they are today, until one man was memorialized in Jamestown, Virginia. A polished black limestone grave marker was found near the settlement's church in 1901. Jamestown was founded in 1607, but the tombstone has no dates. It had indentations where metal inlays have corroded and disappeared. One is in the shape of a knight, so it has been titled the Knight's Tombstone.
According to a new study published in The International Journal of Historical Archaeology, it was the shape of that indentation that led to the identification of the man who was originally buried there, and the fossils contained in the stone itself that led to the identification of its origin in Europe. As with many historical mysteries, the conclusions are labeled "most likely" in a lot of places. Read the story of the man who got America's first carved tombstone at IFLScience. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Jamestown Rediscovery (Preservation Virginia))
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