The mystery of Roanoke Island would be perfect for a period drama thriller. Think Pocahontas meets Downton Abbey meets Lost, minus the science fiction/ supernatural stuff.
According to a news report by Newser, for those who are not well-acquainted with the story of Roanoke Island, here is the story in a nutshell: English colonizers mysteriously vanished from the island 425 years ago. It sounds like a story straight from a frustrated sci-fi writer's notebook of scrapped ideas, but evidence has been found proving that there's really not much thrill on the huge puzzle connected to the small island in North Carolina, except for the possibility of a mass migration.
A team of archaeologists led by Mark Horton, a professor in the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, has uncovered items in nearby Hatteras Island that supports the theory that the colonizers had moved from Roanoke Island and had assimilated with the native settlers. Among those found are a slate writing tablet marked with the letter "M," a long-edged thrusting sword and pieces of iron, as well as ingot and stoneware that date to the same period the colonizers disappeared.
Another proof that confirms the theory is an etching on a post, estimated to have been made in 1590, that has the word "Croatoan." The etched word is the name of a Native American settlement in Hatteras Island.
According to a report by the New York Times, another team led by Mr. Nicholas M. Luccketti, an associate of the James River Institute for Archaeology in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been digging in the hillsides near Albemarle Sound, an estuary in North Carolina. His team has found a mashed metal rivet, a piece of hand-wrought nail, fragments of earthenware and pottery, among the previous artifacts that have already been found in the area.
Scholars who have seen the artifacts have been supportive of the migration theory, but seem to agree that these findings raise more questions than answers. But for now, the mystery of Roanoke Island, or at least the part about where the colonizers went, is close to solving.
