1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,279 Speaker 1: Tracy Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. And as I think 4 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: everyone knows at this point, recently news broke that there 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: is confirmed forensic evidence of cannibalism at Jamestown. Indeed, lots 6 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: of people wrote us to make sure we knew we 7 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: had heard the news. Everyone at not many many people, 8 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: and then many many people also asked us if we 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: were going to podcast about it, and there is yes. Yeah. 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: First the answer was I don't think I have anything 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: to say about that. But then the more people asked, 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: the more I thought, maybe I should look into this, 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: Maybe we should take a little time see what this 14 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: what this is all about. So we did. Yeah, and 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: that's what we're talking about today. Yeah, so we'll give 16 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: you a little background on Jamestown and kind of how 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: it came to be that they found them else in 18 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: a position where cannibalism was the option that they were 19 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: going to need to engage. So James Town was founded 20 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: in six seven, and it was the first permanent English 21 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: colony in what would become the United States. The Virginia 22 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: Company got a charter from James, the first to establish 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: a colony in the Chesapeake area, and this was actually 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: a for profit venture. The goal there was to find gold, 25 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: to raise silkworms, and to find a water route to Asia. 26 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: And the focus on profit actually set the tone on 27 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: where the settlers were putting their priorities. So, for example, 28 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: given the choice to build a house or chop down 29 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: lumber to send back to England, or between digging a 30 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: well and searching for the gold, they would choose the latter, 31 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: like the profitable enterprise. Right. So, I think people have 32 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: an idea that people were sailing from Europe to quote 33 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: the New World, to uh seek opportunities or to escape 34 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: religious persecution. And while that was the case in some areas, 35 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: that's not what was happening in the early days of Jamestown. 36 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: Early days of Jamestown were about making money. So the 37 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: people who were traveling to Jamestown sailed on three ships. 38 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: They were the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery, 39 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: and they were under the command of Christopher Newport. These 40 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: ships landed on Jamestown Island and established James Fort on 41 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: May fourteenth, sixteen o seven. There were no women on 42 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: these first three ships. Um, this was really a military 43 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: and exploratory settlement, not a town with homes and families 44 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: in it. There were no women in Jamestown until late 45 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: September of sixteen o eight, when a ship brought all 46 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: of two of them. We'll let that settle for a moment. 47 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: They wound up on the James River, which is about 48 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: sixty miles from the mouth of the Chess of Chesspeake Bay. 49 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,079 Speaker 1: And while some accounts say that they chose this location 50 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: because the water was deep enough for them to bring 51 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: the ships close in to shore, they built a fort 52 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: in a more secure location so warships couldn't just sail 53 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: up this same channel and fired directly at their fort. 54 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: The relationships with Native Americans in the area were strained. 55 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: There were times when the colony was basically hobbling along 56 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: along with help from nearby tribes, and at other times 57 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: the colonists and Native Americans were actively at war with 58 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: one another, and some historians really think that this colony 59 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: was doomed from the start. Uh There were craftspeople and 60 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: laborers aboard some of the ships, but a significant number 61 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: of the settled settlers were gentlemen. They weren't used to 62 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: manual labor, they weren't expecting to do manual labor, uh, 63 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: and the swampy ground in the area was not great 64 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: for farming and building. So combined with the ongoing fighting 65 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: that was on and off happening with the Algonquin tribe 66 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: and the in fighting among the leaders of the colony, 67 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: things really were on a downhill slope pretty quickly. Half 68 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: of the original settlers were dead within a year. And really, 69 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: although the starving time gets a lot of the the attention, 70 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: things were meager from the very start, and real problems 71 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: started in August of sixteen oh seven, so not many 72 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: months after they arrived, when bad water and mosquitoes led 73 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: to a wave of illnesses that killed a lot of 74 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: the settlers and weakened just about everyone in the colony. 75 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: Captain Christopher Newport arrived with two ships of supplies in 76 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: early sixteen o eight. But not long after that big 77 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: assistance in that big bolstering Jamestown caught fire and it 78 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: destroyed most of the provisions in the equipment and the 79 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: colony essentially had to start from scratch. Captain John Smith, 80 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: who had been named as one of the seven Council 81 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: members to run the colony. Eventually took control of it 82 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: and he was made president of the colony in September 83 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: of sixteen o eight. And he has this sort of 84 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: reputation of being the man who saved Jamestown, like he 85 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: was really the one that came in and got people's 86 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: acts together. But he had been accused of plotting a 87 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: mutiny while on the way over from England, so he 88 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: had been a late addition to the council. There was 89 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: a lot of resistance. Even though he was named as 90 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: one of the people in charge, there was a lot 91 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: of resistance to actually letting him build that role. And 92 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,720 Speaker 1: he was also one of the council's least experienced members. 93 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: And as you said, he put rules and discipline into place, 94 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,799 Speaker 1: and he really fortified the colony's defenses, and he also 95 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:19,799 Speaker 1: tried to put a stop to some of the laziness 96 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: problems they were having. It was pretty rampant in the 97 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: colony with um and he set up the rule he 98 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: that will not work shall not eat except by sickness. 99 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: He be disabled, so he who doesn't work doesn't eat, 100 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: just to set up a situation of you have to 101 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: do your part if you want to continue to live here. 102 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: You can't just fly around and watch other people work 103 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: and then still get food. The colony made it through 104 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,679 Speaker 1: the winter of sixteen o eight and sixteen o nine 105 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: by making increasingly desperate trades with the local Native Americans. 106 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: They had planned on trading things like copper and beads 107 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: for corn, but as the winter went on and they 108 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: started to run out of those things, people were making 109 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: increasingly desperate trades. They were trading stuff that was more 110 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: and more scarce and important, like their swords, to try 111 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,239 Speaker 1: to get food, and in the late summer of sixteen 112 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: o nine, a fleet meant to bring supplies and additional 113 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: settlers was scattered by a hurricane on the way to Virginia. 114 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: One of the ships, the Sea Venture, wound up shipwrecked 115 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: in Bermuda, which you can hear about in our previous episode, 116 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown. The remainder of the ship's 117 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: kind of hobbled into Jamestown to bring what they had 118 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,359 Speaker 1: After the storms, many of the people who arrived aboard 119 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: this fleet were sick or injured or or dying, and 120 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: there wasn't anywhere to house them in the forts, so 121 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: they were sent out to bivouac in the corn fields, 122 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: and they allegedly ate their way through all the corn 123 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: that had been planted within a few days um and 124 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: this is really a running theme. Every time ships show 125 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,799 Speaker 1: up at Jamestown, they bring more supplies, but they also 126 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: bring more mouths defeat and maybe also rats which infested 127 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: the corn that had been stored and ate all of it. 128 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: And this actually caused john Smith to at one point 129 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: sends some of the colonists elsewhere to try to live 130 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: on fish and oysters because the corn was gone. It 131 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: had either spoiled or been ruined by rats. But what 132 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: really happened is they all just fought a lot and 133 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: we're slaughtered by the Native Americans. So while john Smith 134 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: did seem to hold the colony better than the previous 135 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: committee had, as we said before, that committee was really 136 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: a lot about in fighting and not about leading things, 137 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: he had his share of jealousy and and detractors from 138 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: the rest of the colony's leadership, And in October of 139 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: sixteen o nine, john Smith actually had to return to 140 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: England after being severely burned by an exploding bag of gunpowder. 141 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: And the circumstances around that are pretty mysterious. We don't 142 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: really know the scoop uh. He was though at this 143 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: point on his way out as president of the colony. Anyway, 144 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: new orders had arrived from England that Sir Thomas Gates, 145 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: who was at that point sitting shipwrecked shipwrecked off of Bermuda, 146 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: was going to be the man in charge. After Smith left, 147 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: war broke out between the settlers and the Powatan Indians. 148 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: These were a collection of tribes who were all tied 149 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: to Chief Powhatan and Chief Power to Powetan's goal was 150 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: to get rid of all the English settlers. He was 151 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: done with them and one of them gone, so they 152 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: lay siege to James Fort and stopped trading with settlers elsewhere. 153 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: Um The tribes killed livestock along with any settlers who 154 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: left the protection of the fort's palisade, and the winter 155 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: that followed has become sort of famously known as the 156 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: Starving Time. Only about sixty of the settlers, who initially 157 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: numbered between two five hundred depending on the source that 158 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: you see, survived. This was a really harsh winter. They 159 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: ran completely out of food and because of the siege, 160 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: they couldn't go for help. Help couldn't really come to 161 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: them from elsewhere, and they were all packed inside this fort. 162 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: The fort was basically just a triangular palisade that surrounded 163 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: a few wattle and daubed thatch roofed buildings. So on 164 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: top of there being no food and this constant threat 165 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,199 Speaker 1: of attack from the Native American population, they were horribly overcrowded, 166 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: so illness was rampant, and it's also possible that their 167 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 1: drinking water was contaminated with arsenic and human waste. So 168 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: at that point, Acting Governor George Percy had sent fifty 169 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: men to try to trade with the Powatin Indians, and 170 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: only sixteen of those fifty returned. Then he sent sent 171 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: a ship up the Potomac River to try to trade 172 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: with a tribe there. They did manage to secure some corn, 173 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: but when they heard reports of cannibalism at the fort, 174 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: they decided a better idea than to go back there 175 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: was to go home to England, and that's what they did. 176 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: So uh completely out of food because they did not 177 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: get that corn, the colonists were forced to eat rats, dogs, cats, horses, 178 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,560 Speaker 1: and even shoe leather. Apart from the other reports of 179 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: cannibalism there was also a report of a man who 180 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: had killed his pregnant wife, butchered her and salted her 181 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: body to preserve the meat. Governor Percy had him hanged 182 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: by his thumbs with his feet weighted until he confessed 183 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: to the crime, and then as a punishment, he was 184 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: burned alive. So I think this sort of speaks to 185 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: what the mental state of the colony was at this point, 186 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: that they had burned this man alive for uh, for 187 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: killing and salting his pregnant wife. And Percy himself, sixteen 188 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: years later wrote about people digging up bodies to eat 189 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 1: them or licking up the blood from their quote their 190 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: weak fellows. Uh. So it was an extremely desperate situation. 191 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: I think it would be hard for most people to 192 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: really imagine living through something like that, right, And so 193 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: the news reports that started making their way around in 194 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: this ring of weren't really about a new theory about 195 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: how the colonists made it through that winter. Uh. It's 196 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: more about actual forensic proof of what people already suspected 197 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: or maybe just took for granted. And the proof actually 198 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: came from work that was being done at the Smithsonian. 199 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: So Preservation of Virginia found the skeleton and forensic anthropologist 200 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:27,559 Speaker 1: Douglas Ousley analyzed the remains, and the study was a 201 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:32,200 Speaker 1: joint effort among the Smithsonian, Colonial Williamsburg and Preservation Virginia, 202 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,599 Speaker 1: which is a nonprofit that is dedicated to historic preservation. 203 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: The bones are a tibia, which is a leg bone, 204 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 1: and part of a human skull, and they were found 205 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: in a seventeenth century pile of refuse in July of 206 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: The scarbage pile was inside a seller inside of James Fort, 207 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: which was being excavated for an archaeological study. The feller 208 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: was filled in hundreds of years ago, probably during the 209 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,319 Speaker 1: efforts to clean up and rebuild the colony, which were 210 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: started by a new governor, Thomas West in sixteen ten 211 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: after the starving time was over. And also in the 212 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: pile were the bones of butchered animals. Uh they found 213 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: other partial human remains in the same area, but these 214 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: particular remains that we're talking about had obvious damage that 215 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: called for a closer investigation. They were also in the 216 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: cellar under a layer of newer artifacts, so you can 217 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: kind of imagine that there was the seller people had 218 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: been throwing butchered animals into it at some point the 219 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: structure above it had broken down and collapsed, and it 220 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: became sort of a convenient place for people to just 221 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: throw their trash. So there are whole layers of more 222 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: recent artifacts over these bones strata in there UH. And 223 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: the bones in question are a girl's bones, estimated to 224 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: be about age fourteen, and they can tell this from 225 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:53,960 Speaker 1: both the bones themselves and the condition of her teeth. 226 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: So she had wisdom teeth and partially developed roots for them, 227 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: but they hadn't yet broken through. The growth plates in 228 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: her tibia had started to close, which happens around in 229 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 1: your early teen years. UH. And they determined her sex 230 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: by the shape of her skull. The team has named 231 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: her Jane, and they've taken DNA samples, but it's pretty 232 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: unlikely that they'll be able to link her up to 233 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: modern relatives. The damage to the skull that they investigated 234 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: included four shallow cuts with an attempt to break into 235 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 1: the skull to get to the brain UH, the shattering 236 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: of the skull to get to the brain, and marks 237 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: from two fine bladed knives that were used to remove 238 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: the face and the tongue. They are also cuts along 239 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: her tibia and the marks when they look at them 240 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: under heavy magnification, are consistent with known cannibalism from other cultures. 241 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: So by comparing these cuts two other times when we 242 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: know cannibalism was taking place, they look pretty similar. And 243 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: if we also compare them to um, the cuts on 244 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: the Jane skull too cuts on animal skull alls. Normally, 245 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: the butchering that you would see on animal skulls is 246 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: much deeper. It's the uh cuts are more forceful, but 247 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: with Jane, they're not like that. They're hesitant and kind 248 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: of tentative. So the overall analysis is that these cuts 249 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: were made by people who were really desperate for food. UM. 250 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: On top of not being used to butchering animals. Uh, 251 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: you know, there's the obvious taboo element of what's going on, 252 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: and that probably is one of the things that led 253 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: to the fact that these cuts seemed to be hesitant 254 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: and unsure. The combination of not really being familiar with 255 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: butchering and the just massive cultural taboo going along with 256 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: with what's happening and the cuts also suggests that the 257 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: brain and tongue were removed, which, uh, it sounds really 258 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: grizzly to the modern ear, I think, but they were 259 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: both very common pieces that would be used in recipes 260 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: at the time they get for an animal, it would 261 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: be the same things that they would be taking right So, 262 00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: based on other evidence in the layer of the dig 263 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: where she was found, as well as some scientific study 264 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: of her bones, they think that she arrived in Jamestown 265 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: in August of sixteen o nine, probably along with the 266 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: damaged fleet that had been scattered by the hurricane, and 267 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: researchers used isotopic testing to determine where she came from 268 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: and when, and based on the isotopes in her bones, 269 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: they determined that she had been eating a European wheat 270 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: based diet, whereas the American diet at the time was 271 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: based primarily on corn. And based on this evidence, uh 272 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: they've determined that she was probably middle to upper class 273 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: a young woman born in the coastal plains of southern England, 274 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: or she also could have been employed with a middle 275 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: to upper class family and consequently was eating the same 276 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: food that they would have been eating. The team used 277 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: CT scans of all the pieces of her skull to 278 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: make a model of what the whole skull would have 279 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: looked like before it was damaged. Then a forensic sculptor 280 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: created a reconstruction of what she actually would have looked like. 281 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 1: What's not known in all of this is how she 282 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: actually died. Accounts from the time described colonists living on 283 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: the people who died first rather than just killing them 284 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 1: to eat them, apart from that case of the man 285 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: who killed his wife. So uh, presumably Jane died of 286 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: some other of some natural cause. We hope she wasn't 287 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: killed for me, right right. It does not appear that 288 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 1: there's no evidence at this point to suggest that she 289 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: was murdered and then eaten, but that she died in 290 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: some other way and then was eaten. So this was 291 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,560 Speaker 1: all over the news when it came out. In addition 292 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 1: to it being all over the news, there's a whole 293 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: section of the Historic Jamestown site dedicated to her remains 294 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: into her story, along with a book and a video 295 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: on DVD and Blu ray ready for purchase, and an 296 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: exhibit historic Jamestown. So this right out of the gate, 297 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: all kinds of stuff to explore about Jane Jane and 298 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: her story. Well, because I think you could pretty easily 299 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: predict that people would be fascinated and really engaged by 300 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: this information based on our our mail, yeah, we and 301 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: our Facebook and Twitter and all that after after it 302 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: came out, yet people really really interested in it. Um. 303 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: The excavation that this came from is an excavation of 304 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: the Jamestown Fort site that has been ongoing since Before 305 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,399 Speaker 1: that point, people thought that the original fort had washed 306 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: into the river like that. It was considered to be 307 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: a lost site, and it was discovered in and since 308 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: that time archaeologists have discovered the palisade lines, bowl works 309 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 1: for the Cannons, Fellers, Wells burial sites, and more than 310 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:50,159 Speaker 1: a million other artifacts. So analysis will probably still be 311 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: ongoing for quite some time, and we may get more 312 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:58,959 Speaker 1: new revelations about Jamestown, yes, and more confirmation of things 313 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: people already suspected are new. Uh So, yeah, that is 314 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: the story of Jane and the story of this uh 315 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: the starving time. In addition to it being bad enough 316 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: that people were resorted to cannibalism, it was bad enough 317 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: that when the winter was over, the colonists were on 318 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: the verge of abandoning the site. And they only didn't 319 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: when new bosses showed up and we're like, no, we're 320 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: staying here. Here's somewhere, here's somewhere, equipment and more miles. Defee, 321 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: that's a lot. That's a lot to go through for 322 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: a human, so so yes, and if I'm not mistaken, 323 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,520 Speaker 1: you also have listener mail. I have to listener mails. 324 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: These are both about our recent episode, The Princess who 325 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: Swallowed the Glass Piano. The first is from Laurie. Laurie says, 326 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: I listened to your podcast about the lady who thought 327 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: she swallowed a glass piano and thought it was fascinating. 328 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:52,919 Speaker 1: I was wondering about one thing. You said that the 329 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: delusions occurred in people from the Middle Ages to the 330 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: nineteenth century and people just stopped getting this particular delusion 331 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,879 Speaker 1: for some read and can a kind of mental illness 332 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 1: just die off or do doctors call it something else? Today? 333 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: I really enjoy your podcast and we'll continue to work 334 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: my way through the archive, So thank you, Laurie. The 335 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: answer to this question is that the around the nineteenth century, 336 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: uh psychologists and psychiatrists started changing the way that they 337 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 1: classified mental disorders. We weren't quite to the point of 338 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: the diagnostic manuals that exist today, but the the way 339 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,280 Speaker 1: that they looked at mental illnesses was a little different, 340 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: and so there's no longer a broad category of like 341 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,439 Speaker 1: glass delusions, but there are things that people believe that 342 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: are not true that are kind of group in under 343 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: mental illnesses, under other mental illnesses. So uh, people can 344 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,640 Speaker 1: still have glass collusions, they're just categorized differently. Yes, there 345 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: there are certainly people still who believe that they're breakable 346 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: in one way or another, but that's usually lumped into 347 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: some greater diagnosis than just a glass dellusion. Um. The 348 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: other that we got is from Molly, and Molly says, 349 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: thank you for the research you do and you're wonderfully 350 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:09,359 Speaker 1: insightful podcasts. Upon hearing your Glass Piano episode, I was 351 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: reminded of a character from one of my favorite films, Emily. 352 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: The character is nicknamed the glass Man. I had never 353 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: questioned his history, but your story shed light on his 354 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: reclusiveness and his relationship with Emily, a woman who received 355 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: no physical affection in her childhood. After feeling that I 356 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: had exhausted the secrets and stories of these characters, you 357 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: renewed my interest in them. Thank you for teaching me 358 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:35,120 Speaker 1: and helping me make this connection and many others. First 359 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: of all, thank you, Molly. I love that movie it's 360 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: one of my big favorite at our house. Yeah, it's 361 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,800 Speaker 1: one of my favorite movies ever. And I have always 362 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 1: viewed him as having a real condition that does exist 363 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: called FOP, which is a disease where your bones don't 364 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: solidify correctly. Um, and so your bones are really fragile 365 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: and breakable. And it's the same thing that Samuel L. 366 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: Jackson's character as an unbreakable uh. And so I've always 367 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: thought of that as a real thing, but reading it 368 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: as maybe something that's all in his head, I kind 369 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: of adds a fun layer to that. I need to 370 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,959 Speaker 1: go rewatch it now and think of it that way 371 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,720 Speaker 1: instead of thinking it as like a real, actual condition 372 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:21,439 Speaker 1: that he is affected by. So thank you very much, Molly, 373 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: and thank you also, Laurie. If you would like to 374 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: write to us about this or anything else, you can. 375 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: We are at History Podcast at Discovery dot com. We're 376 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: also on Facebook at facebook dot com slash history class Stuff, 377 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,360 Speaker 1: and on Twitter at mt in History. You can find 378 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: our tumbler at MSSON history dot tumbler dot com. Plus 379 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: we are on Pinterest. If you would like to learn 380 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: more about the grizzly subject matter of today's episode, you 381 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: can go to our website. Put the word cannibalism in 382 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,719 Speaker 1: the search bar, and you will find how cannibalism works. 383 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: You can do all that and a whole lot more 384 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:03,159 Speaker 1: at our website, which is how stuff Works dot com. 385 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Does 386 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: it has stuff works dot com. Netflix streams TV shows 387 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 1: and movies directly to your home, saving you time, money, 388 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: and hassle. 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