DNA sought to confirm ID of bones Scientists think they've discovered the skull of Jamestown settler Bartholomew Gosnold BY MARK ST. JOHN ERICKSON February 1, 2005 Scientists began surveying two English church sites with ground-penetrating radar Monday to help Jamestown archaeologists identify a set of remains believed to be those of high-ranking English colonist Bartholomew Gosnold. Though several hurdles have yet to be resolved, the investigators hope to find the graves of two matrilineal relatives whose DNA could then be used to provide positive confirmation of this early Jamestown settler's identity. "Nothing has been completely decided yet. We still have to wait for a series of steps to be made before we know if we'll be able to get a DNA sample," said Jamestown chief archaeologist William M. Kelso. Kelso unearthed the colonist's remains in late 2002. "We may have the evidence we need to prove we've found the remains of one of the colony's most influential and important figures. It was Gosnold who brought John Smith, Christopher Newport and the others together at his home in Suffolk. He was the colony's moving force." Uncovered just outside the west wall of the fort, the unidentified settler posed a tantalizing riddle until Jamestown Rediscovery conservator Michael Lavin began examining a curious artifact buried with the remains. Using X-ray equipment at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Lavin paid careful attention to the rust-encrusted tip of a wooden shaft found lying across the colonist's coffin. Inside, he discovered a cross-shaped finial that was soon identified as part of a ceremonial staff carried by a high-ranking officer. "The staff appeared on the coffin even before we got to the remains," Kelso said. "It was like the colonists who buried him left us a note - 'This was somebody important.' " Such unusual pomp and circumstance - which the archaeologists date to a time when most of the settlers were sick and struggling - led Kelso to believe that the powerful Gosnold was the most likely occupant of the grave. According to the colonists' accounts of this difficult period, no other funeral received such attention, he said. More evidence came from a forensic analysis conducted by Smithsonian Institution scientist Doug Owsley, who determined that the remains were those of a European man who died in his mid-to-late 30s. Gosnold, who commanded the ship Godspeed during the colonists' voyage from England, fell ill and died at the age of 36, Kelso said. Despite the forensic and historical support for his theory, the archaeologist has traveled to England twice since the discovery of the remains to find a way to confirm the identity through DNA. When researcher Catherine Correll-Walls was unable to trace the maternal line of the family past Gosnold's great-grandniece, the search turned to two churches in Suffolk, where the colonist's sister and niece are recorded as buried. Only the maternal line preserves the type of DNA needed to establish kinship across numerous generations, Kelso said. Working with The Church of England's Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich late in 2004, the archaeologist won permission for the first stage of tests, which will use ground-penetrating radar to locate and define the outline of the graves. If these efforts are successful, the English investigative team may then use a fiber-optic probing device to further identify their targets, which are buried in vaults under the church floors. Only after confirming that the DNA samples can be extracted with a minimum degree of disturbance will the scientists ask the diocese - and the parishioners - for permission to carry out the delicate process. That decision should be known by the end of March. "I want to make it clear that we're not going to exhume anybody," Kelso said. "What we want is a small bone sample. We don't want to disturb anything needlessly." Funded by the National Geographic Society, the sampling procedure and the results of the DNA test may be seen as part of a television documentary on the Jamestown dig scheduled to air in November. Until then, the unidentified colonist will lie in place inside the Jamestown collections vault, where his remains have been stored out of public view since they were discovered. "We were so excited when we realized who we might have found. It was hard not to be," Kelso recalled. "We'd just found the lost fort - and then we'd found the lost hero - the prime mover behind the Jamestown settlement. Gosnold's contributions have been overlooked."