Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony

Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony Nov 24, 2019 2:19:32 GMT

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Post by MCDemuth on Nov 24, 2019 2:19:32 GMT

I believe "The Chowan River Dare Stone", the first of the "Dare Stones", found by Louis E. Hammond on November 8, 1937... may be genuine, and if so, it tells the tale:

Dare Stones

From 1937 to 1941, a series of inscribed stones was discovered that were claimed to have been written by Eleanor Dare, mother of Virginia Dare. They told of the travelings of the colonists and their ultimate deaths. Most historians believe that they are a fraud, but there are some today who still believe at least one of the stones to be genuine. The very first one is sometimes regarded to be different from the rest, based on a linguistic and chemical analysis, and could possibly be genuine.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony#Dare_Stones

The first stone was reported in 1937 by Louis E. Hammond, who claimed to have found it near the Chowan River. It referred to another stone marking a mass grave, prompting an intense search...

...The other 47 stones at Brenau, presented in response to a reward offer, were of a markedly different style; all of these were eventually connected to Georgia stonecutter Bill Eberhardt and discredited. By 1941 scholars and the press had dismissed all of the Dare Stones as hoaxes...

...although the authenticity of Hammond's stone has not been conclusively proven or disproven.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_Stones

The Chowan River Dare Stone

On November 8, 1937, Louis E. Hammond visited Emory University with a 21-pound (9.5 kg) stone, asking for help to interpret the markings on it. Hammond claimed to be a California tourist traveling the country with his wife. He said he found the stone in August 1937 by the east bank of the Chowan River, in Chowan County, North Carolina.

Here's a Modern 'Translation' of the inscriptions

On one side the stone reads:

Ananias Dare &
Virginia went
to Heaven, 1591

Any Englishman show (this rock to)
John White, Governor of Virginia

The other side elaborates:

Father, soon after you
go for England, we came
here. Only misery and war (for)
two years. Above half dead these two
years, more from sickness, being twenty-four.
(A) Savage with (a) message of (a) ship came to us. (Within a) small
space of time, they (became) frightened of revenge (and) ran
all away. We believe it (was) not you. Soon after,
the savages said spirits (were) angry. Suddenly
(they) murdered all save seven. My child (and)
Ananias, too, (were) slain with much misery.
Buried all near four miles east (of) this river,
upon (a) small hill. Names (were) written all there
on (a) rock. Put this there also. (If a) Savage
shows this to you, we
promised you (would) give (them) great
plenty presents.
EWD

The inscription was interpreted as a message from Eleanor White Dare ("EWD") providing an update on the state of the Lost Colonists to her father, John White.

A group of Emory professors, including Haywood Pearce, Jr., traveled with Hammond to the site where he claimed to have discovered the stone. They could not determine the precise location of the find, but the trip convinced the professors that Hammond was a reliable source. Emory announced the find on November 14, 1937.

Pearce published his findings in the May 1938 issue of The Journal of Southern History. "The authenticity of this stone," he wrote, "can never be fully and finally established without further corroborative evidence." Nevertheless, he argued that the content of the stone was consistent with Strachey's account of seven survivors of a supernaturally-motivated massacre, who escaped up the Chowan River. He also explained that the spelling conformed to expectations of Elizabethan orthography, and that the necessary tools for such an inscription were likely to have been in the possession of the colonists.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_Stones#The_Chowan_River_Dare_Stone

Investigations into the Chowan River Stone

Although the Dare Stones associated with Bill Eberhardt were exposed as hoaxes, the first stone could not be linked to him. Boyden Sparkes continued to investigate Louis E. Hammond, with little success, hoping to find some connection to Eberhardt or any other evidence that would discredit the original Dare Stone.

A 1983 study by South Carolina State archaeologist Robert L. Stephenson proved inconclusive. Stephenson easily dismissed three of the Eberhardt stones as forgeries, but could devise no microscopic, chemical, or physical examination that would reveal anything useful about the Hammond stone.

For a 2016 examination at the University of North Carolina, a slice of the Chowan River Stone was cut from the bottom. The test conclusively proved that the rock had not been a ballast stone from an English ship. It also revealed that the interior of the stone had a bright white color, as opposed to the weathered gray exterior. The sharp contrast would make the stone well-suited for inscribing a message, as it would take considerable time for the brightness of the lettering to fade. Using chemicals to make such an inscription appear artificially ancient would require considerable expertise, particularly in the 1930s.

Matthew Champion, an expert on medieval graffiti, concluded that the Chowan stone is consistent with the inscriptions he studies in English churches. He dismissed suggestions that the use of Roman lettering or modern Arabic numerals are anachronistic, citing contemporary examples.

Kevin Quarmby, a professor in English (Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama), examined the Chowan Stone and found the language of the inscription consistent with Elizabethan era English. Quarmby noted "subtle nuances" in the stone's message, which suggested either authenticity, or an extremely clever hoax. However, Quarmby is by his own admission not an expert on Elizabethan paleography. In sharp contrast, Tudor historian Diarmaid MacCulloch dismissed the language on the stone as "risible forgery," emphatically stating "It has all the plausibility of Dick Van Dyke's Cockney accent in Mary Poppins."

Champion argues that the validity of the stone cannot be resolved without "a serious archaeological project," entailing an interdisciplinary research using sophisticated forms of analysis. However, scholars are reluctant to jeopardize their professional reputations on the Dare Stones, making such an undertaking difficult to organize

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_Stones#Investigations_into_the_Chowan_River_Stone

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Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony

Post by hi224 on Nov 21, 2019 20:49:57 GMT

Post by MCDemuth on Nov 24, 2019 2:19:32 GMT

Post by politicidal on Nov 24, 2019 23:32:40 GMT