Archaeologists Found Out What Virginia's Jamestown Denied in 1610

In 1610, the company that ran England's colony in Virginia printed a pamphlet in London calling the stories from Jamestown's "Starving Time" sworn lies. Four other accounts of that winter tell four different versions of the same crime, and they cannot all be true. Then, in 2012, archaeologists digging a cellar inside James Fort found the remains of a fourteen-year-old English girl. They called her Jane. CHAPTERS 0:00 The pamphlet and the cellar 1:27 A fort on the river 4:10 The fleet and the storm 6:34 The siege 8:30 This starveing Tyme 11:34 Four versions of one crime 17:46 The fort that wasn't starving 21:15 Rescue 22:52 Four hundred years of doubt 24:11 The cellar 27:54 What the bones say, and what they don't 30:20 Who should we trust? This video discusses survival cannibalism during the 1609–1610 famine at Jamestown, based on historical accounts and forensic evidence. No human remains are shown. Every number and quotation in this video comes from a published source listed below. The 1610–1625 accounts are quoted from the original texts; on screen they keep their original spelling. The Fort Algernon thread is our own reading of two public texts: the Virginia Company's True Declaration (1610), which traces the rumours to Captain Davies and his lieutenant, and George Percy's A Trewe Relacyon, which describes Davis's fort as well fed and hiding its plenty. Previous video: Historians Checked Maryland's Antietam Photos. The Labels Were Wrong:    • Historians Checked Maryland’s Antietam Pho...   SOURCES A True Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia (London, 1610), text at Virtual Jamestown: https://www.virtualjamestown.org/exis... George Percy, A Trewe Relacyon (written c. 1625), excerpt 'This starveing Tyme', Encyclopedia Virginia: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/prim... John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia (1624), excerpt 'Of such a dish as powdered wife', Encyclopedia Virginia: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entr... A Breife Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia (1624), excerpt, Encyclopedia Virginia: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entr... Encyclopedia Virginia, 'Starving Time, The': https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entr... Historic Jamestowne, 'A Starving Time Tragedy': https://historicjamestowne.org/?p=36 Smithsonian, 'Forensic analysis of 17th-century human remains at Jamestown, Va., reveals evidence of survival cannibalism' (1 May 2013): https://smithsonianscience.org/2013/0... National Geographic, 'Starving Settlers in Jamestown Colony Resorted to Cannibalism' (1 May 2013): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc... NPR, 'Bones Tell Tale Of Desperation Among The Starving At Jamestown' (1 May 2013): https://www.kunc.org/npr-news/2013-05... Science News, 'Cannibalism in Colonial America comes to life': https://www.sciencenews.org/article/c... Rachel B. Herrmann, 'The "tragicall historie": Cannibalism and Abundance in Colonial Jamestown', William and Mary Quarterly 68:1 (2011), 47–74 Narration voice is AI-generated (ElevenLabs). Script, research and fact-checking by Unquiet Ground. All images are historical documents, maps, engravings, or photographs of Jamestown today; none are AI-generated.