America’s Oldest Surviving Tombstone Probably Came From Belgium

A mysterious black tombstone that marked the final resting place of a prominent Jamestown resident likely came from Belgium, suggesting that colonists maintained a sophisticated transatlantic trade network with Europe.

That’s according to a new analysis of tiny fossils embedded in the 400-year-old grave cover, which is likely the oldest surviving tombstone in America. Scientists report their findings this week in a new paper published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.

“Little did we realize that colonists were ordering black marble tombstones from Belgium like we order items from Amazon, just a lot slower,” says study co-author Marcus M. Key, a geoscientist at Dickinson College, to Phys.org’s Sandee Oster.

Founded in May 1607, Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. For decades, archaeologists have been studying the site and its artifacts, including the black tombstone, which measures roughly 2.5 feet wide by 5.5 feet long.

The stone was initially laid in the floor of Jamestown’s second church, probably in 1627 after the death of Sir George Yeardley, a knight who served as Virginia’s lord governor.

The stone was moved in the 1640s during a construction project, then lost to history for more than 250 years, per the study. After the grave cover was rediscovered in 1901, it was repaired and relocated to the chancel of the Jamestown Memorial Church. The Jamestown Memorial Church was built in 1907 on the same site as three 17th-century churches.

In recent years, archaeologists have been conducting excavation work at Jamestown Memorial Church in hopes of learning more about the site’s history. During that work, they also cleaned and restored the gravestone.

Mysterious Knight's Tomb: Oldest Gravestone in America?

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Based on carved indentations made in the gravestone, archaeologists suspect it was once decorated with brass inlays, including one that likely depicted an English gentleman in armor. This led them to believe the stone likely marked the grave of a knight. After reviewing the historical evidence, archaeologists deduced that the knight was probably Yeardley.

The artifact is often referred to as the black marble knight’s tombstone. But it’s actually made out of limestone. (At the time, the stone industry referred to any polished rock as marble.)

With this new study, researchers wanted to figure out where the limestone came from, in hopes of better understanding 17th-century trade routes. For help, they turned to microfossils, or microscopic fossils embedded in the limestone that might offer clues about the stone’s origins.

In small samples taken from the bottom of the stone, they identified six species of single-celled organisms that lived in specific places at specific times. The microfossils helped them determine the stone’s age, likely 336 to 340 million years old, and its original location, likely Ireland or Belgium.

Based on similar colonial tombstones found elsewhere around the Chesapeake Bay, they were able to narrow down the stone’s geographic origins even further to Belgium.

Black limestone grave markers probably made their way to the New World via London, the researchers write. In his will, another colonist named William Sherwood had explicitly requested a “marble” tombstone from London. His black limestone grave marker was found in the graveyard outside of Jamestown Memorial Church.

“We hypothesize [Sherwood’s tombstone] was quarried and cut to size in Belgium, shipped down the Meuse River, across the English Channel to London where it was carved and the brass inlays installed, and finally shipped on to Jamestown as ballast,” the researchers write.

Even as a ballast—a heavy item used to help stabilize a ship—shipping these gravestones would have been expensive. But, despite the high cost, wealthy colonists would have wanted to commemorate their dead with black “marble” because it was what was in vogue in England at the time.

“Successful Virginia colonists who had lived in London would have been familiar with the latest English fashions and tried to replicate these in the colonies,” the researchers write.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.