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Tom Jennings - Writer and Producer There was a moment during the filming of Secret Jesus when even the most jaded members of the cast and crew thought we had gone too far. We were on an old movie set in a dusty Moroccan town called Ouarzazate – a bedraggled village made famous years ago for being the place where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. The scene was typical enough – Jesus carrying the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, taunted by the crowds, beaten by Roman soldiers, on his way to crucifixion. It’s an image most people can easily see in their minds – the horrific final hours of Christ. But just then, our scene stopped – a moment frozen in time. The only person moving was Jesus. He set the cross down on the cobblestone street. An actor playing Simon the Cyrene approached. In traditional Bible stories, Simon was forced by Roman soldiers to help Jesus carry the cross. That was not the case in Secret Jesus. With the other actors still frozen, Jesus removed his crown of thorns and placed it on Simon’s head. The stunned, somewhat confused Simon then bent down, shouldered the cross and began the long journey out of town toward his own execution – the crowd again in motion, tormenting him. Jesus stepped back into the crowd and laughed as he watched Simon being led away in his place – a bizarre, tortuous moment of mistaken identity. Jesus turned and walked in the opposite direction – ready to move on with an apparently happy and long life. Those of us putting together the show couldn’t help but wonder – what the heck were we doing? Our Moroccan extras – people who had played out the traditional crucifixion scene in dozens of film and television shows – were bewildered. Their eyes said it all – “These people are crazy. That’s not how the story goes.”

Heidi Shin and Bill Kelso In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock, just over 100 English men and boys seeking gold, profit, opportunity and adventure in the New World landed on a small island in the James River and established Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America, and what would eventually become the birthplace of the United States. What you usually hear about Jamestown are the stories of Pocahontas coming to the aid of John Smith and his starving men. What’s not so well known is that Jamestown is the birthplace of American democracy and free enterprise. Also what you don’t hear about is just what the relationship between the settlers and the Indians was really like. And rarely are questions asked about the effectiveness of John Smith’s leadership and the role of his followers—their endeavors and struggles, how they lived and died. That’s what archaeologists wanted to learn when launching the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, but they ended up unearthing much more than they had bargained for. In anticipation of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, historians and archaeologists from the APVA Preservation (Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) set out to discover, excavate and analyze the remains of the 1607 James Fort and town site. The team had expected to make new discoveries, but they didn’t expect to be floored by what they learned. Historians long-believed James Fort had been washed away by the river. But just ten years ago, in 1996, archaeologists discovered the footprints to the triangular fort still existed. The fort’s outline, including the remains of portions of the palisade walls and two bulwarks, as well as several buildings, pits and wells were all still in place. It turned out only a single corner, not the entire fort, had been eroded by the river. Continued expedition unearthed nearly a million objects, including the skeletons of nearly 80 colonists, which tell us more about life at James Fort. These remains now constitute one of the largest collections of Early American Colonial artifacts in the world. As archaeologists dug away little did they know that the most exciting discovery was still yet to come. The discovery of a grave—which evidence strongly suggested contained the remains of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, the principal organizer and administrator of the early Jamestown effort. But how could this be proven for certain? Dr. Bill Kelso, APVA’s archaeological director, was determined to find out. And so the adventure begins… ********************************************************************************************************* The Search for Identification: Re-discovering Batholomew Gosnold Bill Kelso We’re standing inside All Saints Church in Shelley, England, watching as the unmarked ledger stone to the grave that we believe contains the remains of Bartholomew Gosnold’s sister is lifted quickly and effortlessly by a British archaeologist. He scrapes away the sandy dirt beneath the stone, and the outline of a grave shaft begins to appear. All around us, displays of roses, peonies, irises, sweet peas and other flowers from local gardens perfume the air. A few women from this tiny rural village of about 40 people have brought them to decorate the 13th-century church for their annual Flower Festival. Above us, unseen starlings squeak from the rafters, and every 15 minutes the Westminster Chimes plays on the bells in the tower. The setting is so peaceful and the excavation is progressing so rapidly that it seems surreal after the years of research and waiting for permission from the Church of England’s Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich to obtain a sample from her remains for DNA testing to confirm that the remains are those of her brother. Almost two and a half years ago, we discovered the grave of a man buried just outside the gates of the 1607 James Fort at Historic Jamestowne on Jamestown Island, Virginia. Based on a chain of physical and historical evidence, the remains appear to be those of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, a founding father of modern America. The most compelling piece of evidence that this was a high-ranking person was the discovery of a decorative captain’s leading staff that was ceremoniously placed along one edge of his coffin lid. We have never found any other ceremonial objects in Jamestown burials, so we know this was someone very special, and coffin burials were traditionally used for people of higher status. If it is Gosnold, then we’ve found the ‘lost-to-history’ burial of one of the most influential and moving spirits behind English-American colonization. Captain John Smith credits Gosnold as the prime mover of the colonization of Virginia. Gosnold planned the Jamestown Colony with Smith and others, and obtained an exclusive charter from King James for the Virginia Company to settle Virginia. As vice-admiral of the Jamestown expedition, Gosnold was captain of the Godspeed, one of three ships in the fleet. He also was one of the six members of the original governing council and helped design James Fort. To add hard science to identification evidence, we needed to obtain and compare DNA from his remains with mitochondrial DNA from a relative. Mitochondrial DNA can survive in bones, as it did in this case, but it is only passed along the maternal family line. So, we needed DNA from the Jamestown burial’s mother or his siblings, or nieces or nephews who were the children of his sisters, and so on. Catherine Correll-Walls, a Virginia-based researcher, and Joanna Martin, a historical researcher in Suffolk, England, attempted to identify a living descendent, but lost the trail after three generations beginning with Gosnold’s mother and ending with his nieces. But this research revealed the burial sites of two deceased relatives and possible candidates for DNA testing including Gosnold’s sister, Elizabeth Tilney, who requested in her will to be buried next to her husband at All Saints Church in Shelley. The exact location of her grave is not identified in the church, but luckily, Joanna discovered a record in the Higham St. Mary parish registers that she was buried in the Shelley chancel the day after she died. Elizabeth, who had been the lady of Shelley Manor, had moved to Higham when her family sold the estate after her husband died. He was buried in the church before they moved. Further study of historians’ notes about the memorials and grave stones in the church helped pinpoint where inside the church she was likely to have been buried.

Bill Kelso, Director of Archaeology at Historic Jamestowne, discusses progress of the grave excavation at Shelley church with Suffolk archaeologist Rodney Gardner.

We also learned about the possible location of the grave of Katherine Blackerby, Gosnold’s niece, who is believed to be buried in the Blackerby family vault at St. Peter and St. Mary Church in Stowmarket, England. Next we needed permission from the Church of England to obtain bone samples for DNA testing. I visited the church on a research trip to England and talked to Andrew Scott who was the warden of the church in Shelley to find out if it might be possible and to see what would be involved as far as uncovering the grave to obtain a bone sample for DNA testing. Andrew contacted some Church officials and asked the parishioners if they had any objections. Based on their positive response, we decided to formally request permission even though the Church of England had never approved a request like ours before. As the diocese moved through their extensive and thorough review process, no one thought we would ever get approval. The presumption is against the disturbance of remains – unless there is a really good case for it. There were literally hundreds of moments during the process when the parishioners or committees or officials could have said “no.” Even during the excavations, the project could have been stopped at any time, but once we began, it seemed that the parishioners and officials were as invested in the project and as excited about finding Elizabeth’s grave to possibly confirm the identity of Jamestown’s Gosnold as we were.

Rodney Gardner measures an excavation area around ledgerstone believed to mark Elizabeth Gosnold Tilney's grave.

We brought teeth and bone samples back to the States for testing and comparative analysis. Surprisingly and unfortunately, we learned that the DNA we had obtained was not that of Bartholomew Gosnold's sister, Elizabeth. As a result, we were not able to more conclusively confirm that we had discovered Gosnold's grave. The testing and microscopic analysis, including an osteon analysis of bone and dental samples, indicated that the woman in question was about age 50 when she died, whereas Elizabeth Tilney Gosnold was said to have died at age 74. Researchers believe this body is likely that of Anne Framlingham, born around 1544 and married to Philip Tilney of Shelley Hall as a teenager. We're unaware of any other relatives, buried or living, who could provide a DNA sample match. Nevertheless, because of historical, archaeological and forensic evidence, we're still confident that the grave we've come upon in Jamestown is that of Captain Gosnold's, the Lost Founding Father, and we'll continue to search for other archaeological and forensic evidence to confirm this important discovery. Regardless of the research results, the expedition has done wonders for bringing this colonial explorer the acclaim he deserved but was never given. Though not on the tip of grade-schoolers' tongues, Captain Gosnold's success in starting the Virginia settlement we can now arguably say is one of the most significant events in the subsequent history of the world. Unfortunately, having died so soon after his arrival at Jamestown Gosnold's memoirs have gone unwritten and his role in laying American democratic roots often go unrecognized. Nearly two hundred years later, perhaps the unearthing of his grave will also bring his stories back to life.