Jamestown Cannibalism: A Group of English Colonists during the Starving Time

Archaeologists have recently discovered the supposed first physical evidence on the Jamestown Cannibalism act that was committed by the desperate English Colonists at around 1609-1610 at the town of Jamestown, Virginia.

The Evidence of the Jamestown Cannibalism

The team who conducted the research announced this recent finding about the Jamestown Cannibalism in Washington D.C. at a press conference held last May 1, 2013. The incident of the cannibalism was referred to at least 5 historical documents but this is the first ever physical evidence that was found to prove the alleged incident.

James Horn, the Vice President of research of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation claimed that the damaged skull is the only factual evidence of Jamestown Cannibalism by Europeans in all the European colonized country. The skull is believed to be owned by a 14-year-old girl from England whom the researchers named as “Jane”. The skull was found 2.5 feet down in a place believed to be a building that was built during 1608. Upon subjecting it to further analysis the skull was discovered to be cannibalize and not murdered.

The historical account about Jamestown Cannibalism that was said to be politically motivated to discredit the Virginia Company turned out to be a factual incident. The researcher found out that the people who ate this girl were particularly amused on the flesh of cheeks, brain, tongue and muscles at the face. Interestingly, the hair of the girl was not removed.

During the event that was dubbed as the Starving Time, people result into desperate measure in order to survive. Based on the account, Jane’s case is not isolated. The European colonists during those time has to face different type of struggles be it sickness, natural calamity or in this case hunger. The number of bodies that was cannibalized during the Jamestown Cannibalism remains unknown but the remaining survivor was believed to be at around 60 individuals.

People can really turn into a flesh eating creature in times of desperate needs. The incident that happened during the Jamestown Cannibalism is one of the proofs that a human can do anything just to survive.