Historians, and researchers, wanted concrete evidence leading to multiple investigations on the topic. An archeology professor at the Royal Agricultural University in England spoke with Fox News about his discoveries. He said, “We’re looking at the middens — that’s the rubbish heaps — of the Native Americans living on Hatteras Island, because we deduced that they would have very rapidly been assimilated into the Native American population,” (Margolis). In this trash heap they found Hammerscale; which are small flaky bits of iron. The professor stated that this is proof of metalworking, and also claims, “This is metal that has to be raised to a relatively high temperature … which, of course, [requires] technology that Native Americans at this period did not have.” This is proof that the English had to have been working in this area. Furthermore, the material has been dated back to the exact time period the colonists would have arrived on the Island.
According to the New York Post’s article, “archaeologists also found guns, nautical fittings, small cannonballs, an engraved slate and a stylus, in addition to wine glasses and beads” (Margolis). The professor mentioned that, “We have one little snippet of historical evidence from the 1700s, which describes people with blue or gray eyes who could remember people who used to be able to read from books,” he said. “Also, they said there was this ghost ship that was sent out by a man called Raleigh.” In continuation, “We think that they assimilated into the Native American community and their descendants, their sons, their granddaughters, their grandsons carried on living on Hatteras Island until the early 18th century.”
