Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland

A burial shroud is a piece of cloth used to wrap a deceased person’s body before burial. In the Chesapeake Bay colonies in the 17th century, women would traditionally prepare bodies for burial by removing the person’s clothes and loosely wrapping the entire body in cloth, which was held in place with rope or copper pins. Although cloth itself is not always well preserved, these pins can provide forensic scientists with important clues regarding the experiences and identity of a set of skeletal remains; Walker mentions them, for instance, in connection with both the Captain and the Calverts. Most people were buried only in a shroud; coffins were reserved for wealthy members of society.

Excavation is the process of uncovering buried remains. Unlike simple digging, it involves careful planning and techniques to protect artifacts and bones. As Walker explains, archaeologists use scientific tools before beginning their excavation, like ground-penetrating radar. Once they start digging, they use a variety of tools such as trowels and fine brushes to avoid damaging the remains. The process of excavation not only reveals physical items like bones and artifacts but also provides contextual information such as the arrangement of a burial site and the stratigraphy of the soil.