Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland

Sally M. Walker shares her inspiration for writing the book. She explains that her fascination with the field of forensic anthropology began when she learned about how scientists use bones to uncover the stories of people from the past. Walker was captivated by the idea that bones could reveal details about individuals’ lives, health, and even cultural backgrounds.

Walker explains that an important consideration when studying human remains is how different cultures treat their dead. Ethical archaeologists take burial customs into consideration when they study human remains. Some Indigenous tribes have cultural and spiritual beliefs about the treatment of their ancestors’ remains. Those who live in the Chesapeake Bay area believe that it is disrespectful to remove skeletons from their burial place. To respect these beliefs, the book concentrates on the remains of early European settlers.

On August 16, 2005, a group of scientists discovered a human skeleton in Jamestown, Virginia. The skeleton, found in a carefully excavated pit on the James River’s bank, lacked identifying artifacts but was estimated by forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley to be a 15-year-old European boy. Walker explains that this discovery is part of ongoing archaeological efforts in the Chesapeake Bay region, a historically significant area where English colonists established their first permanent settlement in North America over 400 years ago.