An Englishman named Sir George Yeardley was likely the first person in the USA to be memorialized with a tombstone, say the authors of a new study. In addition to identifying the long-dead owner of the ancient grave marker, the researchers also reveal that the monument was quarried and cut in Europe before being shipped to the iconic settlement of Jamestown.

Located in eastern Virginia, Jamestown was founded in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in North America. Twenty years later, the town’s first tombstone was erected in the local church, although exactly who was buried beneath it has until now remained a mystery.

Made of polished black limestone, the marker was rediscovered in 1901 and is referred to as the black “marble” knight’s tombstone by the researchers. 

Explaining the artifact’s historical significance in a statement, study author Markus M. Key said that “Native Americans undoubtedly had earlier grave markers (perhaps made of wood that did not survive), but they were not made of carved stone. Nor did the English settlers have the technology and skills to cut and engrave tombstones.” Thus, the knight’s tombstone is likely to be the first ever to be placed on North American soil.

The stone features a number of carved depressions that probably once contained brass inlays, although the researchers suspect these may have been destroyed during Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, when settlers rose up against the governor of Virginia for refusing to eliminate all local Native Americans. One of these depressions has the form of a man carrying what appears to be a sword and shield, thus leading to the assumption that the grave belonged to a knight.

Unable to obtain any DNA from the tomb’s inhabitant, the study authors searched the historical records for knighted Englishmen who died in Jamestown at the appropriate time. This led them to Sir George Yeardley, who first arrived in Jamestown in 1610 after becoming shipwrecked in Bermuda, before eventually dying at the settlement in 1627. 

With that mystery solved, the researchers then sought to determine the origin of the stone itself, given that black limestone of this type is not to be found anywhere near Jamestown. To do so, they studied the microfossils within the rock, identifying six species of amoeboid protists called foraminiferans that once lived in Europe but are mostly completely absent from the American fossil record.

The researchers therefore determine that the rock itself “is most likely 340 – 336 million years old and from Europe, probably Ireland or Belgium.” Noting that Belgium has been the most popular source of black limestone since Roman times, the researchers conclude that the tombstone was almost certainly sourced from there.

As to why Yeardley’s relatives would have gone to such trouble to honor him, the authors explain that during the 17th century, “black 'marble' was in vogue among the English who were wealthy enough to afford it to commemorate their dead.” Moreover, they say that “the jet-black Belgian 'marbles' were the most in demand and expensive.”

Yeardley therefore probably requested such a tombstone in order to show off his wealth and replicate the funerary fashion of England.

"Little did we realize that colonists were ordering black marble tombstones from Belgium like we order items from Amazon, just a lot slower," said Key, underscoring his surprise at these findings.

The study is published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.