Bartholomew Gosnold - Possible Discovery of Gosnold's Grave

Possible Discovery of Gosnold's Grave

In 2003 Preservation Virginia announced that its archaeological dig at Jamestown had discovered the likely position of Gosnold's grave. The skeletal remains of what they believe to be Gosnold were exhumed and are on public display in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C.

Preservation Virginia began genetic fingerprinting, hoping to verify Gosnold's identity in time for the Jamestown quadricentennial. By June 2005 researchers and The Discovery Channel sought permission to take DNA samples from the remains of his sister, Elizabeth Tilney, located in the Church of All Saints, Shelley, near Hadleigh, and they were granted the first faculty for such purposes from the English diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Although they removed bone fragments from the church, they had difficulty in identifying the correct remains, and they were not able to conclude anything from their analysis. In November 2005 Preservation Virginia announced that, while they remained confident Tilney's remains were somewhere beneath the church floor, the tests they performed had not confirmed the link. The DNA analysis was conducted by the Smithsonian Institution.