28. Jane of Jamestown Was The Victim of Hungry Cannibals
Living as a colonist wasn’t always easy, because these people were left to completely fend for themselves in the wilderness. During the winter of 1609 to 1610, settlers in Jamestown, Virginia experienced what was known as “The Starving Time”. As a result, many of the original settlers eventually turned to cannibalism in order to survive. The remains of an unidentified teenager were found brutally dismembered and buried in the basement of one of the Jamestown Fort. Because of her unmarked grave, she is a Jane Doe. From her remains, archeologists could tell that she was eaten. Instead of giving her a respectful burial, her bones were tossed into the dirt of the cellar among the bones of dead dogs, horses, and other animals. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation worked together with the Smithsonian Institute to piece together her remains and recreate what she would have looked like when she was alive.