Archaeologists had already found ceramic pieces
The paper map stored at the British Museum in London hung in a frame for decades until researchers realized that a small patch placed at the west end of the Albemarle Sound covered an important landmark. Archaeologists had already found ceramic pieces from the 16th century in that area.But what happened to the first settlers remains a puzzle because they disappeared.
In 2012, the First Colony Foundation - a Durham nonprofit dedicated to researching the original colonists - requested that the museum reveal what was under the patch. Placing the map on a light table and exposing it to infrared light revealed a fort symbol where archaeologists had excavated between the mouths of the Chowan and Roanoke rivers.
"We've always focused on the beach," said Clay Swindell, collections specialist at the Museum of the Albemarle who is with the First Colony Foundation. "No one ever focused on what might be hidden inland."
Finding the symbol on the map vaulted the importance of the ceramic artifacts found at the site, said Phil Evans, president of the First Colony Foundation's Board of Directors.
"It is very interesting and very valuable," Evans said. "It gives us a new place where the Raleigh colonists were."
Sir Walter Raleigh paid for and organized three expeditions in the 1580s to what is now the Outer Banks.