Historical evidence then pointed the study authors to a Belgian tombstone export business thriving at the time, where they theorize the tombstone began its journey. Burial within a church was typically saved for high-status individuals and clergy, and Yeardley was one of two knights to die while the Jamestown church was in use, according to Jamestown Rediscovery. Colonial period cemeteries have suffered neglect and vandalism, with the Knight’s Tombstone likely surviving for as long as it did because vegetation concealed it, she added. It seems to be pretty inherent there in nature, but most (colonists) didn’t have the resources to import a nice carved stone,” Key said. “There were a lot of people being buried in the church, but only one of them had a big old black (limestone) tombstone from Belgium.”

---

Persons: ”, Marcus Key, Joseph Priestley, Sir George Yeardley, England, Marcus, Mary Anna Hartley, Hartley, Yeardley, Weeks, —, ” Hartley, “, Queen Elizabeth II’s, King George VI, George’s, didn’t Organizations: CNN, Tombstone, International, Philosophy, Dickinson College, Key, Dickinson College Geosciences, General Assembly, First Peoples Locations: United States, Jamestown , Virginia, North America, Europe, Belgian, Carlisle , Pennsylvania, Belgium, London, Jamestown, Ireland, Virginia, England, Tombstone, America, British, St, Windsor