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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian forensic anthropologist points out area of interest in a piece of bone to students.

Written in Bone

Explore forensic anthropology through a series of case studies, including colonial burials in Virginia and Maryland.

Written in Bone was a popular exhibit in the Museum for almost five years (February 7, 2009 to January 6, 2014); this website was developed originally to enhance the information available in the exhibit and continues as a freestanding entity now that the exhibit is closed. This site examines history through 17th-century bone biographies, including those of colonists teetering on the edge of survival at Jamestown, Virginia, Maryland colonists living in the wealthy and well-established settlement of St. Mary’s City, farmers located in Leavy Neck in Anne Arundel County, and African slaves and European immigrants living in other locations in the Chesapeake Bay area. Scientists affiliated with these projects worked with Smithsonian anthropologists in the development of the original exhibit and this website.

Sections

Images of full skeleton and bones of foot, hand, jaw, ear, and thigh
Skeleton Keys - Ways to examine bones, what bones can reveal
Man with barrel on his shoulder, woman lifting wooden pail, in front of small wooden house in the woods.
Unearthing the Chesapeake - Colonial risks revealed in bone
A skeleton in an opened grave with an arrow point in his leg
Forensic Case Files - Solving the mysteries of how people died
Foreground includes headshots of characters in the comic. Title (The Secret in the Cellar) and background info are included. A text version of the Comic is available.
Webcomic - "The Secret in the Cellar" - How the boy of Leavy Neck died
Amy Deming adding medium to basic skull
Forensic Anthropology - Science, history, analysis and even art

Acknowledgments

Information & Resources

Forensic Anthropology has literally uncovered previously unknown information about the first European settlers and Africans in Jamestown, Viriginia, Maryland's St. Mary's City, and other early colonial sites around the Chesapeake Bay. Gravesites and land nearby can tell us how they lived and died.