'Haphazard' burial of 400-year-old skeleton points to tragic fate of 'indentured' teenager

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Home > Archaeology

'Haphazard' burial of 400-year-old skeleton from Colonial Maryland points to tragic fate of 'indentured' teenager

By Jennifer Nalewicki published 2 days ago

Researchers in Maryland discovered the grave of a teenager who may have been one of the first European colonists to come to the New World.



Katie Davis, an archaeological technician (left) and Jessica Edwards (right) onsite at Historic St. Mary's City. (Image credit: Historic St. Mary's City)

Archaeologists in Maryland have unearthed the skeleton of a teenage boy who may have been an early colonist who voyaged to the New World around 400 years ago. ... However, it appears that the boy didn't get a typical burial. When the researchers took a closer look at the skeletal remains of the adolescent, who was of European heritage and likely died between 14 and 16 years of age, they noticed certain physical characteristics that didn't align with regular burial practices, particularly with how the body was positioned, according to the researchers.

They found his body buried in a meadow located at Historic St. Mary's City(opens in new tab), an archaeological site and museum located southeast of Washington, D.C. that once served as Maryland's original colonial capital.

"We were intrigued to find a burial that looked like the individual was placed there haphazardly, with his hips cocked out to one side and his arm stretched across his body in an extreme fashion," Travis Parno(opens in new tab), acting executive director of Historic St. Mary's City, told Live Science. "It looked like he was unceremoniously placed or dumped in the grave."

The boy's right leg was broken in two places and his legs were situated in such a way to suggest that he was never tightly wrapped in a burial shroud, which was a typical burial practice at the time.

{snip}

[Ilsa]

1. Such a horrible thing. I'm surprised he was

still indentured at 16. Didn't they usually have a time limit or contract for when they could be free?

[Dale in Laurel MD]

2. Yes, usually (not always) 5 years.

But he wouldn't have been indentured from birth. His indenture might have been signed when he was 15, after which he journeyed to Maryland and died at 16.

Since the holder of the indenture (effectively the servant's owner) was obligated to release the servant at the end of the indenture period,and provide him* with tools, seeds, and whatever else he would need to strike out his own, an alarming number of servants died suddenly at about four years and eleven months into their term of service.

* The overwhelming majority of indentured servants were male, which created lots of other problems.