A copper necklace, uncovered in May 2008 by First Colony Foundation archaeologists workingunder an agreement with the National Park Service, will be placed on exhibition at the Lindsay Warren Visitor Center at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site near Manteo, North Carolina.
The archaeologists found the necklace lain just as it had been left there by someone in the 16th or 17th centuries. The 13 diamond-shaped plates are made of copper from continental Europe and were strung together on short, knotted cords, which have now rotted away. There is evidence that the necklace was contained in a leather pouch when it was hidden, lost, or discarded.
English explorers and colonists carried copper to trade with Indians in coastal North Carolina and Virginia. For these Indian groups the metal was highly prized and represented high status. This necklace may have belonged to a Roanoke Indian who had acquired it through trade.