All language subtitles for In.Search.Of.S02E03.The.Lost.Colony.of.Roanoke.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

Quinto: It is one
of the greatest mysteries

in all of American history.

Today, the Outer Banks
of North Carolina

are an inviting
tourist destination,

but, 400 years ago,
they were quite the opposite.

In 1587, over 100 colonists
attempted to build

the first permanent English
settlement in North America

on the eight-mile-long
Roanoke Island.

But, just three years later,

they had all vanished
without a trace.

To this day,
no one knows what happened.

Tonight, we head
straight to the source

and hunt for clues
where the colony once stood.

We'll reveal a hidden map

and a secret message
the lost settlers left behind...

allowing us to track
their possible escape route.

And we'll conduct
brand-new DNA testing

that may determine
once and for all

if there were any survivors...

as we go in search
of the lost colony of Roanoke.

From an early age,
we've all been told

about the Pilgrims
landing on Plymouth Rock

and the Jamestown settlement
in Virginia,

two of America's
most famous founding colonies.

But what do you know
about the one that came before?

Chances are not much.

In fact,
there's very little known

about that first settlement.

That's why they call it
the lost colony of Roanoke.

In 1587, famed English
politician Sir Walter Raleigh

sponsored an expedition
to the New World.

Onboard,
approximately 116 colonists,

men, women, and children,

led by Governor John White.

They arrived here,
Roanoke Island,

off the coast
of present-day North Carolina,

where they built a small town

full of carefully
constructed houses.

Soon after, Governor White

returned to England
for supplies,

leaving behind
his friends and family.

When he returned
just three years later,

everyone was gone,

and the houses
were completely dismantled.

The mystery
of what happened to them

has remained unsolved
for over 400 years,

but, as we're about to find out,

that's just one
of many mysteries

surrounding this incredible,
doomed colony.

Author Andy Gabriel-Powell
has spent over a decade

researching
the lost colony of Roanoke.

Today, he's taking us

to the northern end
of Roanoke Island,

the place where it
all started in 1587

at the end of an incredible
4,000-mile journey.

This is a ship that is typical

of what the lost colonists
would have sailed on.

It's a 50-ton bark.

It's one of the Queen's ships.

We can tell because of the flag
on the stern here.

Quinto: Desperate for a better
life than they had in England,

the Roanoke colonists spent
76 days crossing the Atlantic,

stuck below decks
for most of the trip.

But the voyage
wasn't entirely uneventful.

There was one moment of intrigue
along the way,

the first
of many mysteries to come.

Now, rather intriguingly,

they were supposed to be
going to Chesapeake Bay,

but Simon Fernando, the pilot,

claimed that he'd
run out of time,

and he essentially
marooned them here on Roanoke

rather than take them
to Chesapeake Bay.

Quinto: In other words,
the colonists never intended

to be on Roanoke
in the first place,

and, according to Andy,

this means they were doomed
from the start.

If the colony had made it
to Chesapeake Bay,

I think there's every prospect
they would have survived.

There would have been
a resupply voyage in 1588.

The Indians were
considerably more friendly.

There was far more
natural resources available.

Quinto: But, instead,
they were stranded on Roanoke.

The colonists had no choice
but to try and make things work.

From here,
the next mystery unfolds.

The precise site
of the Roanoke colony

has never been identified,

but, according
to Park Ranger Josh Nelson,

it must be nearby.

When the colonists
arrived in 1587,

they're setting foot
onto Roanoke Island,

and they're
seeing much as we do today.

It's forested.
It's fairly dense woods.

They describe it as being on
the north end of Roanoke Island,

probably close
to where we stand today.

Quinto: There is
only one surviving account

of the colony's location,
Governor John White's diary.

He says they built their houses
on a hilled embankment,

surrounding them with a wooden
palisade for protection.

Is it possible that this

is where they started
their new lives?

One new life started
almost immediately,

courtesy of John White's
pregnant daughter, Eleanor.

They're one
of the more prominent families

to travel on this expedition,

and when they arrive
on Roanoke Island,

they go down in history as, uh,
having the first English child

born in North America,

uh, and that child's name
is Virginia Dare.

Quinto: But the happy times
wouldn't last long.

While the colony's first summer
was fairly successful,

they soon realized
that they were ill-equipped

to continue
to survive on Roanoke.

This group
would need more people,

and they felt like
they needed more supplies

to be able to make this
a lasting colony.

Originally
somebody else was going,

and the--the whole colony
steps forward and says,

"No, John, you--you need
to leave yourself."

Quinto: In August of 1587,
John White sailed for England,

leaving the colonists
without an experienced leader.

He hoped to be back
in just a few months,

but, once again,
the odds would stack

even higher
against the colonists.

Just before his arrival,
Queen Elizabeth I has commanded

that all ships
are to remain in English ports.

She's feeling the threat of
Spanish invasion at that point.

And what that does is it
basically traps John White,

and it takes three years
before he can finally come over

and try to locate this group
of people that he left behind.

Quinto: And now we've reached
the biggest mystery of all.

In 1590, John White describes
coming back to Roanoke Island.

It's been three years
since leaving the colony.

He steps foot onshore.

He talks about walking
up a sandy embankment,

something like this right here.

He walks up to the top,
and he describes seeing a tree

that the bark
has been peeled off of,

and the letters C-R-O
have been carved upon it.

According to his journals,

White continues on
to the settlement,

and, there,
he finds nothing at all.

His daughter and granddaughter
are missing.

In fact, there are no people
and no houses.

What remains is the wooden
palisade that they built

and of course the C-R-O carving
that was found.

What could this cryptic message
possibly mean?

For John White at the time,

he--he is pretty clear
in his journal

that he knows
where that's pointing him to.

White believed the carving

referred to an island
to the south called Croatoan,

inhabited by a Native American
tribe of the same name.

Were the colonists attacked
by the Croatoan tribe?

John White
was desperate to find out.

But in one final,
cruel twist of fate,

White's hopes of finding them
were forever dashed.

The problem is, when he
goes back to the vessel,

bad weather is coming up.

Winds continue to push them

farther and farther
away from Roanoke.

Eventually it's
too late in the year.

They are too far away
to be able to return.

And so, that's the--the only
opportunity that John White had

to try to locate
not only his colony,

but also his family
that had been left behind.

Quinto: But what seems
like the end of the story

is really just the beginning.

While each mystery may be
unsolvable individually,

they all boil down
to the same question,

where did
the lost colonists end up?

For over 400 years, historians
have tried to find the answer

with precious few results.

But, as we're about to find out,

that might all
be about to change,

thanks to a shocking new theory

that could finally lead us
in the right direction.

It turns out we may have
been looking for the lost colony

in the wrong place
this whole time.

Quinto: What happened to the
lost colony of Roanoke in 1590?

Three years prior,
the colonists seemed

off to a good start
in their new home,

but when their governor returned

from a resupply mission
to England, everyone was gone.

But what if they left behind
more clues than we realized?

In fact,
what if we've been looking

in the wrong place
this whole time?

Anne Poole runs
an archaeological

and historical society

called the Lost Colony
Research Group,

and she thinks the settlers
may have built their home

in an entirely different area.

I've been searching
for the lost colony

ever since I was 10 years old,
and I'm going on 72 now.

According to Anne, in 1587,

the shoreline on Roanoke Island
was quite different.

It may have extended
over half a mile farther east,

but 400 years of erosion
have washed it away.

And, if that's the case,
experts may have

the location of the original
settlement all wrong.

Today, Anne and her team
hope to prove this theory

by conducting
a systematic underwater dig.

What we're doing
is we've got screens

that we sift the--the sand in,
and we got shovels.

We can just bring up
a scoop of sand

and put it on the screen
and sift it

and see what's left.

Quinto: But why are
they digging here,

as opposed to some other part
of the shore?

As we've already seen,
the journal of John White

describes the colony being built
on a hilled embankment.

But he also mentions
one other key detail.

The site had a large growth
of scuppernong grape vines.

There is one part of the island
with grapevines that old,

but it sits three miles away

from the currently accepted
location of the colony.

A lot of
the geographical features here

actually match what John White
wrote about in 1590.

He said that,
when they rode over here

to try to find the colony,
that it was high, sandy banks,

which all this
would have been then.

Quinto: Could this actually be

where the Roanoke colony
was built?

There's only one way
to find out.

Unfortunately, it comes
with many challenges.

As opposed to
an archaeological dig on land,

there's almost
no visibility underwater,

so the team must blindly
keep track of their search area

as they bring up
one shovel of earth at a time.

I'm hoping to find
there's a little ring

that says on there
"Virginia Dare."

You never know.

It could--It could be
in this next bucketful.

Here it comes!

I like doing this
because of the adventure of it,

not knowing
what you're gonna bring up

from one shovel to the next.

You know, are we
gonna solve the mystery?

Quinto: To search
the deeper areas,

Anne has also brought in

professional divers
Duncan Pinnock and Randy Glaze.

We typically do a lot
of diving in black-water rivers,

looking for artifacts
and fossils.

Today we brought scooters
to try to clear sand,

which is what we typically
would do in rivers.

Quinto: They're also armed with
an underwater metal detector

and high-powered lights

to cut through
the sound's murky water.

There's rumor of cannon,

potentially,
with the lost colony.

That would be
exceptionally cool.

Quinto: As the divers head out,

the shallow-water team finds
their first artifact of the day.

I found an old piece
of pottery.

Quinto: And this piece
isn't the only one.

Before long,
they start to unearth

several more objects
from the past.

But unfortunately,

these pieces are from
the 17th and 18th centuries.

There's absolutely stuff
under there from the 1500s.

It's finding it,
is the problem, with--

You've probably got
5 to 10 feet of sand above it.

If there's stuff out there,

it's very well buried
under all the sand.

There's 500 years
of sand here.

Quinto:
The methodical work continues.

If this site holds proof of
the original Roanoke settlement,

it could potentially take years,
or even decades, to find it.

Hey, I found
a piece of pottery!

Quinto: It may
not look like much,

but Robbie might have just made
an incredible discovery.

This shard is unlike
any of the others found today.

It's made
from a different ceramic,

and it's much, much older.

Any of the pieces that are--

that are the old jugs
and containers,

you look at the ones
that have been found,

and you can tell by the style
and what it's made of.

Quinto: According to Anne,
this piece is part

of a 16th-century jug
of the exact style

and time period
of the Roanoke colony.

It could be the proverbial
needle in the haystack

that proves the lost colony
was right here.

Definitely a possibility that
they--they could have been here.

If the Lost Colony
Research Group is correct,

then they may have given us

a key breakthrough
in our search.

As opposed
to the original location,

thought to be here,

could this instead
be the site of the colony?

If so, it has
serious implications

for what happened during their
final days on Roanoke Island.

They carved
the letters C-R-O into a tree

in this location,
three miles away.

Therefore, they wouldn't
have still been at home

when the carving was made.

They would have been
on the move, headed north.

For the first time,
we may have new clues

about which direction
the colonists went

when they left
their settlement...

from here to here,

and, if we follow that path,

it leads here,
into the Albemarle Sound.

So where did they go next?

As we're about to find out,

the answer could have
been hiding under our noses

this whole time,

thanks to a hidden map

that new technology
has finally allowed us to see.

Quinto: The question
of what happened

to the lost colony of Roanoke

is among the most enduring
mysteries in the United States.

But we now have a new theory,

that the colonists
headed northwest from Roanoke

into the Albemarle Sound.

Where did they go from there?

We may already have the answer,

thanks to a hidden map that has
only recently been revealed.

In 2012, historians
uncovered a shocking new clue

in the hunt
for the lost colony of Roanoke.

They examined something
called the Virginea Pars Map.

It was painted by Roanoke's
governor, John White.

The map reveals useful routes

for navigating the rough waters
of the Atlantic,

as well as many
Native American villages.

But, in 2012,
it revealed quite a bit more.

The British Museum
discovered two small patches

where extra paper had been
applied over top of the map.

New technology
allowed scientists

to see beneath these patches
without disturbing them,

and there they made
an incredible find.

Governor White
had painted a fort here,

along the coast
of the Albemarle Sound,

and then covered it up.

What could this possibly mean?

Could this secret fort,

purposely covered up
in John White's map,

represent a new home

for the relocated colonists
of Roanoke?

Archaeologists
have named the fort Site X,

and it's here
that the mystery deepens.

We're on our way to Site X.

It's a little way
up the Albemarle Sound,

and it's a possible location

for some of the lost colonists
to have settled after 1587.

Quinto: Looking at the map,

it's easy to see
how the colonists

could have navigated
up through the sound.

This is
an incredibly detailed map.

It measures
about 18 by 9 inches.

It's quite small,

but, even today,
it's still recognizable.

You can still see
the Outer Banks region,

the Roanoke Island,
Lake Mattamuskeet

It's incredibly detailed.

It's a beautiful,
beautiful map.

Quinto: It begs the question,
how could Governor White

have known this much about
the area in such a short time,

and how would he have been aware
of a fort over 50 miles away?

As it turns out,

1587 wasn't the first time
John White visited the area.

He had been here
two years before

as part of an expedition
led by Sir Ralph Lane,

who established a fort
in Albemarle Sound.

But this early visit
to the New World

quickly took a turn
for the worse when the English

accused the natives
of stealing from them.

As retribution,
Ralph Lane burned their village,

killing several tribe members.

Soon those tensions
led the English

to abandon the fort
and return home.

Lane's fort was here,

in the exact spot that
was marked on John White's map.

The question is, if John White

and the rest of the Roanoke
colonists knew about the fort,

could this be where they went

after abandoning
their own colony?

We are now in the area
known as Site X.

This is being explored, and
some archeological excavations

have taken place here with
the First Colony Foundation.

Many people believe

that some of the colonists
would have settled here.

It is the location
that is hidden on the map

by a little piece of paper.

Quinto: Excavations in this area
have turned up signs of life,

including a mix of pottery,

some from the local tribes and
some from a lot farther away.

They've uncovered
some Border ware,

quite a few fragments
of Border ware,

and three pieces
of North Devon baluster ware,

which is very typical

of the sort of storage jars
of the period.

Quinto: In other words,
pottery from England

has been discovered
on this site.

Could this have come
from the survivors

of the lost colony of Roanoke?

Researchers here
are convinced that it could,

but Andy isn't so sure.

The important thing
to understand about Border ware

was that it was prolific.

It was the pottery of choice
for London.

Essentially,
you could find this stuff

everywhere you go in London.

It was produced right
up until the mid-19th century.

Quinto: And there's
one more reason

the colonists might not have
relocated here, their safety.

The biggest flaw with the idea

of the colonists
relocating to the area

is the existence of the Mangoaks
and the Chowanists,

who Ralph Lane records
fighting with back in 1585.

Quinto: John White knew

that the natives here
were hostile.

Ralph Lane's expedition barely
managed to escape their wrath.

So the question is,
were the Roanoke colonists

desperate enough to enter
this dangerous territory,

or did they
eventually change course

and head somewhere else?

That's almost certainly why
the decision was made to move,

to be with more friendly
Native American Indians.

But what is absolutely certain
is that the lost colonists

needed the help of the Native
American Indians to survive.

Quinto:
Did the natives at Site X

suddenly have a change of heart

and become friendly
toward the colonists,

or was it a different friendly
tribe that took them in?

Imagine you leave
your hometown.

Maybe you're going
off to college

or a tour of duty
in the military.

Three years later,
you come back,

and your town is gone.

What would you do?

Where would you start looking?

This is exactly what happened
to Governor John White

when he returned to Roanoke
Island on August 18, 1590.

His daughter, his granddaughter,
dozens of dear friends,

the entire colony he had
worked so hard to establish

all vanished.

That day, he searched the island

and found the letters C-R-O
carved into a tree.

Some of White's men
assumed the colonists

had been attacked and killed
by the Croatoan tribe,

but the governor
had a different idea.

He thought the colonists went
peacefully to join the Croatoan

at their home
on Hatteras Island.

Unfortunately, he was never
able to find out the truth.

Governor White attempted
to sail south to Hatteras,

but severe storms
kept pushing his ships

in the opposite direction.

Eventually, the crew was forced
to return to England.

But was White's theory correct?

Is it possible
that the colonists

successfully relocated
to Hatteras Island?

So far, we've tracked
the colonists from here,

where they may
have originated, to here,

where they carved their
cryptic message into a tree.

From this point,
they had only two options,

continue straight
up the Albemarle Sound

into hostile territory

or turn left and sail south
towards Hatteras.

It's a journey that historian
Scott Dawson is taking today,

because he believes
he has absolute proof

that the colonists did
indeed join the Croatoan tribe.

We are now embarking
on the same path

that the lost colony took
to go from Roanoke Island

to Croatoan,
which is now called Hatteras.

Quinto: Scott believes
this would have been

their best chance of survival,

because there were no friendly
tribes left on the mainland.

The colony came to Croatoan,

pretty simple reasons--

everybody else
wanted to kill them.

They had nowhere else to go.

Quinto: Today
Scott is taking us

to the site
of a Croatoan village,

where he claims he's found
a great deal of evidence

that this is where
the colonists ended up.

We're on our way
to one of the main dig sites.

This is a real cornucopia
of artifacts from the colonists.

It's the closest thing
to time travel you'll ever do.

Quinto: Scott is convinced
that the Roanoke colonists

lived with the Hatteras natives

on the remote
northern edge of the island.

Scott and
archeologist Mark Horton

have conducted yearly digs here
for the past decade.

After each dig,

they must re-cover the site
for protection,

but, without fail,
every time they come back,

they find more and more evidence

that the Roanoke colonists
may have ended up on Hatteras.

So this right here,
this clearing,

is where some of your colonists

ended up living
with the Croatoan Indians.

We found
right where I'm standing

a giant longhouse
with fire pits in it,

and you've got
a mixture of European

and Croatoan artifacts
throughout.

Some of the European artifacts

that we've found, uh,
from the 16th century--

we've got a sword,
we've got a gun.

Quinto: They also discovered

16th century German stoneware,
a copper ring,

and a 16th century coin
called a Nuremberg token.

The natives here
didn't have glass.

They didn't have iron.

They--They didn't have guns.
They didn't have swords.

Like, these are
all European items.

Quinto: With 10 years
of evidence to back him up,

Scott is convinced
that this is the exact place

the lost colony
fled to for safety.

Even though the dig site

is currently covered up
for the summer,

there is still one area
where artifacts can be found.

Ten yards south of the dig site

lies a large pile of discarded
shells and other materials--

the remnants
of a centuries-old trash heap.

While 400 years ago, it may have
been considered garbage,

today it could hold
significant value.

Sometimes
we will go back through

a, uh, spoil heap like this,

'cause there are artifacts
that get missed,

but, uh, you just
kind of rake through

and give it a once-over,
and there--

Yep. This is
actually a good piece.

This is the lip of a bowl,
and you can see--

you can tell that, 'cause they
put these markings by the lips.

Through here.

Here's--Here's another piece.

This is part of the body.

Quinto: The fertile trash heap
also turns up a few other items,

including a nail similar to what
the colonists would have used,

and that's not all.

Oh, here we go.

Quinto: Buried deeper, Scott has
found a small piece of copper

that could potentially be
European in origin.

He decides to take it in
for chemical analysis.

If we can drill into it

and take out some of the inner
shavings to test in the lab,

we will be able to tell if it
is in fact made by Croatoan

or if it came over
with the colony.

Quinto: For 400 years,

historians have had
very few clues that they

know for certain the Roanoke
colonists left behind.

But, over the past decade,

historian Scott Dawson thinks

he has unearthed
much more potential evidence

on Hatteras Island,
50 miles away.

He believes
the colony relocated here

to live peacefully
with the Croatoan tribe.

Today he's testing

a newly found piece of copper
from Hatteras to see if it

could have been left behind
by the lost colonists.

This, if we can prove
that it came from England

and we know how it got here,

'cause it is
from the 16th century,

it's at that level,

but the Indians did
have some copper of their own.

You can actually drill into this

and find out if it came
from North Carolina

or if it came from England.

Quinto:
The testing process begins

by drilling to the center
of the artifact

to pull a metal sample
that hasn't been tainted

by the outside environment.

If the artifact
is from the Croatoan tribe,

it will be pure copper
panned from the nearby rivers.

But, if it might be
from the Roanoke colony,

it will contain traces
of arsenic,

which was used in England
to refine the metal.

Scott is already convinced

that the lost colony
ended up on Hatteras.

This test could
further confirm his belief.

If we test this copper

and discover that it's European,
it's definitely from the colony.

Very exciting news.

The results from the arsenic
and the isotopes

is it is in fact
from either England or Ireland.

This really reaffirms that it
is, in fact, from the colony.

The findings at Hatteras
could be the first actual proof

that the lost colony of Roanoke

managed to escape
their original settlement.

If they fled to Hatteras
or Site X or somewhere else,

there is only one mystery
left to solve.

Were the colonists killed,
or did any manage to survive?

In the early 1700s, John Lawson
was the first Englishman

to explore the Outer Banks
after the colony was lost.

He reported that many
of the natives on Hatteras

had European traits,
such as light-colored eyes.

Some wore English clothes
and spoke English words.

Today, there are still families
living in the area

with the same last names
as the original colonists,

including Dare,
Berrye, and Bishop.

Many claim
mixed Native American ancestry.

Does this prove that
the colonists indeed survived,

blending in
and starting families

with members
of the Croatoan tribe?

It's an interesting theory,

but of course there's
only one real way to find out.

Computer scientist Roberta Estes

is convinced that modern
DNA testing can determine

what happened
to the lost colony of Roanoke.

Her organization,
the Lost Colony DNA Project,

is searching
for definitive biological proof

that the colonists survived
after joining a tribe

and that their descendants
are still living in the area.

The thing
that brought me to this

was the science
and the puzzle,

being able to solve
the oldest mystery in America,

you know, the oldest
cold case in America.

What happened
to these 117 people,

and could we use
the science to unravel it?

We invited people from
North Carolina and that area

to come if they had
the surname of a colonist,

and a lot of people did,

and they thought they might be
descended from the colonists,

'cause a lot of people
have oral history about that.

Quinto: But is it
actually possible to prove

someone survived after more
than 400 years have gone by?

Roberta is convinced
the answer is yes,

by proving that they procreated.

If the colonists
did join the Croatoan tribe,

many would have taken
native wives

in order to continue
their family lines.

If that's the case,
Roberta believes

she can still identify
their offspring

through male
Y-chromosome DNA lines.

So the Y-DNA is inherited,
um, by sons from their father,

and it's not changed,

except for very rarely
there's a little mutation,

and those mutations are what
make it useful to genealogy,

because we compare
those mutations

to each other in that line,
and, if the mutations all match,

then we know that it's a--
from the same paternal ancestor,

and so we're looking
for matches.

Quinto: Recently Roberta
has received a DNA sample

from a North Carolina man
with the surname Browne,

which was shared
by two Roanoke colonists.

Today, she's ready
to test this sample,

with the help
of Dr. Connie Bormans

at the Family Tree
DNA Lab in Houston.

They're looking for evidence
that this man could be related

to lost colonists
William or Henry Browne.

This is the DNA extraction step.

What we're doing now

is we are removing
everything except the DNA.

Quinto:
Once the DNA is isolated,

Mr. Browne's genetic markers
will be compared

with a pool of potential English
and Native American ancestors

to determine his ethnic makeup,
also known as his haplogroup.

Is there a chance

he's directly descended
from a Roanoke colonist?

We're about to find out.

Quinto: Today, DNA scientists
are closer than ever

to proving
that the lost colony of Roanoke

may have actually survived.

If their theories are correct,

descendants of the colonists
must still exist,

likely with mixed Native
American and English ancestry,

which could potentially
be tracked and matched

back to the original colonist's
male DNA line.

They're currently testing

a North Carolina man
with the surname Browne,

looking for just the right mix
of genetic markers.

So now
Mr. Browne's results are back,

and I've taken a look
here a-at the computer

to see what it tells us.

And Mr. Browne is known to be
both Native and European.

That's his background,
his family history,

but the only part
that we're interested in

is his Y-DNA that he
inherited from his father,

who inherited it
from his father.

Quinto: The question is,

could Mr. Browne's line
of inherited DNA

lead all the way back

to Roanoke colonists
William or Henry Browne?

If so, then his Y-DNA
must bear European traits.

If instead,
it's Native American,

then he can't be a match.

This is the moment of truth.

Could today's Mr. Browne
possibly prove

that the lost colony survived?

First of all,
he does match other Browne men,

so that's good.
We know that he has

a common Browne ancestor
on his paternal line.

And I looked
into his haplogroup.

His haplogroup is his clan,

so that means that I can tell
whether he's Native American,

African, European,
or Asian at a quick glance,

and Mr. Browne is European.

So Mr. Browne
is a good candidate

to be one of our lost colonists.

Quinto: And Mr. Browne
is not alone.

Roberta believes
there could potentially be

thousands of
other descendants out there.

Someday she may even
be able to create

a complete list of precisely
which colonists survived.

For now, she's well on her way

to identifying at least
one potential survivor.

Today's Mr. Browne
shares a surname

with two of Roanoke's
original settlers,

he lives in the same area
the colony once stood,

and his genetic background
is just the right combination

of Native American and English.

Thanks to this test result,

Mr. Browne could be the link
that finally proves

that the lost colony
of Roanoke survived.

Roberta continues to press on,

finding more and more
potential matches,

hoping that each
will eventually connect

back to the original colonists'
lines in England.

It would be a defining moment
in our history,

um, and I think
that's one of the reasons

why so many people have tried,

but you can't do it
without the DNA.

This is the last step.

The DNA is not the first step.
It's the last step.

It's the confirming step
that we need.

And I would love
to be able to do that,

and, if I can't find it,
maybe somebody else can someday.

Our search
for the lost colony of Roanoke

has led to a number
of compelling possibilities.

We now have new theories
on the colonists' movements

and where they
might have ended up.

We also have evidence
that at least some of them

may have survived
and built families

whose descendants
still live in the area.

But there are still some
mysteries left to be solved.

What made the colonists leave
Roanoke in the first place?

Did they visit Site X or head
straight to Hatteras Island?

And, if they did
find safe harbor

with a friendly native tribe,

did they ever wonder
why no one came looking?

We will never know
their thoughts,

but we do know their names--

William and Henry Browne,

Morris Allen, Rose Payne,

Virginia Dare,

and over 100 others,

gone, but most certainly
not forgotten.

It's the oldest
missing persons case in America,

and yet today
there are more people

dedicated to solving it
than ever before.

Thanks to their efforts,

the lost colony of Roanoke might
not be lost for much longer.

The search continues.