# Yes; a permanent forge and English tools in a 16th-century layer show colonists living there.

> Still possible: Yes; a permanent forge and English tools in a 16th-century layer show colonists living there.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke/answers/ANS0CQCCE6M191M/yes-a-permanent-forge-and-english-tools-in-a-16th-century  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Lost Colony of Roanoke](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke)[Do the Hatteras Island excavations show that colonists lived at Croatoan?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke/questions/QST0CQCC7BW02SK/do-the-hatteras-island-excavations-show-that-colonists-lived)Answer

Answer · Lost Colony of Roanoke

# Yes; a permanent forge and English tools in a 16th-century layer show colonists living there.

Yes; a permanent forge and English tools in a 16th-century layer show colonists living there.

**Still possible** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** Its tests haven't settled it: two pieces of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Published radiocarbon dates on the forge layer falling in the late 16th century, with uncertainties that exclude the 17th.
- English domestic material in the same sealed layer.

## What would rule it out

- Dates on the forge layer in the 17th century, or a disturbed context.

## Evidence 2 for · none against

[Hammerscale and adjacent animal teeth said to date to the late 1500s.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke/evidence/EVD0CQCCEEE0QZG/hammerscale-and-adjacent-animal-teeth-said-to-date-to-the)

Speculative

FOR

[Horton reported an Elizabethan-type rapier hilt.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke/evidence/EVD0CQCCEP8142E/horton-reported-an-elizabethan-type-rapier-hilt)

Speculative

FOR

## The questions it answers

[Do the Hatteras Island excavations show that colonists lived at Croatoan?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke/questions/QST0CQCC7BW02SK/do-the-hatteras-island-excavations-show-that-colonists-lived)

Most likelyNo; the English objects are later trade goods or heirlooms reaching a Croatoan town

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Yes; a permanent forge and English tools in a 16th-century layer show colonists living there. [Answer ANS0CQCCE6M191M]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0CQCCE6M191M
```

Key

**ANS** 0CQCCE6M191M

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

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