Revealing Jamestown [Virginia, USA] Settlers' Sketches of The New World

[Thorum]

"Technicians at (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/jamestown-slate.html) NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., just finished inspecting a 400-year-old slate tablet recently recovered from an early 17th century well at Historic Jamestowne, the 1607 site of the first permanent English settlement in North America."

:thumbs up

[Osweo]

I downloaded the pick, to have a better look. What is the text? 'Gammon of the finest sorte'?!? :P

[Thorum]

I downloaded the pick, to have a better look. What is the text? 'Gammon of the finest sorte'?!? :P

I think you are close. I can't quite make it out. There is script an inch or so from the bottom too but that is really unintelligible...

I like the picture of the person (horizontal). Almost looks like jester clothes...:confused:

[Thorum]

I found more on National Geographic's (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/090608-jamestown-slate.html)website.

"The scratched and worn 5-by-8-inch (13-by-20-centimeter) tablet is inscribed with the words 'A MINON OF THE FINEST SORTE.' Above the words are the letters and numbers 'EL NEV FSH HTLBMS 508,' interspersed with symbols that have yet to be interpreted."

[Thorum]

"According to Straube, 'minon' is a 17th-century variation of the word 'minion' and has numerous meanings, including 'servant,' 'follower,' 'comrade,' 'companion,' 'favorite,' or someone dependent on a patron's favor. A minion is also a type of cannon—and archaeologists have found shot at the James Fort site that's the right size for a minion."

From National Geographic.