aDNA Lab Virtual Tour

While the discovery of artifacts in graves (e.g., a captain’s staff, coffin nails, and a reliquary) provided considerable insight into the life and death of individuals buried at Jamestown, the DNA within their bones may tell a greater story. Earlier publications of Ancient DNA (aDNA) research have provided insight into individual identities¹, family relationships², an individual’s hair and eye color³, and the geographical location of ancestorial origin⁴.

Sharing and explaining recent findings is a major responsibility for archaeologists. In aDNA research, information such as the scope of a study, research methods, and potential findings need to be discussed with possible descendants to ensure that all involved agree when such studies are appropriate. At Jamestown Rediscovery this work is led by Michael Lavin (Director of Collections and Conservation) with assistance from Sean Romo (Director of Archaeology), and Emma Derry (Associate Curator). Jamestown Rediscovery is also fortunate to collaborate with several internationally recognized experts in the field including Professor Turi King (Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath), Professor Deborah Bolnick (University of Connecticut), Professor Raquel Fleskes (Dartmouth College), and FBI staff members.

To explain the process of preparing and analyzing aDNA samples, Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeologist Dr. Chuck Durfor prepared a virtual reality (VR) tour of Professor Bolnick’s aDNA laboratory at the University of Connecticut, where many of Jamestown’s studies are performed. Professor Fleskes narrates this 360-degree panoramic tour showing the processes of: 1) extracting aDNA from bone, 2) amplifying, and 3) labeling the aDNA molecules for subsequent analysis. The tour also contains two short videos that provide an overview of how aDNA studies can offer significant insight into those who perished on Jamestown Island.

We hope you enjoy this easy-to-navigate self-guided tour, which does not display human remains. The QR code and web address below will take you to this tour. So that we may improve this VR tour illustrating the methods used in this powerful scientific discipline, we hope you will share your comments and questions on topics like:

• How has this tour changed your understanding of aDNA research?
• What parts of the tour did you like?
• What parts of the tour need improvement?
• Were there parts of the tour that are unclear?

Please send any questions or comments to our team at adnalabtour@preservationvirginia.org.

¹ “Identification of the remains of King Richard III,” T.E. King et.al., Nature Communications, 5, 5631 (2014)

² “Historical and archaeogenomic identification of high-status Englishmen at Jamestown, Virginia,” D.W. Owsley et. al, Antiquity, 98, 1040-1-54 (2024)

³ “Genome-wide SNP typing of ancient DNA: Determination of hair and eye color of Bronze Age humans from their skeletal remains,” N. Schmidt et.al., American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 172, pp. 99-109 (2020)

⁴ J. Schabitsky, et. al., “Ancient DNA Analysis of a Nineteenth Century Tobacco Pipe from a Maryland Slave Quarter,” J. Archaeological Science, 105, 11-18 (2019)

https://historicjamestowne.org/uconn-adna-lab-tour

	Use the on-screen arrows or drag with your mouse/finger to rotate.
	Click on a flashing arrow to move to a different area.
	Click on the plus/minus icons to zoom in/out or pinch-to-zoom on touch-enabled devices.
	On wider screens a map of the aDNA Tour will be at the top-right of the display. You can click/touch one of the black dots on the map to drop into the tour at that specific point.
	Select a video projector icon to watch a film describing the methods of preparing aDNA samples prior to analysis. Once the video is complete, pressing the Esc button returns you to the web browser with a tab of the virtual tour.
	To get a closer look at certain items, select the photo icon.