The Dare Stones and America’s oldest mystery

In 1937, a man claimed to have discovered a rock in eastern North Carolina with a 400-year-old message carved into it from survivors of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. The announcement created an international media circus. And it led to one of the biggest archeological scandals in American history, one that would forever tarnish the artifact’s reputation. But was the Dare Stone authentic?

Featuring:

• David La Vere, history professor at UNC-Wilmington and author of “The Lost Rocks: The Dare Stones and the Unsolved Mystery of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony”
• Bill Miller, geologist and professor emeritus at UNC-Asheville

Links:

• The 1937 Chowan River “Dare Stone”: A Re-Evaluation by David La Vere
• Double Deception: The 1937 Hoaxes of the Chowan River Stone and the Drake Plate of Brass, by Melissa Darby

Cover image: The front of the first Dare Stone, aka the Chowan River stone, courtesy of Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia

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