A Paleogenomic Investigation of Historical Human Skeletal Remains from Rapparee Cove, North Devon, UK

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1997, human bones were discovered ashore Rapparee Cove in North Devon, United Kingdom. Since then, much news coverage and public speculation has suggested that the remains belong either to French soldiers or enslaved African-descended rebels from St. Lucia who had drowned when the London had shipwrecked off the coast two centuries earlier in 1796. A decades-long international custody battle has ensued for their repatriation and reburial. We report the results of a genetic analysis of a sample of the remains. Results show mitochondrial haplotypes found predominantly in Europe. Population genetic analyses of nuclear genomes show that the individuals had unadmixed ancestry similar to local populations of Devon. These results suggest that the sampled individuals were of local descent, addressing the heated public debate. However, we note that the samples may not be representative of the numerous human remains that have been discovered or remain buried in the surrounding hillsides.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• 2024 SHA Poster Submissions

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Contact(s): Nicole Haddow