A Black woman dubbed "Ancient Jane" was discovered 11 years ago during a construction dig. Now, the woman from the 19th century has been reburied in her hometown.
According to The Roanoke Times, a construction crew working on a new Rockbridge County Courthouse in 2008 found the 19th-century woman. The Jane Doe was not in a coffin. Her remains were left uncovered and exposed to the natural elements. "Ancient Jane" was put to rest in a small, intimate ceremony May 19 in Lexington, Virginia.
Workers on the site turned the remains over to local anthropologists from Radford University.
Anthropologists Cliff and Donna Boyd determined from an investigation that only 75% of her bones were recovered. They also believe the woman was between the ages of 19 and 23 when she died.
"Ancient Jane" was housed at the physical anthropology lab for a decade before local officials in Lexington volunteered to rebury her.
“This discovery may not have been a war hero, but we know she was certainly someone’s child,” City Councilwoman Marilyn Alexander told The Roanoke Times. “She was certainly someone’s hero.”
The Times reports Washington and Lee University Professor Ted DeLaney, Alexander and DeLaney's colleague Alison Bell organized the home-going.
“Her skeletal remains reveal very little about her and invite us to imagine the circumstances of her life,” DeLaney said. “As a historian, I feel very uncomfortable imagining too much about this woman, because imagination leads to fiction.”
No one knows how she died. After further investigation, no one was able to find living relatives nor her birthdat. All experts knew was when she died.
To pay tribute to her life, organizers sang "Amazing Grace," a preacher led the group of organizers in the Lord’s Prayer and laid her in a simple coffin. Bell placed a 2019 penny on the coffin to help future generations know when she was buried.
"Ancient Jane"'s headstone read: "Unknown African American woman, died ca. 1800’s.” Her final resting spot is located at the Evergreen Cemetery in Lexington.
