An ancient map from 400 years ... When he returned to Roanoke in 1590, he found the settlement abandoned. The only clue left by the settlers was the word "CROATOAN" carved on a wooden post ...

A fresh clue to the lost colonists’ fate emerged when curators backlit this 16th-century map ... Roanoke Island. Photograph by Stuart Conway WITH PERMISSION OF TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM ...