When the settlers at Roanoke vanished in 1590, they left behind one piece of evidence: the word "Croatoan" carved into a ...

The fate of the settlers who founded the "Lost Colony of Roanoke" in what is now North Carolina remains unknown.

An illustration depicting John White and others finding a tree carved with the words “Croatoan” on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in 1590. Getty Images Their whereabouts baffled historians ...

As the men climbed a sandy bank, they encountered a tree with the carved letters ... Searchers found the word “CROATOAN” carved on a post—a possible clue to the colonists’ intended ...

Their whereabouts baffled historians for centuries until 2012 when experts with the British Museum analysed the 400-year-old “La Virginea Pars” map drawn by one of the colonists named John White, ...

John White depicted finding a tree carved with ‘Croatoan’. Picture: Stock Montage/Getty Images White subsequently returned to England on what was supposed to be a quick supply run but was ...

The map was drawn by cartographer and governor John White, who'd established the colony and later discovered their disappearance upon his return in 1590 - finding only the word 'CROATOAN' carved in a ...

All White found were the words “CRO” and “CROATOAN” carved into an entrance post ... the Tunguska event flattened over 80 million trees across 830 square miles. Taking place near Siberia in Russia, ...