Researchers: Roanoke Island trips cleared way for Jamestown

Three researchers say a lesser-known yearlong expedition to North Carolina in 1585 may have provided valuable lessons for the colonists who came to Jamestown, Virginia 22 years later.
They presented a paper about the so-called "Lost Colony" recently at the annual conference of the Society of Historical Archaeology in Williamsburg.

Phil Evans, president of the First Colony Foundation, says the 108 men who came to Roanoke Island, North Carolina in 1585 learned that American Indians in the area cherished copper.