What strikes me most about this discovery is not just the DNA evidence, but the burial itself — a shroud and a gable-lidded coffin following English customs. In a society where the legal distinction between indentured servitude and enslavement was still being codified in the late 17th century, how someone was buried often reflected their perceived social standing more than their legal status. This boy may have occupied an ambiguous space that the historical record — and even the law of the time — had not yet rigidly defined. The fact that ancient DNA is now helping fill those silences is remarkable. It's also a sobering reminder that behind every genome is a child whose name we still don't know.
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