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? [music] ?

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KIDS: Our World!

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EVAN: Hey Globey, the early
explorers sure had a tremendous

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amount of courage. They use to
get on these small ships to

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explore “Our World” and they
really had no idea what they

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would find. Today, humans have
been all over the world.

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Many of us have traveled to
different cities, states...

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maybe even other countries.
But back in the 1600s

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that wasn’t the case at all.
People didn’t know what was

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over the horizon, and no one
traveled very far from home.

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Explorers had to be curious,
observant,

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determined, and willing to take
risks.

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They couldn’t be afraid to make
mistakes.

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Today, our explorers are just
as adventurous and courageous,

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especially the men and women
who explore outer space.

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When people talk about outer
space, their thoughts often go

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to NASA. And that makes perfect
sense.

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After all, NASA put an
astronaut on the Moon,

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and today they’re exploring
even further with robotic

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missions to explore the moons
of Jupiter, capture pieces of

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comets, and even make new
discoveries about our own Moon.

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But NASA also helps us explore
Earth. And sometimes,

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it even helps us uncover
mysteries from our past.

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Jamestown, Virginia was founded
on May 13, 1607.

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That’s more than 400 years ago!

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Jamestown is known as the first
permanent English-speaking

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settlement in the new world.
That’s the part of the world

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that is now the United States.

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Once the settlers arrived here,
they stayed... in spite of the

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many hardships. Talk about
courage and not being afraid!

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Did you know that during these
first few years at Jamestown,

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only 60 of the 500 settlers
survived?

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But new settlers kept coming to
the new world and in time,

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Jamestown became a thriving
community.

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I bet you’re wondering what
Jamestown has to do with NASA.

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Well, for the last several
years, the scientists at NASA

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Langley Research Center have
been helping archaeologists at

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Jamestown by scanning dozens of
historic artifacts for

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Preservation Virginia. This is
the organization

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behind the Jamestown
Rediscovery Project.

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BLYTHE STRAUB: When we started
in 1994, we had hoped that we

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might find some traces of James
Fort.

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The common idea was as the time
that the fort had washed away

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into the James River and no
longer existed.

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But we knew the 400th
anniversary was coming up of

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the founding in 2007, so we
wanted to look and see if we

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could find some traces of it
still on dry land.

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And, lo and behold, we found
the whole fort.

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Jamestown is important and
people should care about it

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because it is really the
birthplace of our nation;

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where we all began.

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That started in May of 1607
when 104 men and boys landed at

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Jamestown and established their
English colony.

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Which then grew, spread and
we’re all speaking English

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here today because of that
little colony

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that started back in 1607.

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EVAN: Archaeologists at
Jamestown discovered a piece of

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slate, which is a type of rock,
in a drinking well that dates

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back to around 1607 to 1611.

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This well was once in the
center of Jamestown Fort.

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When the settlers first
arrived, they built a triangle-

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shaped walled fort for their
protection before

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they even built shelters for
themselves.

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The slate that was found in the
well is covered with drawings

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of birds, flowers, a tree,
several sketches of people,

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as well as letters and numbers.

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BLYTHE: The slate finding was
really really exciting to us.

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Because it’s very rare that we
find something personal

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like that. Something that’s
actually been done by

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someone in the fort. You know,
they’re drawing or they’re

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writing, or their impressions.
And so we don’t know at this

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point if the animals are
depicting English birds or

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birds from the West Indies
which would be a part of their

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way to come to Jamestown.

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Or actually birds they saw at
Jamestown. So we’re still

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working on that. We do think
that one of the trees looks

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like a banana tree, which would
be West Indies.

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And then there’s some
individuals, some people.

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So people in early 17th century
clothing.

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So it does look like they’re
sort of passing the time by

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sketching down what they’re
seeing on their way to Virginia

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and maybe while they’re sitting
in Virginia.

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EVAN: The slate was also
covered with a thin layer of

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rust, so it was difficult for
archaeologists to clearly see

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the items carved into the
slate’s surface.

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That’s where NASA comes in.

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NASA is using a new piece of
X-ray technology called the X-

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TEX HMX-ST 225. Wow, that’s
tough to say.

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This new, powerful X-ray system
creates a three dimensional

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image of an object. This is
incredibly helpful to

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archaeologists because it
allows them to see a three

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dimensional view of historic
artifacts without having to

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take the artifacts apart and
permanently damage them.

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MICHAEL LAVAN: Jamestown
Rediscovery archeologists have

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been working with NASA on
non-destructive testing of

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artifacts. We’re trying to get
a sneak peak into the artifact

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so that our treatment methods
will not cause any damage.

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The images on the slate were
slightly obscured by a thin

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layer of rust on a very
important portion of the slate;

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of the actual writing. Before
we intervened at all on the

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slate, we wanted to make sure
that we would not be removing

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any of that original text.

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So we talked to NASA to tell us
what was underneath it.

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They did a wonderful job in
picking up that writing and

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when we did the cleaning, our
cleaning confirmed.

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There’s always the chance
information could be lost.

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And so by doing that test, no
information was lost.

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EVAN: Just think Globey, NASA
is helping archaeologists

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uncover the mysteries of
primary sources, like the slate

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artifact, so we can learn more
about our own history.

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Do you think the English
explorer who carved those

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images on the rock knew that
one day future scientists would

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be studying it? It’s incredible
to think that simple drawings

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could tell us so much about
what “Our World” was like

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400 years ago. Gee Globey, I
wonder what clues we’re going

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to leave behind for people in
the future to study?

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One thing for sure, we won’t be
drawing pictures on pieces of

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slate. But I wonder what future
archaeologists will think

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of my new video game?

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? [music] ?

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KIDS: Our World!

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[sfx]