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A 15th-century skeleton buried at the first European settlement in the Americas probably belonged to an unknown African woman, an analysis of her teeth suggests. The woman died in her mid-20s, within about five years of Christopher Columbus鈥檚 first voyage to the Americas, and decades before the start of the transatlantic slave trade.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 possible that she may have been the earliest known individual of African origin to participate in European efforts to establish a settlement in the Americas,鈥� says David Wheat at Michigan State University, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the analysis.

Columbus first reached the Americas in 1492. The following year, he journeyed there again from Spain in a bid to establish a permanent settlement, ultimately reaching what is now the Dominican Republic and building La Isabela, the first European town in the Americas.

Life in La Isabela was tough: during the four years the town was inhabited, the colonists experienced a high mortality rate because of disease and hunger. Many of them ended up in the settlement鈥檚 cemetery where, in the 1980s, archaeological investigations unearthed the remains of about 100 people.

Now, a team of archaeologists led by T. Douglas Price at the University of Wisconsin鈥揗adison has reanalysed some of the skeletons. They looked at the skeletons of 21 people and measured the proportion of different strontium isotopes in their tooth enamel, which is influenced by the geology of the region in which an individual grew up.

Unsurprisingly, 20 of the individuals had a strontium isotopic signature matching that seen in medieval skeletons unearthed in southern Spain. But the final person 鈥� a woman who was in her mid-20s when she died 鈥� had a distinctive signature. It was more typical of someone who had spent their formative years living in an area where the rocks date back to early Earth 鈥� such as in .

This isn鈥檛 the first time that archaeologists have speculated that some of the settlers at La Isabela were born in Africa. A decade ago, members of the same research team analysed mitochondrial DNA taken from some of the skeletons and found hints that two individuals had genetic markers similar to those seen in some people from sub-Saharan Africa. But the evidence was ambiguous, says team member Hannes Schroeder at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

鈥淚t鈥檚 proven really difficult to generate enough [genetic] data from these samples to say for certain that there were people of African descent among the people buried at La Isabela,鈥� he says.

The result is striking given that there is little written evidence that women or people from Africa were present on Columbus鈥檚 1493 voyage.

鈥淪o often, historical records leave out so many people, especially women and people of colour. This study does a really nice job of showing how archaeology can be used to give us a more full and complete picture of the past,鈥� says Kelly Knudson at Arizona State University.

William Keegan at the University of Florida thinks the idea is plausible too, although he cautions that the balance of strontium isotopes in an individual鈥檚 teeth may change if they spend several years in a new region. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also possible she was someone from Spain who lived in Africa for a period of time before going to the Americas,鈥� he says.

Assuming the young woman was originally from Africa, John Thornton at Boston University says she may have been from the historical region of Senegambia in western Africa. 鈥淭here was a slave trade out of Senegambia at the time that was pretty substantial, with most people going to Spain or the Canary Islands.鈥�

鈥淪he could have been a servant or slave, but she also could have been a free person of colour,鈥� says Wheat. 鈥淎nd if she was married or closely associated with an Iberian man or family, that relationship probably would have been more important in determining her social status and identity than her skin colour.鈥�