Alexander Selkirk - Archaeological Findings

Archaeological Findings

An archaeological expedition to Robinson Crusoe Island in February 2005 found part of a nautical instrument that could have belonged to Selkirk. The object was "a fragment of copper alloy identified as being from a pair of navigational dividers" dating from the early eighteenth (or late seventeenth) century. Selkirk is the only person known to have been on the island at that time who is likely to have had dividers, and indeed, who was said to have had such instruments in his possession while abiding there. The archaeologists also located the campsite where the famous castaway may have lived.