In 1585, metallurgist Joachim Gans and scientist Thomas Hariot, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh as part of a larger expedition, built a workshop on this spot and used a hot furnace to test local minerals and plants as they sought to understand the new world where the English hoped to settle. Food shortages and conflicts with some native tribes caused the English settlers to abandon Roanoke Island after only eleven months, but the data gathered by the scientists provided valuable information on the surrounding land and native people when the English made another settlement attempt in 1587. The structure's historic use remained unknown after its first excavation in 1959 until 1991, when archeologists found artifacts including pieces of crucibles, furnace bricks, and smelted copper ore that revealed its function.