MANTEO - Amateur historian Scott Dawson thinks he has found what archaeologists and historians have sought for decades -- the site of an English fort on Roanoke Island linked to the legendary Lost Colony.

Dawson, a Civil War buff, said that documents written centuries apart led him to an overgrown tract where he believes explorer Ralph Lane established a settlement in 1585.

The site, on the northern end of the island about 200 miles east of Raleigh, is on National Park Service property but not within the Fort Raleigh Historic Site or the area targeted by dozens of searches.

He said he could not conclusively say that the findings, which he made public last month, confirm the site as Fort Raleigh, but he said clues from historical documents are credible.

"It's not like I was duck hunting and found it," he said. "The primary sources led me to that site."

Some archeologists and historians are skeptical about the discovery, saying it more likely contains Civil War remains.

Either way, it's significant.

"There's no question it's big news," park service historian Doug Stover said.

Dawson agrees that Confederate and Union troops left their marks on the site, but he contends that came later and on top of the 1585 remains. The 1585 fort, which was abandoned a year later, is not as popularly known as another ill-fated group that arrived in the same location in 1587 and became known as "The Lost Colony" after disappearing. Historians say the so-called first colony was important because it contributed to the success of Jamestown, established to the north in 1607.

Nicholas Luccketti, an archaeologist with the James River Institute for Archaeology in Williamsburg, Va., is one of the skeptics. He thinks the area Dawson has pinpointed was the site of a Civil War encampment and that freed slaves also lived there. He said earthworks built in the 16th century would likely have been leveled or eroded away.

"I would be pleasantly surprised and shocked if it has anything to do with the 16th century settlements," he said.

Still, the park service has placed security monitors around the site to deter intruders and is planning additional research in the next few weeks.

Stover said a park service archaeology team from Tallahassee, Fla., will examine the Roanoke Island site with underground scanning devices and will dig test pits. The team will look for post holes, musket balls and pieces of clay pots made by the English.

Dawson said evidence from the Civil War bolsters his contention that Civil War soldiers made camp at the same spot as their predecessors, he said. For instance, he scoured regimental histories and read first-person accounts of soldiers who referred to camping on the older fort. A letter from William Derby, a soldier in a Massachusetts unit mentioned that guards were posted to protect the original fort.

Confederate documents do not say where Confederates camped, he said, but references to a ravine where they discarded weapons and equipment helped identify geographical features mentioned in 16th-century documents. He found a ravine near a point of land described in earlier accounts. He also looked for sources of fresh water that would support settlements.

Dawson found mounds that appeared to be earthworks and discolorations in the sandy soil that appeared to be post holes. With park service permission, he scanned the area with a metal detector and picked up evidence of iron and copper but not lead and zinc. He said Civil War sites usually contain lead and zinc because bullets were commonly made from those metals.

Until the site is excavated, he said, "it's still a mystery."

A native of Hatteras Island, Dawson, 28, is a historical re-enactor at Roanoke Island Festival Park, a state facility near Manteo that highlights the early English settlements with historical programs.

Excavations in the 1990s found evidence of a 1585 workshop set up by scientist Thomas Hariot and metallurgist Joachim Gans inside and outside the restored fort.

The disappearance of the 1587 colonists has become part of the region's lore and legend. The story inspired an outdoor drama, "The Lost Colony," which is performed during the summer at an outdoor theater near the historic site.

Luccketti said the site of 1585 Fort Raleigh is worth pursuing.

"It's one of America's great historical mysteries," he said.