Pre-Colonial and Post-Contact Archaeology in Barbados

This volume provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of the archaeology of a single Caribbean island yet published. Drawing together scholars from the Caribbean, north America and Europe, all working from a range of disciplines within the broader scope of archaeology, and drawing upon recent and innovative fieldwork, the collected papers touch upon a wider variety of archaeological case studies.

Divided into four sections each under the editorial supervision of a specialist scholar, the papers contained in this volume start with an overview of different approaches to the pre-contact archaeology of the island of Barbados and focus upon recent debates and issues surrounding material culture, economic change and site location. Two following sections focus upon recent developments in historical archaeology, looking at a series of urban and plantation case studies, and then the application of scientific techniques to material cultural and ecofactual evidence. The final section considers the social implications of Barbados' past and recent developments in community heritage, education and management.

Extensively illustrated and referenced, this volume considers in detail the historical diversity of archaeological work undertaken on the island, yet will also look forward to examine the key trends and currents that will inform the study of the archaeology of Barbados in the future. With such a rich wealth of material, this is a volume that will have considerable impact upon the wider context of Caribbeanist archaeology, history and heritage studies.

Contents:

Introduction: The Past and Present of Archaeology in Barbados

Douglas V. Armstrong, Alissandra Cummins, Maaike S. de Waal, Kevin Farmer, Niall Finneran and Matthew C. Reilly

Section one: Pre-colonial Archaeology

Barbados natural landscapes. Conditions for pre-colonial settlement, site preservation and archaeological fieldwork

Maaike S. de Waal

Archaic Age Barbados and the Works of Peter Drewett

Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Maaike S. de Waal

The pre-colonial pottery of Barbados

Mary Hill Harris

Amerindian cultural landscapes in Ceramic Age Barbados

Maaike S. de Waal

Pre-colonial Barbados: Rituals, Objects and Use of Space

Quetta Kaye

Section two: Historical Archaeology

St. Nicholas Abbey: Centering People in Plantation Archaeology in Barbados in the Twenty-First Century

Frederick H. Smith

Trents Plantation: Small-Farm to a Landscape of Power and Enslavement

Douglas V. Armstrong

'A free prospect to the sea': framing an urban archaeological biography of Speightstown (St Peter Parish)

Niall Finneran, Alexander Gray and Rachel Lichtenstein

Watch Towers: Surveillance and Control in the Aftermath of the 1816 Barbadian Slave Revolt

Alan D. Armstrong

The 2009 and 2010 Synagogue Excavations: An Exploration of the Material Culture of the first 100 years of the Nidhe Israel Community

Derek Miller

Section three: Material culture and human lifeways

'Are they local or foreign?': An examination of some Barbadian potteries and market networks

Kevin Farmer and Michael Glasscock

Health and Life Histories of Enslaved Sugar Producers from the Newton Plantation, Barbados: 35 Years of Bioarchaeological Research

Kristina A. Shuler, Hannes Schroeder, William D. Stevens, and Robert S. Corruccini

Are they Barbadian? Inferring Identity and Ethnic Affiliation for the Pierhead and Fontabelle Burial Grounds: the Bioarchaeological and Biohistorical Evidence.

Christopher Crain and Kevin Farmer

Sourcing Domestic and Industrial Ceramics from Trents Plantation, Barbados using LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry)

Lindsay Bloch

Colonial Foodways in Barbados: A Diachronic Study of Faunal Remains from Trent's Plantation, 17th-19th centuries

Diane Wallman

Section four: Issues in Cultural Heritage management in Barbados in the 21st century

Collaborative Archaeology in a "Redleg" Tenantry

Matthew C. Reilly and Ainsley Norris

Young children's agency within Barbadian community heritage: a children's rights and sustainable development model.

Lucy Willans and Liesje Cole-Pragnell

Participation, democratisation and digitisation. A post-modern approach to Barbados' heritage in the 21st century.

Niall Finneran, Laura Hampden, Alice Lathbury

Of Roots and Routes: Visioning Barbados' Cultural Heritage through Trails Development

Tara Inniss

Where are the shipwrecks? Recent directions in Maritime Archaeology and Heritage in Barbados

Niall Finneran

Epilogue: The Future of Barbados' Past.

Douglas V. Armstrong, Maaike S. de Waal, Kevin Farmer, Niall Finneran & Matthew C. Reilly

About the Editors:

Dr. Maaike S. De Waal (PhD) is assistant professor at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University (the Netherlands). She is a partner in ARGEOgraph, an archaeological company specializing in geoinformatics in archaeology. Previously, she was lecturing in archaeology at the University of the West Indies (Barbados). She specializes in pre-colonial Caribbean archaeology, and her research interests include Caribbean archaeology, landscape archaeology, archaeological survey, settlement patterns, mobility and interaction and pre-colonial ceramics.

Dr. Niall Finneran holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is Reader in Historical Archaeology and Heritage at the University of Winchester, England. An anthropological archaeologist with specialisations in heritage management, material culture and nautical and landscape archaeology, he has worked at Speightstown in Barbados since 2010 and also undertakes community heritage work among the Garifuna on St Vincent, as well as nautical archaeological work on the Grenadine island of Bequia.

Dr. Matthew C. Reilly is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the City College of New York. He conducts research in Barbados and Liberia. He is the author of Archaeology below the Cliff: Race, Class, and Redlegs in Barbadian Sugar Society.