Ballast or Just Another Rock? Using XRF to Source Basalt Cobbles from Bridgetown, Antigua

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Research and On Going Projects at the J Richard Steffy Ship Reconstruction Laboratory" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The site of Bridgetown, Antigua lies on the east side of Willoughby Bay near the Crossroads Rehabilitation facility owned and founded by musician, Eric Clapton. The site holds the remains of a town and associated harbour designated as a commerce center in a law regulating trade and taxes on the island from 1675. Scattered along the shoreline of the site is a deposit of various sized stone cobbles which could be discarded ballast associated with the harbour. Many of these cobbles consisted of basalt which is not part of the natural geological bedrock of that part of the island and relatively easily sourced using x-ray fluorescence. During the 2018 field season, a number of these cobbles were collected for xrf testing. The elemental signature obtained from each sample was used to determine if they originated in the Caribbean or were transported from another location.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Current Research and On Going Projects at the J Richard Steffy Ship Reconstruction Laboratory

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 324