Preliminary Results on the Archaeology of Slave Trade at Inhaca Island

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Maritime Archeology of the Slave Trade: Past and Present Work, and Future Prospects", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper reports on an archeological survey conducted on Inhaca Island (just south of Delagoa Bay) in southern Mozambique in October 2021—as the first archeological investigations since pilot work conducted over four decades ago. Drawing on archival research conducted as part of the Slave Wrecks Project that identified Inhaca as the location of a mid 19th century slaving station/factory (with connections to a story of one enslaved individual’s survival of the TransAtlantic crossing) this survey-- in conjunction with oral history research--identified a range of archeological sites that together span several centuries of occupation and offer insights on changing forms of activity. Next research steps will aim investigate Inhaca’s role in the Transatlantic slave trade—within an investigation of its broader history of occupation -- as a location implicated in the local pre/history of Delagoa Bay and at the most southwesterern edge of Indian Ocean systems.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Maritime Archeology of the Slave Trade: Past and Present Work, and Future Prospects   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow