Slave village architecture in the French West Indies.

Summary

Archaeological work in Guadeloupe and Martinique conducted since 2001 has revealed considerable evidence of the housing used by enslaved laborers in plantation villages, both before and after emancipation. Enslaved housing is remarkably diverse in its construction, diverging from the attenuated range of styles described in historic accounts, and generally follows several trends, whether on sugar plantations, industrial sites, or elsewhere. In addition to variations in construction, the placement of villages, documented on historic maps and recovered archaeologically, has also been seen to follow certain rules, although there are exceptions. This paper discusses the archaeological evidence for the range of architectural styles and emplacements of villages employed in the French West Indies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Built Environments of Enslaved Experience in the Caribbean

Keywords

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