Determination of Burial Locations Using Soil Analyses at the Loyola Plantation in French Guiana, 1668-1763

Summary

Our paper discusses the approach used to determine the location of burials in an equatorial environment where organic preservation is nil. Before using the space of the plantation cemetery to preserve the memory of the enslaved who lived at the plantation we had to demonstrate the extant of the cemetery using soil analyses. Memory of that period is a fleeting souvenir among local residents and we want to use archaeology to address issues with which they are confronted in order for them to appropriate the spirit of the plantation. The Loyola Habitation under Jesuit rule reached nearly 500 enslaved whom toiled at the production of a number of cash crops such as sugar, coffee, indigo, rum, etc. under the supervision of a handful of Jesuit missionaries whose goal was to open reductions in Guarani country. From the cemetery where approximately 1000 people (Slaves, Amerindians and White land owners) have been interred, our motivation is to make a lasting lieu for a dialogue with history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Unraveling Social Dynamics through Archaeological Science

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17082