The Enslaved Laborer Settlement at Trents Plantation, Barbados: 1640s-1834

Summary

Trents Plantation, Barbados has provided a wealth of new information on early plantation life in Barbados.  In 2013 I reported on the recovery of the early settlement at Trents Plantation and briefly mentioned the identification of an enslaved laborer settlement on the plantation.  This paper focuses on findings related to the enslaved laborer community that was established on the property beginning in the late 1640s.  The site was occupied trough the period of slavery and abandoned upon emancipation in 1834. All other known examples of enslaved laborer settlements in Barbados were plowed under when the laborer populations were displaced at the end of slavery.  Data is presented from an intensive survey, systematic shovel testing, and intensive excavation at four discrete house sites in the village, including one with a definitive seventeenth century materials.  The archaeological data provides a basis to discuss living conditions during the period of enslavement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Current Perspectives on Plantation Archaeology in the Caribbean   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 630