Scales of production and exchange for Afro Caribbean wares from slave villages on Nevis and St Kitts

Author(s): Fraser Neiman

Year: 2014

Summary

My goal in this paper is to show how the statistical analysis of compositional data, derived from INAA, can advance our understanding of scales of production and exchange for Afro-Caribbean ceramics during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries on Nevis and St Kitts. I use classical and newly developed multivariate methods to explore and evaluate the compositional distinctiveness of sherds recovered from recent STP surveys. Assemblages from two Nevis plantations are compositionally distinctive, a result compatible with low levels of specialization and limited movement of pots among villages within the island. The implications of compositional variation on St. Kitts are less clear because of sampling issues. Making further progress requires more and larger samples, data sharing, and serious engagement by more historical archaeologists in quantitative data analysis.

Cite this Record

Scales of production and exchange for Afro Caribbean wares from slave villages on Nevis and St Kitts. Fraser Neiman. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. 2014 ( tDAR id: 436603)

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-6,11