Military and Material Life in the British Caribbean: Historical Archaeology of Fort Rocky, Kingston Harbor, Jamaica (ca. 1880-1945)

Summary

Archaeological research at Caribbean military sites has investigated the lives of free and enslaved military personnel in the context of each outpost’s strategic significance in defending imperial domains. Relatively little work has explored the militia infantry, artillery, and engineers stationed in British Caribbean colonies from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. During this period, Rocky Point Battery, later Fort Rocky, was built near Port Royal, Jamaica to defend Kingston Harbor. Occupation phases of the site can be identified using archival data and material culture such as glass bottles, tobacco pipes, and items of personal adornment. These data strengthen understandings of material life at this outpost at a time when Jamaicans volunteered for militias or joined the military as a source of employment or social advancement. Thus they link the fort’s military functions and community to the broader labor system of an island central to Britain’s imperial presence in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• Historical Archaeology in the Caribbean: New Directions and Current Perspectives

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-6,15