Experimental Metal Detection in the Investigations of Illegal Slave Trade Sites in Nineteenth Century Guinea

Summary

For centuries, European traders have influenced and altered the African landscape, playing a major role in identity formation, group memory, and trade relations. To enhance our understanding of the relationship between European traders and local citizens through occupation of space, experimental metal detection was employed at three sites located along the Rio Pongo in Guinea. Situated in an isolated region of West Africa, these clandestine sites were active throughout the illegal slave trade of the nineteenth century, further complicating issues of cultural entanglement. Through the identification of high-density metal deposition zones, we are better able to examine the spatial organization of these multicultural interactions. By integrating these preliminary data with GIS mapping we developed a clearer understanding of the relationship of these disparate groups as reflected through occupation of space.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Enslavement and the Black Diaspora   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-73,02