Colonial Foodways in Barbados: A Diachronic Study of Faunal Remains and Stable Isotopes from Trent’s Plantation, 17th-19th centuries

Summary

The origins of modern cuisine in the Caribbean lie in the complex interactions that occurred during the colonial period. Studying foodways on plantations offers insight into the social relationships, power structures, economic practices and cultural transformations during this time. Here, we integrate and compare the results from zooarchaeological analysis with stable isotope (δ18O, δ13C, δ15N, δ88Sr) analysis of human and faunal remains from Trent’s Plantation in Barbados. Trent’s Plantation transitioned from a mixed-crop farming estate into one of the earliest sugar estates in the Caribbean, and operated from the 17th through 19th centuries. Faunal remains were recovered from middens adjacent to the estate house, and in small trash deposits associated with slave quarters. This research provides a diachronic and spatial study of subsistence throughout the occupation of the plantation, examining the diets of the proprietors, indentured servants and enslaved peoples at the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Many People, Many Plates: Archaeologies of Foodways

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 822