Writing, Sewing, Eating: Faunal Analysis of a post-Emancipation School for Girls in Montserrat, West Indies

Summary

Potato Hill is located on the western side of Montserrat, which is a small volcanic island in the West Indies. Initial surveys conducted at this site during the 2010-2014 field seasons identified three historic structures. They were subsequently excavated in 2015-2016, and ranged from the 17th century through the 19th century. Of these, the 19th-century structure Feature 16 became of particular interest due to the artifacts related to writing (slate, pencils), sewing (thimbles, buttons, and health/hygiene (medicine bottles, toothbrush). This collection of material culture has yielded the current interpretation that Feature 16 was a school for girls in the decades following emancipation of enslaved Africans on the island. The analysis presented in this poster will integrate the faunal material into the remainder of the artifact assemblage to engage with the topics of childhood, education, and the 19th-century Caribbean descendant communities on Montserrat. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Poster Submission 2018   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1007