Ceramic Manufacturing and Distribution Networks in Early Jamaica: Interpretive Implications of LA-ICP-MS and NAA Analyses on Coarse Earthenwares from 18th-Century Plantation Contexts

Summary

Archaeologists have long been intrigued by hand‐built, open‐fired coarse earthenwares found on 18th‐ and 19th‐century sites occupied by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and United States. In Jamaica, these hand‐built coarse earthenwares, often referred to as Yabbas, were likely manufactured and marketed by enslaved specialists. Several different varieties of glazed and/or kiln‐fired coarse earthenwares, not easily assigned to a known ware-type, are also routinely found in plantation contexts. Their origins, and the role they played in local markets, are debated. This poster explores the interpretive implications of the results of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and neutron activation analysis (NAA) on nearly 400 coarse earthenware sherds from eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century plantation contexts across Jamaica. Using comparative datasets from the UK, US, and Caribbean, we pinpoint sources for the course earthenware and explore the temporal and spatial patterns in the use of earthenware from different sources. Finally, we assess how changing consumer demand by both enslaved Africans and plantation owners influenced ceramic manufacturing and distribution networks in early Jamaica.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22286