The Trade of Tortoiseshell between the Caribbean and Europe during the 17th–18th Centuries: An Archaeological and Biomolecular Approach

Summary

Tortoiseshell is made from the scutes of sea turtles; historically, hawksbill turtle was the main source of tortoiseshell but other species might have been used. Between the 17th and 18th c. tortoiseshell obtained in the Caribbean was traded on North American and European markets. Tortoiseshell was used for making combs, fans, boxes, in bookbinding, and as veneering for furniture. Excavations in European workshops (Paris and Amsterdam) attest of the use of this exotic material into luxurious items. However, archaeological fragments of tortoiseshell or artefacts have degraded, so that often the material has lost its recognizable tortoiseshell pattern, making identification to species difficult.

The carapace and plastron of sea turtles are covered with keratinous scutes mainly composed of beta-keratins, a category of structural proteins that stack together to produce ß-pleated sheet structures. Here, reference materials from five species of marine turtles were characterized by proteomics analysis to build a database of beta-keratin sequences and determine robust markers for species identification. Preliminary data have shown significant differences between hawksbill and green turtles, allowing distinction of these species in ancient materials. In addition, comb fragments from archaeological sites and workshops in France were examined.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21281