Dabbing in Time: Using Tobacco Clay Pipes to Trace Changes in Leadership of the Dutch Caribbean Island of St. Eustatius from 1680 to 1800

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Exploring Globalization and Colonialism through Archaeology and Bioarchaeology: An NSF REU Sponsored Site on the Caribbean’s Golden Rock (Sint Eustatius)" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

St. Eustatius (Statia) developed into a primary trading port in the northern Caribbean during the late 17th century and early 18th century. During this time, Statia experienced changes in leadership, tax policies, and social relations; however, the island leadership maintained trading allies from all nations. This project’s research goal is to understand how the people of St. Eustatius were affected by globalism, and how the island’s extensive trading activity influenced regional and global trading networks. Analysis of tobacco clay pipes from Ft. Amsterdam was conducted to determine if the ratio between the amounts of time the Netherlands were in charge of St. Eustatius was proportional to the amount of pipes found to be of Netherland origin. Documentation of changes in legal policies, historical data of Statia’s commanding country, maker marks, and pipe diameters are used to determine the date and origin of each base/spur. The quantity of pipes of Gouda origin reveal Netherland’s long-term occupation of the island had an effect on trade networks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Exploring Globalization and Colonialism through Archaeology and Bioarchaeology: An NSF REU Sponsored Site on the Caribbean’s Golden Rock (Sint Eustatius)   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25143