Mortuary Patterns of a 18th Century Cemetery on Sint Eustatius

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.

Little is known about the mortuary patterns of enslaved and freed Africans during the 18th to early 19th century on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius. Excavation and analysis of burials from a small 18th century cemetery provides information about the lives of the interred individuals, who are likely of African ancestry. Mortuary patterns can help assess health, status, and societal norms of these people. This study uses data from the burial excavations and analysis of the recovered human remains and artifacts to explore mortuary patterns in the cemetery. The study also includes information comparing the Sint Eustatius cemetery data with other contemporary Caribbean and non-Caribbean cemeteries. These comparisons will effectively show variation in daily life, status and societal norms for individuals of African ancestry who lived under different 18th century European colonial powers.

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): 25471