Creating a Militarized Landscape at the Brimstone Hill Fortress, St. Kitts

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Military Sites Archaeology in the Caribbean: Studies of Colonialism, Globalization, and Multicultural Communities" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Brimstone Hill Fortress (1690-1854) on the northwest coast of St. Kitts constitutes a militarized landscape that protected the harbor at Sandy Point, provided covering fire for nearby Charles Fort, afforded refuge for the island’s inhabitants, and suppressed potential slave revolts. Archaeological excavations document changing social and economic relationships between the British Army and enslaved and freed Africans. The complexity of the site’s archaeological and architectural signature is linked to the size and composition of the garrison, the frequency of troop rotations, the deployment of black military units before and after emancipation, and the siting of fortifications and support structures because of the topography, tactical considerations of line of fire, potential points of enemy assault, and dimensions of the social status of the forts inhabitants. The strategic goals of the British Empire guided but did not determine life at Brimstone Hill.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Military Sites Archaeology in the Caribbean: Studies of Colonialism, Globalization, and Multicultural Communities   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 390