Comparative Analysis And Chemical Characterization Of Iron And Steel Blades And Tools From Trents Cave and Enslaved Laborer Contexts At Trents Plantation, Barbados
Author(s): Steven G Harris; Douglas Armstrong
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Trents Cave, Barbados is a site hidden between the previous enslaved laborer settlement (1650-1838) and the planter’s compound (1627-present) at Trents Plantation. Containing caches of various metal artifacts, Trents Cave is believed to be a site of special purpose, where selection and use of ferrous materials was conducted by people of African descent as a form of ritual and resistance (Armstrong 2015, 2019). While ferrous artifacts make up a significant component of archaeological sites in the colonial era, often these artifacts are studied only in relation to form, with little recognition of metal content, source of production, or social significance regarding the individuals that use them. Utilizing a range of interdisciplinary methods and XRF chemical characterization, this assessment will provide a comparative analysis of ratios of metals recovered from different loci at Trents Plantation, to shift how interpretations of the ferrous artifacts found at local, regional, and global scales are ultimately conducted.
Cite this Record
Comparative Analysis And Chemical Characterization Of Iron And Steel Blades And Tools From Trents Cave and Enslaved Laborer Contexts At Trents Plantation, Barbados. Steven G Harris, Douglas Armstrong. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457120)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Archaeometallurgy
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Historical Archaeology
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XRF Analysis
Geographic Keywords
United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1627-1838
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 848