The Archaeology of Pivotal Places: The Structuring of Habitual Landscape and the Bush Hill Plantation.

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Places where the nexus of human agency, social momentum, and singular events come together can exert pivotal influence over historical trajectories. Such places may have lasting influence over behaviors, consciousness, and habitus long after initial intersection. Pivotal places foster social entanglements through dynamic relationships, but also from passive constraint. Many pivotal places emerged in the Caribbean over the past 500 years. Nevis became pivotal during the 17th century when the Royal Africa Company established its headquarters there to crystallize their monopoly in the slave trade. At a more discreet scale, Bush Hill plantation, spanning more than 200 years of operation, served as a pivotal place in the entrenchment of the slavery-based sugar economy by standardizing the agro-industrial landscape. The archaeology of Pivotal Places is introduced using Bush Hill as a case for analysis. From this perspective the resulting archaeological landscape transcends undecipherable post-processual mélange, to reveal a structured bricolage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2020 SHA General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 116