Exploring Enslaved African Lifeways: An Isotopic Study of an Eighteenth-Century Cemetery (SE600) on St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "NSF REU Site: Exploring Globalization through Archaeology 2019–2020 Session, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Multiple isotope analyses of skeletal tissues are a useful tool for exploring lifeways of past populations. Isotopic analysis of Caribbean populations is still in its infancy, making the technique a useful tool for learning about these populations. St. Eustatius is a small island in the Dutch Caribbean that served as the cornerstone for trade throughout the region. This study examines the lifeways of enslaved and free Africans residing on the island using stable isotope analysis. An analysis of diet, nutrition, and residential history of 11 individuals buried at Site SE600 was completed using carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes from bone collagen and bone bioapatite. The analysis results demonstrate significant variation in oxygen isotopic values from expected values for the region suggesting the people interred in the cemetery did not grow up on St. Eustatius. The nitrogen isotopic analysis results indicate a dependency on marine resources for protein.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• NSF REU Site: Exploring Globalization through Archaeology 2019–2020 Session, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 30901