African and Afro-Caribbean Cultural Identity, Vessel Function, and Inter-island Connectedness in Eighteenth- to Nineteenth-Century St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "To Move Forward We Must Look Back: The Slave Wrecks Project at 10 Years" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As part of the Slave Wrecks Project, excavations at Christiansted National Historic Site on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, have resulted in the collection of thousands of artifacts associated with the Danish West India and Guinea Warehouse Complex. Within this assemblage, hundreds of sherds of Afro-Caribbean colonoware, or Afro-Cruzan ware, have been identified. Former analysis of the colonoware established a typology as well as suggested local manufacture. In this presentation I discuss the methods used to reevaluate the typology and function of Afro-Cruzan wares as a product and symbol of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This study includes provenance analysis to determine whether or not these wares were produced locally on St. Croix or elsewhere to identify potential spheres of interaction, and if the same sources of material were used in prehistoric times. Additionally, insight into potential influence these wares had on the evolution of African and Afro-Caribbean foodways will be presented. It is proposed that Afro-Cruzan ware represents cultural and economic perseverance, despite colonial oppressive conditions. Thus, this research highlights enslaved and free Africans’ lives as they sought to maintain autonomy through daily tasks expressed through ceramic traditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• To Move Forward We Must Look Back: The Slave Wrecks Project at 10 Years   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32680