A Biocultural Analysis of the Impacts of Interactions between West Africans and Europeans during the Transatlantic Trade at Elmina, Ghana

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This project utilizes a biocultural approach to assess the demographics and health of the West African population from Elmina, Ghana. Elmina, selected by the Portuguese in 1482 as the site of the first European trade fort in sub-Saharan Africa, grew from a small coastal fishing village to a large settlement over the course of more than 400 years. This research used standard bioarchaeological methods to identify the remains of a minimum of 93 individuals principally dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It uncovered evidence of maintained cultural traditions and the potential presence of endemic and introduced diseases. This project provides a valuable contribution to discussions and research surrounding the changes and continuities experienced by Indigenous peoples associated with European expansion throughout the world. It also provides an important contribution to the growing data on the African Diaspora and studies focused on the lives of people affected by the transatlantic trade, particularly the transatlantic slave trade.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37132.0