Overview and Preliminary Results from the 2022 Excavation at Fort Louise Augusta, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Summary

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

The former Danish West Indies are one of the scant examples of Scandinavian colonialism and the only example of Danish colonialism in the Americas. Although considered latecomers to the region, the Danes maintained almost continuous control of their West Indies from their initial settlement until the islands were sold to the United States in 1917. This allowed them to establish permanent settlements and construct numerous fortifications, some of which stand today. However, there have been no comprehensive studies of Danish colonial fortifications in the West Indies. On St. Croix, research and preservation efforts have focused on the prominent, bastioned forts; the minor fortifications that dotted the island’s coastline throughout the Danish period (1733–1917), including Fort Louise Augusta, have until recently been ignored. Here we present a summary of the first archaeological excavation at Fort Louise Augusta, a coastal battery located at the entrance to Christiansted Harbor in use throughout the Danish period, and discuss our preliminary results from artifactual analysis and radiocarbon testing.

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): 37637.0