Archaeology of Urban Slavery In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Historical Archaeology of Cities: Unearthing Complexity in Urban Landscapes", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Until recently the archaeology of the African diaspora in the Americas had focused its attention primarily on the plantations. Research conducted in urban areas, however, has shown the wealth of information extractable from city subsoils. As one of the most important ports of entry of Africans during the era of the Atlantic slave trade, Rio de Janeiro received hundreds of thousands of captives from distinct parts of Africa. Excavations conducted at diverse sites in the city’s central and port zones have recovered vestiges of their everyday life, understood in light of the hybridization of the various displaced ethnic groups that converged on Rio de Janeiro. In constructing these new diasporic communities, the materiality produced by them proved fundamental to their physical, spiritual, cultural and social survival. The findings made are now being placed in the service of the Afrodescendent communities in their fight for greater social justice.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Historical Archaeology of Cities: Unearthing Complexity in Urban Landscapes

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow