Ambiguous Archaeology: Eating and Ceramic Styles in the Early Modern Caribbean

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper underscores “ambiguity” and duality as pervasive factors in archaeological research through a case study of coarse earthenware from La Soye, Dominica. Within this framework, I concentrate my approach on syncretic foodways and ceramic productions, which blend, confound, and subvert straight-forward interpretations. Using the material culture as a guide, I explore the fuzzy multitudes of indigenous and colonial life. Specifically, I analyze local ceramics from three coastal loci- each within one kilometer of La Soye Point. Early modern Dominica was an illicit colonial frontier and free indigenous stronghold, making it an ideal space to analyze cultural ingenuity and maintenance in ambiguous environments. While our exact interpretations of the La Soye complex are in flux, the first locus is a probable Indigenous trade center occupied in the mid-17th century. The second locus is a village site contemporaneous with the aforementioned trade center, and the third is a much earlier site from the late Saladoid or early Troumassoid period. The historical depth of these loci allows me to assess the impact of Kalinago, African, and European culture on Caribbean cuisine while understanding the power of ambiguity in frontier spaces.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41623.0