The Isotope Bioarcheology of the Transatlantic Slave Trade - How New Strontium Isoscapes Inform on Individual African Origins and Life Histories

Summary

For two decades, isotope biogeochemistry has allowed for the identification of first generation victims of the transatlantic slave trade in the Americas based on highly radiogenic strontium isotope ratios discovered in archaeological human remains from slavery contexts. However, as strontium isotope baseline data from most of Africa was absent these high strontium ratios were merely linked to sub-Saharan Africa at large, with little to no possibility of nuance regarding the actual regions enslaved people may have originated from. Together with our numerous collaborators, we recently developed regional and large-scale strontium isoscapes of sub-Saharan Africa based on environmental samples and random forest regressions, with a particular emphasis on West and western Central Africa from where populations were particularly heavily trafficked. We demonstrate how we can employ these isoscapes to predict the individual origins of enslaved individuals excavated in the Americas and elsewhere, allowing us to reconstruct their African roots and life histories.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024

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Contact(s): Nicole Haddow