Use of Archaeological and Archival Data in Interpreting Barbuda’s Coastal Fortifications
Author(s): Matthew F Matsulavage; Edith Gonzalez; Diana Peña Bastalla; Javier J García Colón; Isabel Rivera Collazo; Sophia Perdikaris
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Inhabited Islandscapes and Historical Ecosystem Dynamics: Power and Land in Barbuda", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
During Barbuda’s colonial period, the Codrington family maintained an exclusive lease over the island. It would be during this lease that a series of coastal fortifications were established on the land. Sites such as Gun Shop Cliff, the Castle Hill Ruins Complex, and Martello tower are just a few of many structures still visible today. This paper will utilize new and existing archaeological and archival data to understand the sequence of Barbuda’s fortification, while examining the purpose of these structures. Fortifications can play an important role in shaping the power dynamics of a landscape; this paper will study how Barbuda’s fortifications may have maintained these power dynamics and their influence on the relationship of the enslaved to the land and to each other.
Cite this Record
Use of Archaeological and Archival Data in Interpreting Barbuda’s Coastal Fortifications. Matthew F Matsulavage, Edith Gonzalez, Diana Peña Bastalla, Javier J García Colón, Isabel Rivera Collazo, Sophia Perdikaris. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2025 ( tDAR id: 508876)
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Keywords
General
Colonialism
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Landscape transformation
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Power
Geographic Keywords
Caribbean
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Nicole Haddow