Oven Site (c.1615-c.1712): A Window into Bermuda’s First Century of Settlement and the Cultural Persistence of the Lives of Enslaved Native Americans.
Author(s): Alexander T C Cook
Year: 2025
Summary
Named for a primitive oven cut into bedrock, Oven Site is demarked on Richard Norwood’s 1616 and 1663 surveys of Bermuda as the home of the captain of nearby Smith’s Fort. The household was abandoned soon after 1707, when a probate inventory was taken of Captain Boaz Sharpe’s possessions. Between 2010 and 2017, excavations revealed the lost history of the century-long occupation of one of Bermuda’s earliest sites, focusing on the mansion’s detached kitchen. The two phases of kitchen occupation provide material evidence of an enslaved Native American family, their domestic activities, and exploitation of marine resources. Excavation of an adjoining water cistern in 2017 revealed evidence of an earthfast building and extensive deposits of late 17th-century faunal and domestic artifacts. A 2023 ground penetrating radar survey (among the first in Bermuda) has identified clusters of geological anomalies that suggest the main household’s location and orientation for future excavation.
Cite this Record
Oven Site (c.1615-c.1712): A Window into Bermuda’s First Century of Settlement and the Cultural Persistence of the Lives of Enslaved Native Americans.. Alexander T C Cook. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2025 ( tDAR id: 508966)
Keywords
General
Bermuda
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Colonialism
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Enslavement
Geographic Keywords
Bermuda
Spatial Coverage
min long: -64.78; min lat: 32.278 ; max long: -64.677; max lat: 32.379 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Nicole Haddow