Material Properties Analysis of Bermudian Limestone Daub: Insights into Early English Colonial Architecture

Summary

In 1612, Virginia Company settlers erected the first houses in Bermuda using traditional English wattle and daub construction techniques. SIAP archaeologists’ recent recovery of exceptionally hard early daub in a 1690s context suggests that these early structures survived far longer than in other colonies. This paper reviews how and why Bermudian daub was exceptionally durable: Bermuda’s limited supply of clay and abundance of limestone led builders to create mortar-like daub. In their haste to quickly erect houses, their ‘daub’ included lime clasts, reminiscent of Roman concrete, which similarly imparted self-healing properties. Through analyzing SIAP samples and reverse-engineering them mechanically and chemically using Bermudian materials, we have deduced the approximate formula that early settlers used and performed modern testing on trial samples. We plan an experimental archaeology firing of a limekiln (the first in 40 years) to better understand traditional Bermudian building materials and early settlers' construction methods and architecture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

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Contact(s): Nicole Haddow