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International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 7, No. 1, March 2003 (°
House-Yard Burials of Enslaved Laborers
in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica
Douglas V. Armstrong1,2 and Mark L. Fleischman1
Four burials were excavated from discrete house-yard compounds in an eighteenth
century African Jamaican slave settlement at Seville plantation. Though only four
in number, these individuals provide significant information on burial practices
and physical conditions within a clearly defined African Jamaican community.
The analysis of material remains illuminate living conditions and social relations
within the African Jamaican community. Each individual was interred within a
separate house-yard and with a unique set of artifacts that yield information about
their unique identities and positions within the Seville community. Bioarchaeological assessments describe the osteological remains and detail findings concerning
pathologies. To date, they are the only excavated individuals who represent the
African Caribbean practice of house-yard burial.
KEY WORDS: African Jamaican enslaved community; house-yard burial; anemia; osteomyelitis.
INTRODUCTION
Skeletal populations from eighteenth-century slave contexts in the New World
are rare. Every individual represents a potentially important addition to our understanding of the African diaspora in terms of both cultural traditions and bioanthropology (Blakey et al., 1994; Handler, 1989; Jamieson, 1993; Khudabux, 1999).
An archaeological study of the processes of cultural transformation at Seville
plantation on Jamaica’s north coast included extensive excavations of house sites
(Figs. 1 and 2). These excavations revealed the presence of four house-yard burials at the site, which was endangered by encroaching development (Armstrong,
1998). This paper examines the individuals recovered and the cultural context of
1 Anthropology
Department, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.
whom correspondence should be addressed at Anthropology Department, Syracuse University,
209 Maxwell Hall, Syracuse, New York 13244; e-mail: [email protected].
2 To
33
C 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation
1092-7697/03/0300-0033/0 °
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Fig. 1. Map of Seville plantation.
their burial. Detailed bioanthropological examination is presented within the context of the material remains associated with their burial, the community in which
they lived, the sugar plantation upon which they were enslaved, and the broader
institution of plantation slavery in which they worked as enslaved laborers. The
burials from Seville are particularly important, as they are the only individuals
of African descent in the Americas that have been recovered from well-defined
house-yard contexts (Armstrong, 1992). The four burials described here are very
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Fig. 1. (Continued.)
complete and from excellent archaeological contexts, making them of great value
to our understanding of the African diaspora. Moreover, the clarity of their context
and association with a “living” community of households allows us to recognize
their importance—even as a sample of four.
Seville was established as a sugar producing estate in 1670. The plantation
was consolidated on a 2500-acre tract of land that included the site of the earlier sixteenth-century Spanish settlement of Sevilla la Nueva. Prior to our study
extensive architectural restoration had preserved the planter’s residence and certain managerial and industrial buildings on the site, but little attention had been
paid to the ruins of house sites associated with the plantation slaves. In fact, the
land including the African Jamaican settlements was not included in the property
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Fig. 2. Early village at Seville plantation represented on map of St. Ann’s Bay, circa 1721 (Jamaica National Library, MS St. Ann 176).
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acquired by the Jamaica National Historical Trust for the ultimate establishment
of a heritage park. The boundaries of these settlements were established through
an intensive survey carried out in 1987. Between 1988 and 1995 extensive archaeological research at the site examined 24 houses and their associated yards from
two temporally and spatially discrete settlements (Armstrong, 1998; Armstrong
and Kelly, 2000). Armstrong’s experience in excavating sites in West Africa and
the observation of yard-burial practice at the nearby Drax Hall plantation and
Steer Town community as well as the Jamaican Maroon community at Accompong Town, suggested that burials were likely to be associated with the houses
and yards at Seville. Therefore, we routinely tested below living surfaces in the
house-yard areas at Seville. As part of this research we excavated comparable
numbers of house-sites in two spatially distinct settlement loci. All four burials
were found in house-yard compounds associated with the earlier of two laborer
villages at Seville (Locus 1: 1670s–1780s; Fig. 3; Table I). The houses in this
settlement were destroyed in the 1780s, probably due to one of two hurricanes that
struck Jamaica’s north coast during that time. In the 1780s the community was
relocated to the area that we have defined as Locus 2 (Fig. 3). The archaeological evidence for this latter site indicates significant changes in settlement layout
Fig. 3. Map of African Jamaican house-yard areas at Locus 1 (1670s–1780s), Seville plantation
(note burials in yards adjacent to houses).
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Table I. Burial Location, Chronology, and Associated Artifacts
Associated
house-yard
Burial
SAJ-B1
1.16
SAJ-B1
1.2
SAJ-B1
1.19
SAJ-B1
1.13
a Sample
Temporal
context of
house-yard
1670s–1780s
(MCD = 1730)
1670s–1780s
(MCD = 1730)
1670s–1780s
(MCD = 1730)
1670s–1880s
(MCD = 1790)a
Nail Button
Coffin Coffin count count
Sex present handles (n)
(n)
M
X
M
X
F
X
M
X
X
X
Significant
artifact
268
9
Lock
274
8
56
3
152
18
Knife,
tobacco pipe
Pecked crystal
(stopper)
Carpenter’s spacer
(compass)
includes intrusion of artifacts from a later nineteenth-century household in the vicinity.
including clustered arrangement of houses, versus the linear pattern of the earlier
village. The new house sites also had yard space that was roughly three times the
area found in earlier houses. However, no house yard burials were found in the
later settlement.
The Seville study was carried out in an effort to add perspective to the interpretation of Seville National Heritage Park and to generate data aimed at gaining
a greater understanding of plantation slavery in the Caribbean.3 Excavations were
undertaken at the request of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and were useful
in gaining protection for the early village site and to providing a basis for the
reconstruction of part of the village so that these settlements could be included
in the broader interpretation of this heritage park. The human remains examined
here were reburied in 1997 within the protected grounds of the Seville National
Heritage Park (Armstrong, 2000).4
Artifacts from stratigraphic excavation of the houses, the associated yard areas, and the burials themselves, date the four burials to between the 1720s and the
1750s. The presence of burials within African Jamaican house-yard compounds,
in combination with the artifacts found in association with these burials, suggest a
significant retention of elements of burial practices general to West Africa during
this period. Bioarchaeological investigation of the osteological remains was used
to identify the biological affinity, sex, and ages of the individuals and to identify pathologies such as general chronic anemia, and individual conditions such
as osteomyelitis. These individuals suffered from a variety of indices of stress
that are consistent with conditions of enslavement found among Barbadian slave
populations (see Corruccini et al., 1982; Handler, 1997).
3 Seville National Historic Park is operated by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust as a public interpre-
tive center and museum. The park is protected under Jamaican heritage laws and has been recognized
by UNESCO. The actual area of the early village fell outside of the park boundary.
reports on the Seville burials were produced by Syracuse University and submitted to the
Jamaica National Heritage Trust prior to reburial of the Seville burials (Fleischman and Armstrong,
1993a–d)
4 Detailed
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BACKGROUND ON HOUSE-YARD BURIALS
Prior to the Seville study much of what had been reported on African
Caribbean burial practices had concentrated on remains recovered from a very few
cemetery sites. The most prominent of these studies is Jerome Handler, Frederick
Lange, and Robert Corruccini’s examination of Newton plantation in Barbados
(Corruccini et al., 1982; Handler, 1996, 1997; Handler and Lange, 1978; Jacobi
et al., 1992). Studies in Montserrat by Watters (1987) and by Goodwin et al.
(1990), as well as Handler and Lange’s Newton Plantation study (Handler and
Lange, 1978), indicate general trends such as extended burials associated with
a variety of material goods (see also Khudabux, 1999; Mann et al., 1987). The
Barbados study recovered materials such as pipes, beads, shells, and bracelets,
and revealed the practice of dental modification that derived directly from Africa
(Handler, 1981, 1983, 1989, 1996, 1997; Handler and Lange, 1978). The presence
of a group of grave goods associated with one burial at Newton is indicative of
a “healer/diviner” and is suggestive of elements of continuity in African beliefs
and practices within this population (Handler, 1997). The detailed examination
of the African Barbadian population buried at Newton cemetery provides an important baseline for bioanthropological studies of Africans and their descendant
populations in the Caribbean.
The presence of a discrete slave cemetery at Newton, combined with a paucity
of detailed studies of African Caribbean settlements and villages, has led to expectations of burials in cemeteries separate from the living areas. This view has been
widened through the recovery of large-scale populations of African Americans
from cemeteries in urban settings in both Philadelphia and Manhattan (Blakey
et al., 1994; Parrington and Roberts, 1990). To date most of the reports have focused
on cemetery studies. The Seville study illustrates an alternative form of African
American burial, the practice of burying one’s relatives and friends within house
and yard compounds and within the boundaries of their villages and settlements.
Burial practices at Seville, and those from other sites in the Caribbean and
North America, cannot be tied directly to a specific West African ethnic group
or to “whole” pan-African practices, nor should we expect them to be. However,
they do reflect generalized West African cultural influences including burial in the
house-yard compound, orientation, and burial with specific sets of grave goods that
establish relationships between the living and the dead. A brief survey of known
burial practices from West Africa illustrates both similarities in traditions and significant regional, ethnic, and class/economic variation in West African tradition.
The most extensive excavation of burials from a West African community comes
from Elmina in Ghana, excavated by Christopher DeCorse, which includes approximately 200 individuals from fifteenth- through nineteenth-century contexts.5
5 Burials
recovered from beneath the floors of pre-1873 houses at Elmina nearly all were accompanied
with burial goods. There was considerable variation in these artifacts according to sex, age, economic
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Ethnohistorical and archaeological research at Begho Ghana by Merrick
Posnansky identified burial practices that included burial within house compounds,
under the floors of houses, and in the marginal forests surrounding the community (Posnansky, 1983). When Armstrong began historical research prior to initiating archaeological studies on enslaved Africans in Jamaica, several historical
accounts were encountered that described “in house burials” (Beckford, 1790(2),
p. 388). William Beckford noted that in Jamaica the body of the deceased slave
is “ornamented with linen and other apparel . . . and all the trinkets of the defunct
are exposed in the coffin” (Beckford, 1790(2), p. 388). Thus, we anticipated the
potential of recovering burials beneath the floors on in the yards adjacent to houses
at Seville.
Prior to the 1780s African slaves in the British Caribbean were not encouraged
to participate in European religious practices and were thus indirectly allowed to
retain elements of West African belief systems, including mortuary and funerary
practice that included house-yard burials. Burials are reported “at the back of their
hut and sometimes under their beds” (Brathwaite, 1971, p. 216; see also Genovese,
1972, p. 537). In the eighteenth century Jamaican plantation managers recognized
the practice of burial within the house and yard. They understood that this acting
out of African-based burial and mortuary ritual actually tied the enslaved laborer
firmly to the plantation. In the late eighteenth century Governor Perry of Barbados
vividly described house-yard burials: “Negroes are superstitiously attached to the
burial places of their ancestors and friends. They are generally as near as can be to
the houses in which they live. It is frequent to inter a near relative under the bedplace on which they sleep, an unwholesome and dangerous practice which they
would think it the utmost tyranny to alter” (Parry, 1789, p. 17 quoted in Handler
and Lange, 1978, p. 174).
With respect to Jamaica, and Seville in particular, Edward Long’s observations
concerning burial practice take on special meaning (Long, 1774). Long was the
managing trustee for Seville, and he recognized the importance of the house-andyard as a focus of social interaction and the location where ancestors were buried.
Thus, in his History of Jamaica, Long argued that to sell and remove slaves from
their houses, and their link with buried ancestors, would only further demoralize
the slave and result in sickness and death and, in accordance with the primary
economic interests of plantocracy, the resulting loss of labor would be counterproductive to the estate (Long, 1774). Long recognized that the practice of burial
within the village had meaning to the people and that actions that separated families
would have had a mutually deleterious effect on the laborer community and the
plantation economy.
It is clear that the space defined as “negro villages” and “negro house grounds”
were important to social relations within the emerging African Jamaican
status, and possibly ethnicity. Nearly all individuals have burial goods but these range from local
and imported ceramics and tobacco pipes, to brass forowas (generally under the head), and beads
(DeCorse, 1992, p. 184).
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communities (see also Armstrong, 1990; Delle, 1998; Higman, 1998). While the
planter “owned” both the slaves and their living quarters, the significance of these
quarters to the African Jamaican community was recognized by both planter and
enslaved. While the European Jamaicans may not have completely understood the
details of the slave’s burial practices, and may have even belittled the practice, they
understood that the practice was important to the people.
SITE DESCRIPTION AND EXCAVATED CONTEXT
The African Jamaican settlement at Seville was part of a large sugar estate
on Jamaica’s north coast (Fig. 1). Sugar was grown on approximately 300 acres
of a gently sloping tract of fertile land along the coast. The sugar processing
works were located at a ford that allowed access to fields on either side of the
Church River, a year round source of fresh water, which powered the estate’s
water driven mill. The slave village, occupied by an average of 275 persons of
African descent, was located further inland, behind the planter’s great house (Figs. 2
and 3).
The first burial was encountered during the excavation of a house site during
our third season at Seville and one burial was recovered per season over a period
of 4 years (Armstrong, 1998; Armstrong and Kelly, 2000). Once we encountered
burials we had a magnetometer survey of the area conducted by John Sexton
and Harvey Hansen of Southern Illinois University. The magnetometer survey
was designed to test if the pattern of burials identified during the house and yard
excavation was representative of the distribution of burials in the village. The
magnetometer survey examined previously excavated areas where burials had been
located (house area 1.16, SAJ-B1; house area 1.13, SAJ-B3), and an area between
the early and later villages. The location of burial SAJ-B4 was defined in the process
of clearing land in an unexcavated area in preparation for the magnetometer survey.
Magnetometer anomalies clearly identified the location of the burial pits (which
had been back filled) and indicated the presence of a burial in area of concentrated
surface stones at SAJ-B4.
The fact that these burials were all dug into the limestone bedrock and
then refilled with an admixture of bright red decomposed limestone and white
marl limestone made the burials easy to recognize during excavation. These pits
combined with the presence of coffin hardware made the burials created distinct
rectangular anomalies detected by the magnetometer. The conformity between
magnetometer anomalies and the locations of known burials confirmed that our excavation strategy had identified the extent of the house-yard burials in the excavated
sites.
Through excavation and magnetometer survey we encountered only four burials within village house-yard areas. This is a very small proportion compared with
the more than 500 individuals who lived in the village through the span of its
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Table II. Seville Burials: Descriptive and Demographic Data
Skeleton
Sex
Approximate age
Estimated height (cm)
Racial identity
SAJ-B1
SAJ-B2
SAJ-B3
SAJ-B4
Male
Male
Female
Male
20–25
20–25
17–19
40+
156.72–164.54a
163.44–171.26
—b
165.79–173.67
African descent
African descent
African descent
African decent
a The
pathological indices of the femur and tibia raise some questions about this individual’s
achieving full growth potential.
b Because of lack of complete bones and the age of this individual, height was not estimated.
occupation. Therefore, each of these individuals must be considered in someway
special to the households and the community in which they were found.6
Despite considerable excavation, no burials were found associated with
12 houses in the post-1780s enslaved laborer community at Seville. A possible explanation of this change is that soon after the move to the new settlement (Locus 2)
missionaries were very active in the region and developed a particular relationship
with the people of Seville. Not only were the vast majority of the Seville laborers
baptized but at the time of emancipation a section of the estate adjacent to the Priory
church yard was acquired by the London Missionary Society and divided into free
holdings for many of the former enslaved laborers from Seville and neighboring
estates.7
MATERIAL EXPRESSION IN SEVILLE BURIALS
The Seville burials exhibit several shared mortuary practices but each is distinct in both material accompaniment and osteological identity (Tables I and II).
All were placed in burial pits dug into the limestone bedrock and all were buried
in flat top wooden caskets. All four were buried in an east facing alignment. In
one case (SAJ-B1), the casket was slightly larger than the burial pit resulting in
the casket coming to rest at an angle at the bottom of the hole. Two of the burials were males in their early twenties, a third was a male in his mid-forties, and
the fourth was a female in her late teens. Only one of the burials (SAJ-B4, an
African male in his mid forties) had a flat stone grave marker on the surface;
6 As
for the burial location for the vast majority, we do not have a conclusive answer. At this point it
appears that they were buried in two areas. In the field west of the village and in the ruins of the Spanish
Church grounds at Seville. The area to the west of the village was in cultivation and unavailable for
testing when we carried out our research. However, at that time we observed fragments of human
remains in the yam mounds west of the village house sites.
7 While the trend in burial location after 1800 was to bury in cemetery plots in church yards away from
the village, in some of the more rural areas in the Caribbean occasional yard burials continue. House
and yard burials have been observed in currently occupied households at Accompong Town, a Maroon
settlement in Jamaica’s interior Cock-Pit region and at Steer Town, a postemancipation settlement in
the coastal area of St. Ann’s parish. Burial in the house-yard compound has also been observed in the
Virgin Islands (Armstrong, 2001).
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the others were identified during the excavation of their associated house-yard
compounds.
Two burials were encountered in proximity to house structures (SAJ-B1 andB2, Fig. 3). These burials were on the south side of adjacent houses in what appears
to have been a narrow walkway between each house (the houses were less than
4-m apart) and just off the main pathway that separated the two main rows of
houses. The other two burials were found in their respective yards. The only burial
visible on the surface, burial SAJ-B4 (African male in his forties), was located
approximately 8-m from the back edge of the foundation of house area 1.13 at the
far edge of the activity area to the rear of this house-yard compound. The only
female (SAJ-B3, African, late teens), was found in the front yard of 1.19. This
house-yard varied from all of the others in that it was not part of the row of houses
but rather a house that was set back behind them. Whereas the main yards of the
primary row of surviving houses was to the west, behind the houses and on the
opposite side as the house’s doorway, the yard area of house 1.19 was to the east,
or on the same side as the door. This arrangement allowed yard-to-yard interaction
between people residing in house area 1.19 and the row of houses to the east.
The yards were divided by accumulations of trash at the margins but all appear
to have been interconnected with pathways (indicated by the presence of fewer
disposed artifacts). Hence, while there is some variation in the actual location
of burials within the yard, all were located in proximity to specific house-yard
areas. It is possible that the three unmarked graves were once marked and that the
surface markings of these burials were destroyed or obliterated over time. However,
the location of two of these graves in the narrow pathway between houses and
the application of an external yard floor suggests active use of this area after
burial.
The female’s grave was not in such a direct pathway but showed no evidence
of a marker. The only marked grave was that of the older male. This grave was
placed at a distance from the house in the rear of its yard. Its positioning at the edge
of the yard and out of the primary foot traffic route may account for the survival
of the markings. The location of the burial and the carefully laid out cut limestone
blocks reflect a planned effort to bury an individual who was important within his
community.
Ceramics from burial fill are mostly delftwares and help to define the approximate date of burial. Burial SAJ-B1 is associated with house area 1.16 (MCD
1730, abandoned circa 1780s; Table I). SAJ-B2, the burial in the neighboring
house-yard (1.20), is associated with a structure that has a mean date of 1740. The
house-yard immediately behind these two houses contains SAJ-B3 (the female)
and has a slightly later mean date in the 1750s, while SAJ-B4 was found associated with a similar mid-century context. The burial fill for this individual was
mostly delftware with a single fragment of slip dipped salt glazed stoneware.
Hence, all of the burials date to the early to mid-eighteenth century. All were
located in small, approximately 8 × 8 m, multifunction yard areas. Other yard
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Fig. 4. Burial SAJ-B1 – (A) coffin identified; (B) pattern of coffin nails; (C) skeleton and
associated artifacts in situ.
functions included cooking activities, gardening, socializing, and burial grounds
(Armstrong and Kelly, 2000). The burials appear to represent an active or functional part of the house-yard complex linking the household and the community
to its past occupants.
All of the individuals were buried in coffins and these coffins shared several
characteristics, (Figs. 4–8). Each of the coffins was easily discernable and was
marked by the presence of rows of nails. The coffins tapered at the feet and slightly
at the head and had a flat lid secured with nails pointed tip down. The coffins of the
three males exhibited similar construction with two distinct sizes of coffin nails.
These coffins all repeated the pattern of small 2–3 d (less than 3 cm) coffin nails
securing the lid, 4–6 d (3–5 cm) nails securing the sides and bottom, and long
10–16 d (5–7.5 cm) nails securing the ends. Two individuals, both males (SAJ-B2
and SAJ-B4) had coffin handles.
In contrast to the coffins of the three males, the coffin of the young female
not only had less than one fourth the number of nails holding it together (56 vs.
an average of 231 for the males), but with the exception of long nails holding
the side boards together, no specific nails or size of nail was used in construction (Table I). This variance from the coffins of the males in combination with
the shallowness of the grave suggests differential treatment of this individual. It
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Fig. 5. Burial SAJ-B2 – (A) pattern of coffin nails SAJ-B2; (B) skeleton and associated artifacts in
situ.
may reflect a social differentiation based on gender, age, or the idiosyncratic relationship of the individual to the community. The fact that they all were buried
in coffins is in contrast to the majority of noncoffin burials found at Newton plantation in Barbados and may in itself reflect ongoing transformations within this
community.
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Fig. 6. Burial SAJ B3 – (A) pattern of coffin nails; (B) skeleton and associated artifacts in situ.
Each individual was buried with one or more distinctive artifacts that convey
information about them and their relationship to the community. Two had objects
that might be linked to ritual or spiritual significance; and two had objects that
may define the skills and crafts with which they were associated in life. The burial
found at house area 16 (SAJ-B1) had a large lock placed in the fill immediately
above the coffin (Figs. 4 and 9(A). Local Jamaicans who witnessed the excavation
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Fig. 7. Burial SAJ-B4 – (A) grave markers (note that actual burial pit is offset from the grave
markers); (B) burial pit.
were quick to comment on the use of locks to “keep the duppy down,” or to hold
the spirit of the deceased in the ground. The female (SAJ-B3) was found with a
pecked crystal stopper placed in the grave immediately above the coffin (Figs. 6
and 9(C)). The crystal represents a relatively expensive item, and the fact that
it was systematically pecked reflects reuse. The nature of that use is subject to
speculation, but based on its placement in the burial, it may well have served not
only as a personal possession but also as a spiritual object. The clear glass crystal
was part of a faceted bottle stopper that had been deliberately and repeatedly
pecked on its two broad flat surfaces. The peck marks are a series of overlapping
round shapes made with a small hollow object (the marks are 2.5 mm in diameter).
The interpretation of this individual as someone with recognized spiritual power
might explain her burial within the village, even though she was female and only
a teenager. However, in the absence of a more complex set of spiritually related
objects such as encountered by Jerome Handler for a probable diviner-healer on
Barbados, we can only present this explanation as an unconfirmed possibility.
The other two individuals had objects placed directly within the burial. The
older male (SAJ-B4) had a calibrated carpenter’s compass (or divider) at his side
(Figs. 7, 8, and 9(D)) and SAJ-B2 (male, early twenties) had a knife in his left
hand and a complete and unused tobacco pipe on his chest (Figs. 5 and 9(B)). The
presence of the carpenter’s compass is probably an acknowledgement by the living
of woodworking and carpentry activities with which this individual was associated
in life. The compass was made of wrought iron with a well-fitted hinge that had a
calibrated brass plate (Fig. 9(D)). This tool would have been one of the most costly
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Fig. 8. Burial SAJ B4 – (A) pattern of coffin nails; (B) skeleton and associated artifacts in situ.
items recovered from the village. The estate inventories identify several slaves who
were carpenters for the estate. While five are listed on the 1753 and 1759 Seville
inventories, only two of the carpenters on the 1753 list continued to live on the
estate in 1759. We have no surviving records of specific names or occupations of
slaves prior to 1753, however, if this individual died in the 1750s it is probable
that he was one of three carpenters: John, James, or Thompson, all of whom were
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Fig. 9. (A) Lock from burial fill of SAJ-B1; (B) knife from SAJ-B2; (C) pecked crystal stopper
from SAJ-B3; (D) carpenter’s compass from SAJ-B4.
carpenters who were no longer listed in the 1759 inventory (Jamaica Archives
IB/11/3/38-1759, folios 181a–184b; IB/11/3/36-1753, folios 117a–119b).
The knife, found with SAJ-B2, had an iron blade and a bone handle (Figs. 5
and 9(B)). The blade measured 15 cm in length. The knife was placed in the
left hand and independent osteological analysis indicates that this individual was
probably left handed (Table IV).
All of the individuals were buried in clothing secured with bone buttons. As
with coffin construction, the number and location of buttons suggests a difference
in burial practices between the three males and the female (Table I). The female had
only three buttons while the males averaged 11. Hence, the female had less than
1/3 of the average number of buttons compared to the males. In addition the men all
had buttons in the area of the pelvis, at the wrists, and collar. One, SAJ-B4, also had
buttons found among the vertebra. The location and number of buttons suggest that
males were dressed in either pullover shirts with cuffs or button-up shirts. All had
pants that buttoned up in front. All of this data is consistent with general patterns
of dress and access to materials in a plantation setting. The only metal buttons
were two brass cuff buttons found with SAJ-B2 (one on either wrist). The three
bone buttons found with the young woman were found in the area of the pelvis and
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lower vertebrae. The grouping of buttons suggests fasteners for pants, however,
they also may have fastened a skirt. The buttons show differentiation between
the dress of men and women. Overall, the materials show variation pertaining to
internal relationships in the community that are linked to gender, age, skill, and
internally defined recognition.
SKELETAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN REMAINS AT SEVILLE
Historically, recognition of the presence of osteological evidence of slaves
has been inhibited by the lack of recognition of burial practices and, at least in
the Caribbean, a tendency toward unmarked plots. The paucity of data can be
linked to historical and modern bigotry concerning these populations. Analysis
of African Caribbean populations are of great importance if we are to understand
more clearly the dynamics of this time and the people who contributed so much
culturally and biologically to their new homelands. Examination of the osteological and pathological clues that they provide helps in the understanding of the site’s
history. Based on their context we can obtain considerable insight into a growing
body of information on persons of African descent in the Americas (Tables III and
IV; see Angel et al., 1985; Angel and Kelly, 1983; Blakey et al., 1994; Cameron
et al., 1990; Corruccini et al., 1982, 1985; Handler, 1996, 1997; Handler and
Lange, 1978; Harris and Rathbun, 1989; Jacobi et al., 1992; Kelley, 1989; Kelley
and Angel, 1987; Khudabux, 1999; Mann et al., 1987; Moore-Jansen and Jantz,
1989; Parrington and Roberts, 1990; Rathbun, 1987; Watters, 1987). The bioanthorpolgical interpretation of the four burials is presented in the order of their
excavation.
The SAJ-B1 Burial
The osteological remains of individual SAJ-B1 were unearthed within the
house and yard compound of house area 1.16. He was a male in his 20s to early
Table III. Osteological Attributes of African Descent
Attribute
SAJ-B1
SAJ-B2
SAJ-B3
SAJ-B4
Indentation at nasion
Nasal index
Nasal gutter
Alveolar prognathism
Supragonial inversion
Index of A–P bowing of femur
No
54.35a
No
Yes
Yes
Strongc
No
Bdth. 2.9 cmsb
Yes
Yes
Yes
Weak
No
Bdth. 2.6 cmsb
Yes
Yes
Yes
NA
Yes
Bdth. 2.6 cmsb
Yes
Yes
Yes
Med/weak
a Estimated.
b Height could not be measured.
c Reason to believe the bowing is
related to a pathological condition.
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Table IV. Seville Burials: Summary of Pathology
Burial
Sex
Age
SAJ-B1
M
20–25 Femurs strongly bowed in A–P plane and flattened in A–P diameter just distal
to the lesser trochanter (hyperplatymetric); tibias pathologically narrow
(medio-lateral bdth.), which is hypercnemic; possible subperiosteal suppuration on right acromial tip of scapula; superficial smooth sided pitting
on compact bone surface of entire skeleton, etiology unknown; right parietal shows a premortem destruction of the inner table that was exacerbated
by postmortem erosion, etiology unknown.
SAJ-B2
M
20–35 High porosity in the supraorbital area along with great thickening of the
bregmatic area involving the frontal and both parietals, the squamous
area of the occipital is thickened at lambda and is thicker than average
in the area of the occipital protuberance; there is an increased porosity
between bregma and lambda with a circular area of rarification posterior
to the parietal foramena and crossing the sagittal suture; the right radius
shows a bone scar on the shaft; metacarpal for the left pollux was severely
injured before attaining full growth, the bone is curved in the A–P plane
and the proximal end has been thickened with new growth; the posterior
mid-shaft of the left fibula shows a swelling of the compact bone surface
but no porosity, etiology unknown.
SAJ-B3
F
17–19 Classic butterfly pattern of porotic hyperostos is present along with cribra orbitalia; porotic area just superior to glabella, also present on right quadrant
near bregma and on the left are two highly porotic areas near the coronal
suture; frontal process of left zygomatic has an eroded pit on the edge
of the orbit etiology unknown; on right maxilla just inside nasal opening
is an abscess; compression sulcae on the inferior aspects of two lumbar
centra; left humeral diaphysis show eroded crotical bone on distal half
(may be subperiosteal suppuration or postmortem damage); left pollux
has pathological proximal end that appears to be osteoarthritis as a result
of trauma to the joint; platymeric index of femur is stenomeric (round)
and possibly pathological; left tibia has an abscess in the cortex of the
posterior proximal one third of the shaft; cortical bone of the tibia is thin,
meduliary cavity is enlarged; left distal shaft of the fibula shows smooth
pitting of cortical sufrace, etiology unknown.
SAJ-B4
M
40+
Summarized major pathologies
Left side of frontal bone shows marked swelling in pterionic area, etilogy
unknown; severe periodontal disease and marked hypercementosis for
both mandibular and maxillary teeth; cervical osteoarthritis is present in
the form of osteophytes and rarification of the apophyseal facets, osteophytes are also present on the centra; one lumbar centrum shows some
rarification; the acromion of the right scapula shows arthritic rarification
on the clavicular joint surface, the tendenous attachments show enthesophytes; periostitis is present on the proximal one third of the shaft and
neck of right and left humerus, a small amount of osteoarthritis is present
on the heads; tendon of the triceps to the olecranon of the right and left
ulnas has become ossified (enthesophytes); right radius shows two subperiosteal lesions on the anterio-medial midshaft; right triquetral shows
periostitis, some on the left as well; right lesser multangular shows some
rarification on articular surfaces as does the right capitate; metacarpal
for the right pollux shows periostial reaction proximally on dorso-medial
edge of saddle joint, the distal heads of right and left show osteophytic
growths (arthritis); all the phalanges present showarthritic damage at the
joints; right and left innominates shows a scleotic subperiostial buildup on
the anterior inferior iliac spine, spicular buildup appears on the superior
edge of the right acetabulum, on the left there is an croded lesion in the same
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Table IV. (Continued.)
Burial
Sex
Age
Summarized major pathologies
area; right and left femura show periostial buildup in the pectinial/gluteal
area, popliteal surface and the medial supracondylar line; right and left tibias
and fibulas are fully involved with spicular and sclerotic periostitis, endostial surfaces are involved as well with the fibular meduliar canal severely
occluded by buildup indicative of osteomyelitis, no cloacae or sequestra
are present; right calcaneous is fully involved and has a large deep cloaca
on the plantar surface of the calcaneal tubercle, a second smaller cloaca is
present superior to the calcaneal tuber; right talus has periostial buildup adjacent to the groove for the flexor hallucis longus; right navicular is involved
as is the left and show enthesophytes in the calcaneo-navicular ligament;
the left and right cuneiforms show small areas of periostial buildup and
some enthesophytes; metatarsals for the right and left hallux show scattered
periostial activity; the other metatarsals show scattered spicular and sclerotic periostial activity, metatarsal 5 on the left shows a fused break at the
metatarsal–phalangeal joint.
30s who was of African ancestry. There is a differential preservation of the skeleton
with the bones of the lower, right side more deteriorated, the coffin having been
put into the hole on a slight angle with the body settled to one side.
SAJ-B1 is slightly built. He died sometime in his twenties or early thirties
(aging by tooth attrition and suture closure). He could have been a paraplegic as
evidenced by the femur and may have had a partial facial paralysis shown by a
difference in height between the two sides of the jaw.
The African characteristics present include pronounced alveolar prognathism,
supragonial inversion (rear of mandibular ramus is curved inward), stepped mastoids, and a broad nasal root (Table III). The masculine characteristics are rugged
muscular attachments to skull, broad menton (chin), and narrow sciatic notch in
the os coxae of the pelvis (Armstrong and Fleischman, 1993, p. 58–65). He shows
strong muscular development of hands and feet but little muscular development
over the rest of the body and shows a platymeric index of 70 for the femur indicating
that the shaft is flattened from anterior to posterior. The tibia has a platycenemic
index of 50 indicating that the shaft is very narrow from side to side (these indices fall within pathological dimensions defined by Bass, 1987; Kennedy, 1989;
Stewart, 1979; Ubelaker, 1978). The height of this individual was between 156.72
and 164.54-cm tall (Table II). He does show a relative ruggosity of the nuchal
area, forearms, wrists and hands, ankles and feet. The hands and feet show a great
deal of cresting where tendons, ligaments, and interphalangeal muscles attach. In
examining this individual Dr K. A. R. Kennedy noted a kneeling facet and scribe’s
toe (Fig. 10) as being present as defined by Ubelaker (1979).
The skeleton is not average in height or robusticity when compared to populations discussed by Angel and Kelly (1983), Mann et al. (1987) or Higman
(1979). Given the sample of four from an earlier time frame than these other
populations (late seventeenth–early eighteenth century), it is difficult to make any
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Fig. 10. SAJ-B1: Hyperextension of hallux (scribe’s toe).
firm comparisons. There is a possibility of paraplegia in that the linea aspera of the
femur is very slight and the angle at which the femur meets the tibia is not as sharp
as in the other recovered individuals (Table IV). The ascending ramus (vertical
portion) of the mandible is higher on the right side by 5 mm. The mandibular
condyles also differ in size with the left being larger than the right by 2 mm. This
asymmetry of the mandible is long standing. The teeth show more wear on the right
side while the attachment of the temporal muscle is stronger on the left side along
with the enlarged condyle, both of which show developmental compensation. On
the other hand, the condition of his teeth match closely that described by Corruccini
et al. (1982) with few caries except between the teeth, general periodontal disease,
a number of missing teeth premortem, and a few hypoplasic areas on the molars.
This would infer that diet and use of the jaws was similar to that of the Barbados
finds. There is no expressed major trauma or pathology in the skeleton that could
be directly related to the early age at death. Actual cause of death has not been
determined.
The fact that this small, male is only one of four of an early slave population
does not allow us to place him accurately as an individual in a population of
peers. Though other African skeletal features are present in the skull, there is no
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infranasal guttering. The femurs do not show the slight anterior bowing present in
the other three burials or in African populations (within more recent times) but,
rather a more extreme bowing associated with some Whites and Native Americans
(Walensky, 1965).8
The SAJ-B2 Burial
The SAJ-B2 skeleton, recovered from house area 1.20 in 1990, is very different from the individual recovered from neighboring house area 1.16 (SAJ-B1).
The remains are in good condition with some damage due to soil conditions. This
is a robust individual with strong muscle markings who falls easily into the male
range using the skull, pelvis, and heads of the femur and humerus for analysis
(Armstrong and Fleischman, 1993, pp. 58–65; Bass, 1987). The superior border of
the orbit is thick, mastoids are large, there is a large supramastoid crest extending
from a shelf over porion (superior border of the external ear hole). The menton
(chin) is broad, and the skull is large in general. The pelvis is large and has a narrow sciatic notch both being male characteristics (Bass, 1987; Houghton, 1974;
Kennedy, 1989; Krogman, 1962; Stewart, 1979; Ubelaker, 1978; Walenski, 1965).
Characteristics on the skull are those of African affinity. There is a strong
alveolar prognathism, nasal guttering (inferior nasal boarder not sharp), and a
supragonial inversion. The femur shows less bowing anteriorly and shows less
torsion than SAJ-B1 (Tables III and IV). Height is calculated within a range of
167.4–163.4 cm (Table II; Bass, 1987).
These are the skeletal remains of a muscular male of African descent. There
is no obvious cause of death, but the individual died in his early 20s according
to tooth wear, auricular surface of pelvis (sacro-iliac joint), and annular rings of
the spine (Table IV). There is a great thickening of the diploe (spongy bone)
in the mid-sagital plane of the skull. Bone has a limited range of response to
environmental stress that results in different causalities showing similar effects
(Ortner and Putschar, 1985). Thus there is a range of normal cranial thickness
that can overlap with pathologically induced thickening (Stuart-Macadam, 1992).
Though the bones of this individual’s skull are thicker than the average and raise
the possibility of reaction to chronic anemia, further stigmata are needed for a
more positive diagnosis. Identifying the type of anemia may be impossible. All
chronic anemias affect bone in a similar way no matter what the etiology. Sickle
cell, however, may have more postcranial effects due to clotting and necrosis.
8 Characteristics
used to typify particular populations (i.e., European or African or Native American)
are not exclusively the provenance of those populations, they simply occur at higher frequency in
one or another group. Many of these characteristics, like anterior–posterior bowing of the femur, are
continuous in expression. Since only four individuals were examined, ethnic identification depends
upon both the physical traits and cultural traits, along with provenance. Thus smaller numbers made
the assigning of individuals more tentative until such time as more evidence accumulates.
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The health and power of this individual is pronounced in the ruggedness of
his bones that reflect the heavy use to which his muscles were put. The osteological
analysis shows the left clavicle is more rugged than the right. The left humerus
is also more rugged and slightly larger than the right. The arm bones are rugged
and show strong muscle attachments. The entire left forearm is more rugged and
slightly larger than the right (Table IV).
In addition to providing another example of a burial in the house-yard compound, there are artifacts that tell much about the individual and his relationships
with others in the community. The knife placed in his left hand further suggests
that individuals in his community recognized that this individual was left handed.
(Figs. 5 and 9(B)).
The SAJ-B3 Burial
SAJ-B3 is the only female among the four burials recovered from Seville. The
burial exhibits consistency in orientation and mortuary practices with the others.
Sexing was determined by means of the skull and pelvis. The skull is very gracile
and the orbits have sharp superior edges. The mastoids are small and there is no
cresting; the menton (chin) is narrow. In the pelvis the sciatic notch is wide and
there is a pronounced preauricular sulcus that is generally more pronounced in
females than in males (Armstrong and Fleischman, 1993, p. 62–63; Bass, 1987;
Kennedy, 1989; Ubelaker, 1978).
Unlike the others, this individual was deposited in a relatively shallow grave
of less than 70 cm. Moreover the prepared grave was only partially dug into the
limestone bedrock. As a consequence the skeleton is not as well preserved as
the others. She was young (16–19 years old) and of African ancestry. Aging was
done through tooth wear, sutures, and clavicle epiphyses that were not yet united
(Table IV). African features present are a marked indentation at nasion, strong
parietal bossing, guttering of the inferior nasal opening, and a supragonial inversion (Table III). She was suffering from a severe chronic anemia that may have
contributed to her early demise. She shows the classic “butterfly” pattern on her
parietals associated with porotic hyperostosis (Fig. 11). Porotic hyperostosis is
considered a classic signature of anemia (Angel, 1964; Kent and Dunn, 1994;
Mann and Murphy, 1990; Ortner and Putschar, 1985; Stuart-Macadam, 1992).
She also shows signs of cribra orbitalia on what is left of the roof of her orbits.
The latter occurrence appears in chronically anemic youth but disappears (is remodeled) in the adult. There is some debate as to whether cribra orbitalia and
porotic hyperostosis are linked expressions or are separate occurrences (StuartMacadam, 1992). This individual shows both stigmata. Multicausality probably
is acting here and neither diet, parasites or sickle cell may be ruled out given the
stresses of slavery, life in the tropics and the gene pool of the population involved
(Fig. 12).
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Fig. 11. SAJ-B3: Top of vault (note porotic hyperostosis in butterfly pattern).
Mortuary practices associated with this individual varied from the other three
in terms of time, energy, and expense of burial. Not only was the burial pit shallower
than the others but the coffin was less substantial, with no coffin handles and fewer
nails than found with the three males. The variation may have been a reflection of
the differences associated with the burial of males and females. However, given
that she was one of only a few individuals selected for burial within a house yard
setting and that she appears to have achieved a very special status at a relatively
young age, her presence is indicative of special recognition. As indicated in the
discussion of material remains the pecked crystal artifact found with her remains
suggests a possible role as a healer, or Obeah person, who was believed to possess
spiritual and ritual powers. However, the osteological evidence that this individual
was in her late teens raises a question as to how developed these skills might have
been at that young age.
The SAJ-B4 Skeleton
The SAJ-B4 skeleton recovered from the rear yard of house area 1.13 differs
from the other three burials at the site in a number of ways. This individual was
a relatively old African male. He was placed in a well-marked and deep grave
(over 120 cm). African traits consisted of frontal and parietal bossing, alveolar
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Fig. 12. SAJ-B3: X-ray of tibias (note thinning of cortex).
prognathism, nasal guttering, and supragonial inversion (Table III). Male sexual
characteristics were a large rugged skull, rugged nuchal area, cresting over porion
and mastoids, broad rugged menton, and a large and rugged pelvis (Table II).
He was 40 years, or older, at the time of death, based upon tooth wear and
suture closure. He was suffering from an infection (osteomyelitis) of the feet
which had become septic and had spread to his lower limbs. This infection not
only affected his mobility but easily could have contributed to his death (Table IV).
His range of height, obtained from the femurs, was 165.8–173.7 cm (Bass, 1987).
The archaeological recovery of a carpenter’s divider within the coffin of this
individual combined with the osteological data and with detailed records from the
plantation inventory allow us to state this individual’s probable occupation as a
carpenter. Signs of osteoarthritis are present in the cervical (neck) region but not
the rest of the spine. The clavicles are marked heavily by muscle attachment and
the scapular articulations are heavily worn and large. It is likely that sawing wood
is reflected here rather than a motion associated with cane cutting. Sawing wood
uses a different dynamic than cane cutting. The arm or arms are used in a straight
anterior–posterior plane that works the joint between the acromion process of the
scapula and the acromial end of the clavical. Cutting cane involves a powerful
lateral to medial motion and uses the joint between the head of the humerus and
the glenoid fessa of the scapula more heavily. The bones of the arms are rugged
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and large. Tendon attachments show heavy use consistent with work related stress
(Table IV).
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Despite the emphasis in historical accounts on in-house burials, Handler and
Lange (1978, p. 174) have suggested that the majority of slaves were not buried
within house-compounds but rather in “negotiated plots either immediately surrounding the village or at burial grounds made available by the planter.” In strictly
quantitative terms this is probably true and is indirectly supported by the Seville
data. However, the data from Seville, combined with historical and archaeological
accounts from the Caribbean and West Africa, demonstrate the social significance
of house compound burials. House compound burials at Seville combined with
the historical documentation of this burial pattern show that prior to the 1780s
house-compound burials were a common and significant, albeit selective, practice
throughout the region.
Though only a small proportion of the enslaved from any household or community were buried beneath the house or in the immediate yard, the practice was
widely reported, and was viewed as significant to both the slave and the observing
plantation management. Thus, house-yard burials are a significant component in
early slave settlements and should be considered in any examination of Caribbean
mortuary practices. Moreover, studies from this period must incorporate analysis
of the houses and yards in which these people lived. The presence of ancestors
in the yard served to link the people to the community and the community to
its past. They also reveal local cultural variation indicative of creative processes
of transformation associated with the emergence of new cultures and societies in
the Americas. The burials show common denominators of placement, orientation,
and the accompaniment of specific valued artifacts; however, comparative analysis
of artifacts also demonstrates internal variations reflecting specific relationships
between these individuals and their community.
The four individuals show considerable variation within a small sample. This
variation defines, to some degree, the diversity to be expected in a Jamaican slave
community in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The osteological
analysis of SAJ-B2 illustrates an individual who fits the profile of a field laborer,
who would have been a valued asset to the planter and who was recognized in death
by the mortuary practice of his community. This individual appears to have been
the healthiest of the group. SAJ-B4 tells us about the valued, skilled tradesman.
The data suggests that he was a carpenter and information on plantation inventories
indicate that he may have been one of three carpenters who died between 1753 and
1759. This date is consistent with ceramics from the fill and the overall assemblage
of artifacts from the burial. This individual had achieved status both within his
community and as a skilled laborer/tradesman for the estate. He lived into his forties
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Fig. 13. SAJ-B4: Heavy buildup of periostitis on calcaneous (note large cloaca in heal–plantar
surface).
but the compounded pathologies recorded in his bones illustrate both specific
hazards of labor on the estate (septic infection probably resulting from a puncture
wound to the foot) and the chronic and additive poor health conditions for laborers
on the estate.
Osteomyelitis is the bony response to sepsis. Before antibiotics, osteomyelitis would not be treatable and although today it is uncommon in countries with
western medical technology, there is still no easy cure for it once the infection
becomes established. Classically osteomyelitis commonly affects the tibia and
fibula (Fig. 13) and suppuration takes place in that area or the heel (calcaneous) of
the foot (Fig. 14). Suppuration is one of the clinical aspects of osteomyelitis, but
there is also a rare expression called nonsuppurative osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis
is distinguished from periostitis by the involvement of the endosteum and marrow
cavity of the bone as well as the outer surface of compact bone. Periostitis, one
of the characteristics of osteomyelitis, is a generic expression of irritation at the
bone/membrane surface and can occur on any bone whose surface is being irritated
in such a way as to stimulate the periosteum. One can have periostitis and not have
osteomyelitis. SAJ-B4 appears to have osteomyelitis (Ortner and Putschar, 1985;
Steinboek, 1976).
One individual, SAJ-B1, shows that a person with a disability could survive in
a slave-based plantation economy and his interment within the floor of a house-yard
suggests that he may have held a position of significance within his community.
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Fig. 14. SAJ-B4: Heavy buildup of periostitis on fibulas.
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The presence of a lock in his grave forces us to ask what his role was within the
community given his disabilities. Even as he was honored in burial within the
community the presence of the lock above the casket might indicate an attempt to
prevent this spirit from wandering. If disabled, the fact that he survived for years
indicates the presence of social systems of support within the African Jamaican
community.
Finally, SAJ-B3 shows that females, even young ones, were buried within
the house compound. She also supplies us with a clue about the presence of severe chronic anemia in the population. The presence of the reworked and battered
crystal stopper may be an indicator of her role within this community perhaps
as a healer/diviner. Similar, although more elaborate burial goods found with
an individual from Barbados have been used to define the presence of a male
healer/diviner within the Newton plantation cemetery. Though reflecting a less diverse assemblage than found in Barbados, the Seville burials (SAJ-B1 and SAJ-B3)
are suggestive of spiritual relationships between individuals and their community.
The presence of significantly fewer artifacts including both clothing fasteners
and coffin hardware indicate a distinction based on age and gender (either or
both).
House-yard compound burials were a basic element of many societies in
West Africa. The presence of burials in the house-yards of the early settlement
at Seville is indicative of the continuation of elements of African tradition in a
new and transformed Jamaican context. What is seen at Seville is a mixing of
old and new ways. The presence of the array of grave goods may very well be
a continuity of African practice but the use of coffins reflects the adoption of
new behaviors demonstrate a link with these African backgrounds and cultural
practices. Moreover, while the presence of four burials in the early settlement
suggests continuities, the fact that only four individuals were buried in this manner
is indicative of social change. The absence of burials from the latter village and the
ultimate movement of a substantial proportion of that population to the missionary
sponsored free settlement points to longitudinal change in burial practice.
The relationships expressed in burial goods and pathologies at Seville are
reflective of locally defined conditions and permutations of life and death on a
Caribbean plantation. The pathologies present within this small sample indicate a
harsh life that resulted in an array of conditions ranging from anemia to osteomyellitis. While synthetic analysis of the bioanthropology of the community as a whole
is limited by a population of only four individuals, these individuals constitute a
group of socially related individuals from context that allows integration of spatial
and cultural data with information on the physical condition. In spite of the institution of slavery and a wide range of physical and cultural restraints, these individuals
had formed a community. This community retained elements of African heritage
and adopted new cultural practices that were expressed to one another through
funerary practices. The house-yard burials from Seville plantation provide solid
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evidence of complex and transforming social relations within a Jamaican slave
community.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, Robert Corruccini, Joan Armstrong,
DDS, Seymour Dushay, DDS, and Dr. Mark Levinsohn for their assistance with aspects of the osteological analysis. Magetometer surveys of the site were carried out
by John Sexton and Harvey Hanson. The study of bioanthropology in the Caribbean
is indebted to previous research in Barbados by Jerome Handler, Frederick Lange,
and Robert Corruccini, and in Montserrat by Conrad Goodwin, Lydia Pulsipher,
and David Watters. This study is part of a larger study of African Jamaican transformations at Seville plantation. More than 150 students from Syracuse University,
along with students from the University of the West Indies at Mona and staff from
the Jamaica National Heritage Trust have assisted with excavation at Seville. In
particular we would like to thank JNHT archaeologists Dorrick Gray and Roderick
Ebanks for their assistance both in the field and in the administration of research at
Seville. Kofi Agorsah, Kenneth Kelly, and James Delle participated in the project
at Seville and have provided continual support to our research effort. Thanks are
due to Michael Blakey and Jerome Handler for their comments on earlier versions
of this paper. The research at Seville has been generously supported by the Jamaica
National Heritage Trust (our cooperative partner in research), the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, and the Wenner–Gren
Foundation for Anthropological Research.
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