An Archaeological Examination of Slave Life in the Danish

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2006 An Archaeological Examination of Slave Life in the Danish West Indies: Analysis of the Material Culture of a Caribbean Slave Village Illustrating Economic Provisioning and Acquisition Preferences Robert Steven Kidd

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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF SLAVE LIFE IN THE DANISH WEST INDIES: ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF A CARIBBEAN SLAVE VILLAGE ILLUSTRATING ECONOMIC PROVISIONING AND ACQUISITION PREFERENCES.

ROBERT STEVEN KIDD

A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science

DEGREE AWARDED: Fall Semester, 2006

The Members of the Committee approve the Thesis of R. Steven Kidd defended on July 7, 2006.

______Glen H. Doran Professor Directing Thesis

______Elizabeth Peters Committee Member

______Bruce Grindal Committee Member

Approved:

______Dean Falk, Chair, Department of Anthropology

The office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members.

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to first of all thank Dr. Amy L. Young from the University of Southern Mississippi for providing many opportunities in the field of Historical Archeology. Her direction during my undergraduate studies instilled a fondness for the “modern junk” so many archeologists often ignored. I would also like to thank Dr. Larry McKee for allowing me the opportunity of working with him on such a fantastic site as the Hermitage. I would like to thank Dr. David G. Anderson for allowing me to work on the Water Island project and funding me through the analysis and write-up of the report and beyond. His patience and tutelage allowed me to enjoy a fruitful career at the Southeast Archeological Center. I would also like to thank my major professor Dr. Glen Doran for his guidance and knowledge during my graduate career here at Florida State. Dr. Doran along with the other faculty on my committee provided insightful and useful suggestions that made this document so much better. I would also like to thank John Cornelison of the Southeast Archeological Center for providing council during the very stressful period during which this document was produced. Thanks are also in order for Mr. Glass who helped me through some of the more trying times during the course of writing this thesis. Finally a special thanks to my parents Robert and Martha Kidd for their ongoing support that one day this thesis would be finished. To them and everyone else responsible for helping me reach this goal thank you.

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES...... V

LIST OF TABLES...... VI

ABSTRACT ...... VII

INTRODUCTION...... 1

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING...... 4

PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGY ...... 8

PREHISTORY...... 13

HISTORY ...... 17

FIELD RECONNAISSANCE AND EXCAVATIONS...... 31

PROVISION FARMING AND THE MARKET SYSTEM OF THE DANISH WEST INDIES ...... 42

SPECIALIZED ANALYSES...... 46 PIPE FRAGMENTS ...... 46 CLOTHING...... 50 DIET...... 54 STONE ARTIFACTS ...... 60 LITHIC SPECIMENS...... 61 Formal Tools History...... 62 EARTHENWARES...... 69 HISTORIC AFRICAN PRODUCED CERAMICS ...... 69 Comparison of Low-Fired Earthenwares from Water Island...... 73 HISTORIC CERAMICS ...... 77 EUROPEAN CERAMICS ...... 79 CONCLUSION...... 86

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 94

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH...... 102

iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Enlarged Portion of 1983 USGS 7.5 Minute Quad Map of Water Island...... 7 Figure 2. Map of Archeological Sites on Water Island from Anderson et al. 2002...... 10 Figure 3. Carolina Point Plantation excavation areas...... 12 Figure 4. Slave Population 1769-1848 from census records (Matrikler Tables 1769-1848)...... 22 Figure 5. Map of Water Island with enlarged view of Carolina Point Plantation adapted from Oxholm, Peter L. Plan of St. Thomas Havn og Bye 1778 (Rigsarkivet, Denmark)...... 23 Figure 6. Slave Structure One with excavation units...... 33 Figure 7. North wall of Slave Structure One...... 34 Figure 8. Slave Structure Two with excavation units...... 36 Figure 9. Western wall of Slave Structure Two looking south...... 37 Figure 10. Slave Structure Three with excavation units...... 39 Figure 11. Photo of Slave Structure Three...... 40 Figure 12. Bedrock Mortar with water applied to reveal pecking on surface...... 41 Figure 13. Pipe Fragments by Weight in grams...... 47 Figure 14. Pipe Fragments per Units Excavated...... 47 Figure 15. Pipe Stems and Bowls recovered from Slave Village...... 49 Figure 16. Buttons from Slave Structure One...... 52 Figure 17. Lead fishing weights from Slave Structure One...... 55 Figure 18. Carolina Point Gunflints by Country of Origin...... 65 Figure 19. Lithic tools by country of origin if determined...... 66 Figure 20. Non-formal tools from Carolina Point Plantation...... 67 Figure 21. Low fired earthenwares from Slave Structure Two...... 71 Figure 22. Mean vessel thickness (mm) of earthenwares recovered from six sites on Water Island...... 74 Figure 23. “Olla” type vessels from Slave Structure Two...... 78

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Chronology and Cultural Series for Virgin Islands (adapted fron Morse 1995, 2004 and Rouse 1992)...... 14 Table 2. Chronology and Cultural Series for Virgin Islands (adapted from Figueredo and Tyson 1986)...... 16 Table 3. Slave Census for the years 1723-1740 (Matrikler Table 1723-1740)...... 20 Table 4. Danish West Indies Plantation Survey for Carolina Point, Water Island 1805 (Central Management Archives, St. Thomas Registers, 1841-1911 Rigsarkivet, Denmark)...... 26 Table 5. Title chain for Carolina Point 1769-1911 (Central Management Archives, West Indies Audit Registers for St. Thomas, 1755-1915 Rigsarkivet, Denmark)...... 27 Table 6. Faunal material recovered by weight from different loci of Carolina Point...... 58 Table 7. Faunal remains from Carolina Point Plantation...... 59 Table 8. Weight in (g) of refined earthenwares from each Slave Structure...... 81 Table 9. Averaged Mean Ceramic Dates for Carolina Point Plantation Areas (not including Burned Room) ...... 84

vi ABSTRACT

This thesis will examine the artifact assemblages from three slave structures excavated in 1998 as part of a National Park Service project. The excavations of the three structures provided the researcher with a wealth of data regarding the daily lives of the enslaved population on Water Island. The secure contexts from which these artifacts were recovered have allowed the researcher to compare the artifacts, in particular the ceramics recovered from the slave cabins to those recovered from the plantation owner’s house. Through analysis of the ceramics recovered from these two unique contexts, this thesis will illustrate the existence of consumer choice among the slaves who through their own enterprises were able to amass small amounts of wealth with which they purchased the overwhelming majority if not all of their material possessions. The remains of these possessions, reveal that the slaves living at Carolina Point Plantation expressed their culture through the acquisition of material goods.

vii CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

During the summer of 1998 archeologists from the Southeast Archeological Center along with scholars and students from universities in the U.S. and abroad began archeological investigations on Water Island in the United States Virgin Islands. At the time Water Island was under the control of the U.S. Department of Interior who was in the process of turning possession of the island over to the Virgin Islands Territorial Government. Before the property could be released from federal ownership to the territorial government an inventory and assessment of historic properties on the island was required. This allowed a unique opportunity for researchers interested in the Danish colonial plantation era. The remains of a large plantation house and associated slave village were the focus of the excavations during the 1998 field season. The preservation of clay and stone items such as pottery, tobacco pipes, and stone tools allowed the researchers to draw very interesting interpretations regarding the daily lives of the plantation owners and the slaves who lived on the island. The year 1998 also marked the sesquintennial of emancipation in the former Danish West Indies. Census records from the period of slavery in the Virgin Islands reveal that the overwhelming majority of people living here were African in origin. The ratio in 1720 was eight Africans to every one European (Hatch 1972:33). The people who were enslaved left an indelible mark on the culture that exists today. The Caribbean, now a beautiful vacation spot for visitors from around the world, was once home to tens of thousands of enslaved individuals whose ancestors or themselves had been captured in Africa and brought to the Caribbean shackled together in the holds of ships for months only to reach the New World and forced into a lifetime of labor for which they were not rewarded. The enslaved populations in the New World created a culture all their own which drew not only on traditions and practices that were in place in Africa but also by

1 absorbing much from the Europeans who had enslaved them. Many of the items adopted from the Europeans were material goods that they transformed to reflect their cultural perspective. Chief among these that survive archeologically are items formed from clay or stone which retain much of their characteristics after a century and a half buried in the soils. Remnants of pottery, stone tools, and clay tobacco pipes have the ability to yield much information regarding the people who used and discarded them. This thesis examines the clay and stone artifacts from a slave village in the Caribbean that was home to a maximum of 60 enslaved individuals at the height of the plantation era (1720-1848) on the island. Through the examination of these remains, a story unfolds revealing that despite the harsh cruelties involved in the institution of slavery the enslaved population maintained a sense of identity through the items they chose to obtain. Ceramics are particularly interesting due to the Danish practice (which is reflective of a pan-Caribbean system) of slave owners allowing slaves two days to work their provision grounds in lieu of providing them with food, clothing, housing, or household wares. Of the aforementioned items the slaves provided for themselves, the household wares provide the greatest detail in the archaeological record. Examination of ceramic types and their decorations has led the researcher to believe that there are conscience choices made by the slave population to express a collective sense of identity through the ceramics and other items they chose to purchase. Along this line this thesis will have a discussion of the nature and history of the Danish West Indies that were important contributors which later allowed the enslaved population in the region to exercise choice in their material possessions. This phenomenon is on a much larger scale in this region of the Caribbean than is found in the United States where the owners provided the basic necessities for the slaves under their control. Most slave owners in the United States were obligated by law to provide their slaves a minimum of basic necessities such as food, housing, and clothing. These acts of paternalism were also forces of domination since it was the plantation owner who decided what, when, and who receives a particular item such as a plate from the master’s set of dishes, a hand me down shirt to wear, or when an individual will receive an allotment of corn meal. However, this phenomenon is absent in the Caribbean where the slaves were expected to provide for themselves and were even given two days off each

2 week from their regular tasks to do so. This resulted in the slaves’ abilities to purchase items reflective of their collective culture. More often than not, the artifacts recovered from slave sites in the United States are a reflection of the master’s tastes and do not directly reflect the choices of the occupants of the slave village. In the Danish West Indies, we are afforded the chance to witness what enslaved individuals were purchasing with the small amounts of money they were able to amass. This thesis will focus on the more durable remains recovered from the slave village excavations. Items of stone, clay, bone, and metal were well preserved and offered the researcher a chance to infer from these remains some patterns of slave life in the Danish West Indies from these remains. The enslaved people’s diets will be discussed from examining food remains as well as their abilities to procure these resources. The preparation of these dietary staples will be discussed and how preferences for traditional types of African pottery were selected in at least one of the slave cabins. A small stone tool production industry was evident in a single slave cabin and may have been possibly for trade in the market. Leisure activities, such as clay tobacco pipe usage, will be examined and compared to the practices of the slave owners who ranged from freed blacks to mullatoes, to Europeans. The results of this thesis will provide the reader with a pattern for what can be expected to be found at a Caribbean slave site, and show how the practices of slave holding in the Danish West Indies and in the Caribbean as a whole, were much different than those in the southern United States.

3 CHAPTER TWO

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING

Water Island is one of several islands and cays that comprise the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). The smallest of the USVI islands, it comprises a total of 491.5 acres. Located approximately 600 meters south of St. Thomas, USVI Water Island is geologically the oldest of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Water Island was formed by the convergence of the Caribbean Plate with the North American and Atlantic Ocean plate (US Department of the Interior 1995). Volcanic eruptions, a result of these plate movements, formed the island during the Cretaceous period. (Donnelly 1966). The results of the volcanic eruptions combined to create a hilly, rugged landscape with elevations ranging from 0-88 meters above sea level. Very little land on the island is level in fact the greatest majority of the island ranges from hilly to mountainous. Along the eastern portion of the island there are a number of bays which contain calcium rich deposits of coral debris, shell fragments, and coral based sandstone (Knight 2000). One bay in particular, Limestone Bay (Figure 1), was exploited during the colonial period for the calcium rich deposits found there. During this period the islands slaves were used to harvest stone from this bay which was then turned into quicklime by burning the limestone in large kilns located in St. Thomas and Water Island. The quicklime was used to produce mortar and plaster for many of the homes and storefronts of nearby St. Thomas. This is discussed in more detail in the chapter five. Water Island is part of the Greater Antilles and as such enjoys a semi-arid zone with rainfall ranging annually between 30-55 inches and annual temperature only ranging between 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit (Rivera et al. 1970:11-32). The predominant tree types are medium to large gumbo limbo (Bersera simaruba), Eugenia spp., genip (Melicoccus bijugatus), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), casha (Acacia sp.), tan-tan (Leucaena glauca), fiddlewood (Cytharexylum fruticosum), and fargipani (Plumeria rubra) trees. The understory is predominantly small acacia trees and pinquin (Bromelia pinquin). The latter is an exotic introduced species which thrives throughout the Caribbean particularly in

4 disturbed areas. The presence of large areas of pinquin are indicative of former slave settlements where it was often planted to delineate yard areas (Aley et al. 1989:III-12-15, 18-20). The warm weather with an almost unlimited growing season combined with the island’s location with regards to the Atlantic slave trade certainly influenced the rise of plantation society in the area. Water Island soils are volcanic in origin and are generally shallow in the uplands. The soils are classified as belonging to the Cramer series (Rivera et al. 1970:11-32). They consist of “moderately sloping to steep well drained soils that are shallow over partly weathered basic volcanic rocks. In a typical profile the surface layer is a dark reddish-brown gravelly clay loam that is 30 percent volcanic rock fragments. This layer is nine inches thick. The upper four inches of the subsoil is volcanic rock fragments. The lower six inches is very firm, dark reddish-brown clay. Below a depth of about 19 inches is partly altered volcanic rock” (Rivera et al. 1970: 12). These soils were adequate for agricultural cultivation during the island’s plantation era however the island’s relief prevented large scale raising of crops. The area of the island known as Carolina Point Plantation which is the focus of this study possesses the type of volcanic created soils which allowed for the raising of small plots of mainly subsistence crops. Native animal species are represented by reptiles, birds, amphibians, and mammals. Tortoises, iguanas, snakes, and lizards constitute the reptiles on the island with lizards being the most common. Among these the ground lizard (Ameiva exul), doctor lizard (Anolis cristatellus), and wood slave (Hemidactylus mabouia) were the most often observed. The only mammals endemic throughout the Virgin Islands are bats which play an important role in the reproduction of many of the island’s plants. Bird species are the most numerous terrestrial species found in the islands. Among these found on Water Island are bridled quail doves (Geotrygon mystacea), mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos), ground doves (Columbina passerina), and warblers (Dendroica spp.) (Aley et al. 1989:III-12-15, 18-20).

5 Among the introduced species rats (Rattus rattus) are the most numerous ground dwelling mammals. Other non-endemic animals currently living on the island are primarily house pets such as cats and dogs. During the height of the plantation system goats, pigs, chickens, horses, and cattle were kept on the island. Of these large mammals only a handful of goats remain on the island.

Figure 1. Enlarged Portion of 1983 USGS 7.5 Minute Quad Map of Water Island.

7 CHAPTER THREE

PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGY

The first archeological excavations on Water Island occurred over a two year period between 1934 and 1936 by St. Thomas resident Alvarez Julien (Buxton, et al. 1938). Over this two year period Julien succeeded in excavating the remains of twenty one individuals in Tamarind Tree Bay southwest of the former Carolina Point plantation. Originally these individuals were thought to be the remains of the aboriginal Carib or Taino of the area due to their association with giant conch shells (Strombus gigas), red ochre, stone celts, and pottery. However craniometric calculations arrived at a different conclusion. The remains of these individuals were reinterred after Julien collected the remains associated with the individuals. J. C. Trevor (then employed at Northwestern University) received word of the discovery and traveled to Water Island to relocate the remains for study. After much unsuccessful excavation, the remains of only seven individuals and an occipital of another individual could be located. The remains (after having been excavated, reinterred, and re-excavated) were less than complete, consisting of skull and pelvic fragments, humeri, sacra, femora, and calcanea. The remains were removed from Water Island and transported to the University Museum at Oxford University for study by L.H.D. Buxton. Osteological measurements of the remains determined that they originated from five adults, an adolescent, and a child believed to be approximately eleven years of age. Careful measurements of the remains were carried out as these were believed by Buxton and his colleagues, to be the first aboriginal remains from the area to undergo osteological measurements (Buxton et al. 1938). Upon arriving at their calculations the researchers were at a loss as to how to best explain their findings. The researchers claim that had the remains been presented without provenience they would immediately categorize them as Negroid based on the lack of cranial deformation common among the Taino and Carib, and the lack of a “high cephalic index” (Buxton et.al. 1938:5). Additionally based on the “high nasal indices and marked

8 prognathism” (1938:5) possessed by the individuals their classification as Negroid would have been certain. However their final analysis determined that the remains were aboriginal in origin. In 1939 T.D. Stewart re-examined the remains and he refuted Buxton, Trevor and Julien’s supposition that the remains were aboriginal. Stewart maintained that the cranial and other measurements should be looked at on their own merit. As for the presence of aboriginal artifacts in association with the burials, Stewart posited that the remains belonged to historic African burials that had been interred into an earlier prehistoric site (Stewart 1939). Between 1959-1960 as part of a much larger survey and excavation on St. Thomas and St. John, Adelaide K. and Ripley P. Bullen conducted a brief pedestrian survey of Water Island. Their efforts located a number of prehistoric sites mainly on the northwest portion of the island. Ruyter’s Bay, Tamarind Tree Bay, Elephant Bay and Landing Bay were all recorded during their rather brief survey of the island (Bullen 1962). David Anderson Principal Investigator of the Water Island project, and former Territorial Archeologist Elizabeth Righter interviewed longtime island resident Walter Phillips in 1992. Phillips accompanied the Bullens on their 1959-60 survey of the island while also working across the sound at Krum Bay. He recalled that the survey consisted of primarily searching the shorelines in a pedestrian manner. The Bullen survey apparently lasted only a few days. In 1981, Barbara Johnston, under the direction of then Territorial Archeologist Emily Lundberg, conducted a more thorough survey of Water Island to update known site boundaries and located previously unknown sites (1981, 1983) (Figure 2). The sites that were investigated included Druif Bay/ Honeymoon Beach (12-VAM-3-32), Elephant Bay (12-VAM-3-22), Landing Bay (12-VAM-2-10), Ruyter’s Bay (12-VAM-3-21), and Tamarind Tree Bay (12-VAM-3-9) (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Map of Archeological Sites on Water Island from Anderson et al. 2002.

10 In 1992 David Anderson and Ken Wild (Wild et al.: 1992) directed the most thorough survey to date of Water Island. Their efforts succeeded in locating a number of previously unknown sites. Among these are: Banana Bay South (12-VAM-3-210) a prehistoric conch shell midden, Sprat Bay Structure (12-VAM-3-208) the remains of an 18th century homestead, and Carolina Point (12-VAM-3-209) the great house and slave village associated with the 18th and 19th century Carolina Point Plantation which will be discussed later in detail.

The 1992 work of Anderson and Wild led the Office of Inspector General of the Virgin Islands Territorial Government to request a comprehensive inventory and assessment be completed prior to the U.S. Government transferring Water Island to the Virgin Islands Territorial Government. The task of inventory and assessment fell to David G. Anderson who was employed at the National Park Service’s Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC). Anderson put together a team of archeologists from within the SEAC ranks as well as going outside for other archeologists who had specializations in one or more of the areas to be investigated. This project was carried out between May and August of 1998. In all, seven sites were investigated including three bay sites which contained prehistoric artifacts mainly in the form of shell and stone tools and pottery. Two other bays, Ruyter’s and Tamarind Tree, were associated with the historic period of the island. Sprat Bay, the site of an early 18th century home/farmstead, was also investigated. However a majority of the project’s time and efforts were spent investigating the site of Carolina Point Plantation (Figure 3). The site consisted of the Main House complex which included not only the Great House but also the associated kitchen and other outbuildings including three slave structures downhill from the Great House. Data for this thesis came from the excavation of three slave cabins in the slave village (Anderson et al.: 2003).

11 North Room 24 20

32 9

31 Patio 2 6

8 26

14 54 48

18 36 43 10 Burned Room 30 29 19 5 16 15

97 96 95 98 4 Kitchen 83 11 12 35 27 88 87 44 33 7 63 76 21 49 47 53 69 Bake Oven 90 89 64 75 23 94 25 28

1 13

Overseer's House

wall 46 41 fr agmented p laster flo or

broken-up plaster f loor 50 37

Slave Structure 1

38 52 60

42 51

77 58

81 62

59 Slave Structure 2

92 85 56

91 86 68 79

72 Test Pit 82 80 57

PPM1 66 78

101

Slave Structure 3 71 70 73 Stone/Coral 67 Excavation Units 0 Meters 5

Figure 3. Carolina Point Plantation excavation areas.

12 CHAPTER FOUR

PREHISTORY

Pre-Ceramic Cultures The outline of the prehistoric cultural sequences in the Virgin Islands is due in large part to the work of Irving Rouse. Rouse (1992) records the earliest human occupation in the Caribbean between 4000 and 2000 B.C. based primarily on work done on the larger islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola. These pre-ceramic peoples are thought to have originated from the Yucatan peninsula (Rouse 1986). The Yucatan explorers would later develop a ceramic series known as the Casimiroid. This ceramic style remained confined to the Greater Antilles islands. The Archaic period inhabitants of the Virgin Islands and other Lesser Antilles are thought to have originated from the Orinoco River area of South America in present day Venezuela. The ceramic series they would later develop is known as the Ortoiroid Series. The demarcation of these two groups as determined by Rouse is the Mona Passage separating Hispaniola from Puerto Rico (Rouse 1992:71). One of the best examples of Archaic period (2000-400 B.C.) life in the Virgin Islands comes from the site of Krum Bay, located on the southwest portion of St. Thomas less than two miles from Water Island. Radiocarbon dates from the site point to habitation as early as 1500 B.C. The earliest investigations at the Krum site were undertaken by Theodoor De Booy in 1917, followed in 1924 by Gudmund Hatt. Bullen and Sleight returned to the site in 1959-1960 (Bullen 1963) and Emily Lundberg last worked there in 1989. The inhabitants of the Krum site left behind stone celts, edge grinders, projectile points, and stone, shell, and bone pendants among the shell middens they deposited over many years of intermittent occupation.

13 Table 1. Chronology and Cultural Series for Virgin Islands (adapted fron Morse 1995, 2004 and Rouse 1992).

Periods (Rouse) Series Subseries Phase Years

Magens Bay — Salt IV Ostionoid Chican —Taíno A.D. 1200 – 1500 River III

Magens Bay — Salt IIIb Ostionoid Elenan A.D. 900 – 1200 River II

Magens Bay — Salt IIIa Ostionoid Elenan A.D. 600 – 900 River I

Coral Bay — IIb Saladoid Cedrosan A.D. 400 – 600 Longford

Iia Saladoid Cedrosan Prosperity 200/100 B.C. – A.D. 400

Ceramic Producing Cultures The earliest known pottery found in the Virgin Islands is known as the Saladoid phase (Rouse 1986:134) (Table 1 and 2). This pottery, which is described as a white on red enameled ceramic, originated in the Orinoco River valley (Rouse 1986:134). Accompanying the population movements that brought this particular ceramic tradition were nascent forms of agriculture and a more sedentary existence. Rouse divided the Saladoid period into three subsections labeled Ronquinan, Sombran, and Cedrosan in the order of their appearance (1986:134). The Cedrosan is the first and only tradition to reach the Virgin Islands around 0 A.D. and is characterized by the additions of “turtle effigy bowls with flippers along their sides and, on occasion, modeled heads and tails at either end” (1986:139). Rouse also states that by the time the Cedrosan phase develops, red enameled crosshatching is being supplanted by zone incised crosshatching. Sites in the Lesser Antilles with a Saladoid ceramic series are regularly associated with “pottery griddles, small amygdaloid (volcanic rock) celts, small celts and scrapers, coral hammerstones, chert tools, spindle whorls, stone axes or net sinkers, mortars, manos, olivia beads and small zemis” (Rouse 1986: 140). These sites are

14 present throughout the Virgin Islands representing the first attempts at agriculture, mainly manioc, as well as a reliance on wild game such as fish, shellfish, crabs, iguanas, rodents, and birds. Beginning around A.D. 600 Cedrosan Saladoid pottery develops into what Rouse termed as Elenan Ostionoid ceramics which correspond with the Magens-Bay/Salt River phase in the Virgin Islands. This particular development retained many of the characteristic shapes and methods of manufacture as well as tabular lugs and red enameled areas that had previously been painted with white designs (Rouse 1986:143- 44). Rouse also stated that Elenan potters did not develop a characteristic design or decoration and thus the ceramics produced during this time are generally plain. He commented that “Elenan Ostinoid artisans gradually made their pottery thicker, coarser, and rougher and simplified its shapes” (1986:144). Over time however, the practice of producing adornos in the shapes of human and animals was revived. The adornos produced during this time in some ways resemble zemis which were being worshipped by the Tainos at the time of Columbus’s arrival. Aarom describes zemis as “household deities..which were carved in stone, wood, and other materials (Rouse 1986: 175). Rouse believed that the adornos produced by the Elenan potters are much less refined than those produced by the contemporary Ostionans (1986:144). Haviser states, that in general, Elenoid pottery is crude and thick with the dominant vessel type being the cazuela- shaped bowl. This style of pottery, Haviser believes, continued until the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century (1978: 64). Excavations during the 1998 season resulted in data recovery from one site in particular which produced a wealth of prehistoric aboriginal pottery. Banana Bay South produced 175 examples of low-fired earthenwares from six excavation units and five shovel test pits. Radiocarbon samples taken from a single milk conch (Strombus costatus) and three queen conch (Strombus gigas) produced three dates which corresponded closely. The earliest date arrived from the conchs was A.D. 560, one date of A.D. 730 followed, and the final date was A.D. 860. These dates firmly place the Banana Bay South assemblage into the Elenan Ostinoid phase. The descriptions previously given for Elenan Ostinoid period ceramics aptly describe those samples recovered from Banana Bay South. In general these recovered samples are sparsely

15 decorated, coarse, thick, specimens with straight rims. These types of vessels endured on Water Island until contact with Europeans in the late 15th century.

Table 2. Chronology and Cultural Series for Virgin Islands (adapted from Figueredo and Tyson 1986)

Pattern Period Series Subseries Culture/Style Years (Figueredo)

A.D. 1509 – 1718* IVb Unknown Eastern/Taíno Taíno Unknown A.D. 1500 – 1625

A.D. 1250 – 1509*; IVa Taíno/Ostionoid Eastern/Chican Taíno Chican A.D. 1250 – 1500 Santa Elena; A.D. 950 – 1250*; IIIb Ostionoid Elenan Magens Bay — Elenan A.D. 1125 – 1425 Salt River II Monserrate; A.D. 650 – 950*; A.D. IIIa Ostionoid Elenan Magens Bay—Salt Magensian 500 – 1125 River I

Cuevas; Coral IIb Saladoid Cedrosan/Cuevan Aklian A.D. 350 – 650* Bay—Longford

Hacienda Cuevan — A.D. 150 – 350* IIa Saladoid Cedrsoan/Huecan Grande—La Cedrosan A.D. 50 – 150* Hueca; Prosperity Carneroid — Ib Ortoiroid — Corosan Krum Bay Krumian Archaic

Ia unknown

* dates attributed by Figueredo (Figueredo and Tyson 1986).

16 CHAPTER FIVE

HISTORY

European exploration and eventual colonization of the Virgin Islands began as early as 1493 during Christopher Columbus’ second voyage to the New World. Columbus records stopping briefly in what is now known as St. Croix before being rebuked by the island’s inhabitants (Highfield 1995). Columbus named the group of mountainous islands as the Las Virgines. For nearly two centuries after Columbus’s initial visit to the Virgin Islands this region was largely ignored as European colonization focused on North and South America and the larger of the Caribbean islands (Hatch 1972:105). The absence of rare minerals such as silver and gold and large areas of flat arable lands for cultivation and grazing resulted in the Virgin Islands colonization being postponed for some time. However as many of the merchant vessels involved in the “Triangle” or slave trade passed through this portion of the Caribbean the Virgin Islands soon became a popular port of call for supplies of fresh water, produce, and livestock. Despite high incidents of disease, dehydration, and starvation, many slave vessels still managed to deliver most of their cargo to the islands of the Caribbean. Islands such as Barbados would often be the first stop for the slave vessels. Here they could take on fresh water and other commodities. These islands with their many plantations were the main producers of desired commodities including sugar, cotton, and indigo. However these goods came with a price, and that price was usually paid for with the lives of Africans. The nature of the work on most of the plantations prevented slaves from reproducing to replace themselves, resulting in the perpetual need for more slaves. This seemingly disposable form of labor provided Europeans with high value goods for relatively little cost.

Once a slave ship had delivered its cargo of Africans it was then time to prepare for the journey back to Europe. In order to reap the most financial gain the slavers would take the money paid to them for slaves and purchase goods that could potentially be sold for much more in Europe due to their scarcity and high demands for such products.

17 The need to re-supply slave and other merchant ships originating in Europe possibly led to Water Island being stocked with feral livestock. The first mention of Water Island in the historic record comes from then Vice-Governor of St. Thomas Christopher Heins in 1686. Heins and several other members of a “scouting party” recorded they found “numerous wild bucks and goats, a few wild cows, bulls and calves” (Rigsarkivet: 1686). David Knight a Virgin Islands historian believes that these animals had been placed on Water Island and other large cays surrounding St. Thomas for the purpose of supplying not only the burgeoning Danish settlement but vessels arriving in the deep harbor offered by Charlotte Amalie, considered by many seamen to be one of the world’s best natural harbors (Knight personal communication 1998).

The Danish West Indian Company formed as a result of the wishes of the Netherlands to enter this very profitable era of colonialism (Hatch 1972:18). Countries such as Spain, England, and France had for some time enjoyed the fruits of their New World colonies in the form of gold, silver, and more importantly land with which these nascent empires could grow. Without a foothold in the Americas, the Danish were at a major economic disadvantage both in the New World and back home in Europe.

Once the Danes were able to establish a sustained and viable colony on the large islands of St. Thomas and St. John, their claim to these islands was recognized by other colonial powers. Water Island never played a large role in the early colonial period, rather it acted as a pantry where the citizens of St. Thomas would go when they needed such necessities as wood, aforementioned livestock, and increasingly important, “limestone.” The “limestone” which Water Island had in abundance was not the typical geological limestone found in Florida and surrounding states; rather, it was a combination of a number of calcium bearing substances found near shore. Limestone Bay on Water Island’s eastern shore is a nearly 270 meter shoreline that possesses a number of reefs just offshore that created an abundance of broken coral, shell, and calcareous sands. Through storm and tidal action pieces of coral would be broken off the reefs and washed ashore where they could be collected. These pieces of coral, shell, and calcareous sands could be fired in a specially designed kiln to produce the before mentioned “quicklime.” Quicklime and raw coral were used in the production of most of the structures on St. Thomas.

18 St. Thomas, having quickly depleted their local sources of such material, looked to Water Island to provide these necessary elements. As clay to produce the large amounts of brick necessary for the quickly growing town was in shortage other materials were necessary. Stone, coral, and their associated products plaster and mortar, soon became the favored building materials on St. Thomas. These materials were not only locally available; they were long lasting, resistant to fire and capable of withstanding most of the hurricanes that frequented the area. With such a valuable resource there for the taking, it was not long until entrepreneurs took advantage of this situation.

Ole Henningsen was a mason on St. Thomas during the period of 1686-1727. It was at this time that much of the town of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas’ principal town, grew into a thriving center of commercial trade. Henningsen began harvesting limestone from Water Island as early as 1711 (Knight 2002: 134). Ship’s manifests listed limestone from Water Island as one of the many commodities arriving in Charlotte Amalie harbor. From tax records and ships manifests it appears that Henningsen’s market on Water Island limestone lasted for up to two decades ending with his death in 1727. The year of Henningsen’s death coincided with the first record of a ships manifest listing lime arriving from Water Island instead of limestone. This fact is important because it represents a shift from simply mining the calcium rich deposits on the island to actually firing the materials to produce lime. This would have (as Knight believes) required a “limekiln, shelters for enslaved workers, and sufficient warehouse space for the dry storage of quicklime” (Knight 2002: 138).

The Cramieu family, listed on tax rolls as residing on Water Island as early as 1723 were the first residents to permanently house slaves on Water Island. As the production of lime on the island would have required a stable population to maintain the operation, it is likely that the Cramieus were the persons controlling the lime production at this time (Table 3) The production of lime it seems was not enough to support the Cramieus financially as the tax rolls from the St. Thomas colony attest

Peter Elias and Lewin Marche attest this 17 January 1732, that all of Peter Cramieu’s Negroes [on Water Island] have run away, and all he has is 1 incapable woman and one Negro woman with child, so in 1732 he has gone with his family to his mother’s plantation

19 on St. John to be overseer. (Rigsarkivet, St. Thomas Land Lists1732-32)

Table 3. Slave Census for the years 1723-1740 (Matrikler Table 1723-1740). Year Owner Capables Children Tax Free Total Slaves 1723-24 Jan Cramieu 9 Men 4 Boys, 3 Men 18 & Jan 1 Woman 1 Girl Cramieu Jr. 1724-25 Jan Cramieu 9 Men, 2 Boys, 3 Men 16 & Jan 1 Woman 1 Girl Cramieu Jr. 1725-26 Jan Cramieu 8 Men, 6 Children 3 Men, 21 & Jan 3 Women 1 Woman Cramieu Jr. 1726-27 Jan & Pieter 8 Men, 3 Children 1 Man, 15 Cramieu 2 Women 1 Woman 1727-28 Jan & Pieter 8 Men, 3 Children 1 Man, 15 Cramieu 2 Women 1 Woman 1728-29 Cramieu 12 Men, 3 1 Boy 1 Woman 17 Family Women 1729-30 Pieter 4 Men, 1 Boy No 6 Cramieu 1 Woman Information 1730-31 Pieter 1 Woman 1 Girl 1 Woman 3 Cramieu 1732 No No No No No Information Information Information Information Information 1733 Elias Bailey 4 Men, 1Boy, 2 Men 12 3 Women 2 Children 1734-36 No No No No No Information Information Information Information Information 1737 Charles 12 ½ No 2 15 Crommelin Information 1738 Charles 10 1 Girl 2 13 Crommelin 1739 Charles 12 No 2 14 Crommelin Information 1740 Daniel 7 Men, 3 1 Man, 7 Crommelin 5 Women 1 Girl

In 1730 and 1731, the Virgin Islands experienced a severe drought which caused many of the Islands slaves (who were responsible for providing their own livestock and

20 produce) to go hungry for extended periods. Knight (2002: 140) suggests that slaves living on Water Island at this time would have been removed from large kinship networks that may have saved the lives of slaves living of St. Thomas and St. John. This problem was not limited to Water Island alone. Slaves on St. John during this period revolted and held most of the island under their control for nearly a year until French forces arrived and assisted in retaking the island (Pannet 1733; Farnsworth 2001: 147).

Water Island was home to other owners and their ever increasing numbers of slaves for the next fifty years until it came under the possession of a single individual Jean Renaud. Renaud was listed in the tax records as a “free Mulatto”. He began working a small cotton plantation in St. Thomas in 1754 where he had four slaves. Renaud paid taxes on this property for five years before selling it. After which he is nowhere to be found on the tax records of St. Thomas. It is not until 1769 that Renaud’s name resurfaces to help explain his prolonged absence.

Jean Renaux [sic], free Mulatto, is owner of a near lying island called Water Island, Which measurement is unknown so no land tax can be calculated for it at the present time. Yet, as he has reported to own [eighteen slaves], for which he has not answered a head tax, he is according to the Commandant’s orders required now to pay for two years, say 1768 and 1769… (Rigsarkivet 1769). Jean Renaud is important for this study because he is the founder of Carolina Point Plantation. In 1769 Renaud brought with him eighteen slaves of which only nine were listed as capables, the others either manquerones (the permanently disabled), the superannuated or infirmed, or adolescents. This fact seems to indicate that Renaud moved to Carolina Point with a community of slaves that he had previously owned since it is highly unlikely that an incipient planter would purchase so few capable slaves.

Figure 4 reveals that during Renaud’s ownership of Carolina Point Plantation the slave population steadily increased through natural reproduction as well as the addition of several bossals (newly imported Africans). Renaud’s strategy initially appears to have been to increase the slave population through the addition of numerous bossals until such a time as natural reproduction among the slaves provided an ever increasing work force. Remarkably at the same time Jean Renaud is increasing the slave population of Carolina

21 Point, a Danish military officer and cartographer provides a view of the island as it appeared in 1778 (Figure 5).

10 Number of Individuals

0 1769 1771 1773 1775 1777 1779 1781 1783 1785 1787 1789 1791 1793 1795 1797 1799 1801 1803 1805 1807 1809 1811 1813 1815 1817 1819 1821 1823 1825 1827 1829 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847

Year Adults Children

Figure 4. Slave Population 1769-1848 from census records (Matrikler Tables 1769-1848).

Figure 5. Map of Water Island with enlarged view of Carolina Point Plantation adapted from Oxholm, Peter L. Plan of St. Thomas Havn og Bye 1778 (Rigsarkivet, Denmark).

Figure 5 depicts the main house at Carolina Point with nine smaller structures just southwest and downslope. These structures undoubtedly represent the homes of the enslaved occupants of Renaud’s plantation. Archeological reconnaissance, testing, and excavation proved that Oxholm’s map was accurate with regards to location of the slave houses. The number of structures certainly changed through the years as the slave

23 population grew and shrank. Knight observed that the map revealed large areas of cleared land in use for cultivation as well as a number of limestone walls constructed to maintain livestock. He suggests that livestock rearing was the primary focus of the slaves’ activities at Carolina Point. The livestock raised on the island would have been used to supply the numerous merchant vessels arriving in and departing from Charlotte Amalie harbor. The tanning of leather could have also been an endeavor entered into by the enterprising Renaud. However the rearing of livestock as Knight notes is a relatively labor free enterprise which raises the question of why did Renaud need so many slaves? Knight believes that the enslaved population engaged in a number of activities which included the “cultivation of cotton and provision crops, the production of quicklime, the mining of ballast or building stone, fishing, the gathering of conch and whelks, and perhaps even the breeding and/or “seasoning” of enslaved Africans…” (Knight 2002: 148). These activities, whatever they might have been, seemed to have supported Renaud until his death in 1793. Following Jean Renaud’s death the ownership of Carolina Point Plantation and indeed all of Water Island was in debate. Renaud’s widow a mullato herself, Rebeca Arnon Renaud remarried after his death to Peter Tamaryn captain of the Free Negro Corps. Renaud’s sister’s children became heirs to a portion of Water Island in 1793 as a result of the ruling of a St. Thomas court. Eventually Peter Tamaryn and his wife Rebeca Arnon became the rightful owners of Carolina Point and Renaud’s sister’s children were given property on the southern portion of the island which would later become La Providence Plantation. Jean Regis Poirier and his sister, both children of Jean Renaud’s sister became the inheritors of this portion of the island. Reviewing Oxholm’s map we can see that at the time it was drawn the Poirier’s newly acquired area of the island was largely unimproved ground. While Peter Tamaryn was owner of Carolina Point Plantation another fortuitous event occurs that provides a snapshot of the enslaved individuals living on the plantation. A land survey which sought to calculate the holdings of all plantations in the Danish West Indies was undertaken. This survey reveals much about the personal lives of the majority of the population living on the island (Table 4).

24 By studying this table a number of observations can be made. The apparent disparity between male and female slaves is readily apparent. While reproduction of the slaves would no doubt have benefited Tamaryn financially no effort to provide similar numbers of females to males was undertaken. An examination of the religious preferences of the enslaved population tends to indicate that all those residing on the plantation had either converted to or were raised Christians. The fact that apparently none of the slaves were reported to have been “heathens” may have been as much a bias of the survey or an indication that the slaves recognized that conforming to Christianity had its benefits, such as the Lord’s Day free of work. Looking at the distribution of the slaves with regards to tasks, the ratio is over two to one field slaves to house servants or tradesmen. The minority likely represent Tamryn bringing slaves from his other property who may have been trained as artisans or craftsmen while the majority may have been bossals (newly imported Africans) and other slaves necessary for operation of the plantation. Marriages among the slaves at Carolina Point are interesting because the report indicates that four individuals, likely men, were married to individuals enslaved at La Providence Plantation. La Providence, it appears, was home to a much more evenly divided population of women to men. The report suggests that at the time the survey was undertaken the total number of “Negro Houses” at Carolina Point totaled 17. It is likely that a portion of these structures had been constructed when the slave community was much larger. The total of 29 individuals in 1805 is less than half of those accounted for in 1786-1787 when Renaud was proprietor of the plantation. A good deal of information concerning how the plantation grounds were apportioned is found in the report. It appears that no sugarcane was being raised at this time and that cotton accounted for only 15% of the total acreage of the plantation. “Lands in provisions” account for nearly 7% of the plantation grounds. This is important due to the fact that slaves in the Danish West Indies were not provided with provisions to the same extent as their counterparts in the southern United States were (Westergaard 1917; Hall 1992; McKee 1999; Crader 1990).

25 Table 4. Danish West Indies Plantation Survey for Carolina Point, Water Island 1805 (Central Management Archives, St. Thomas Registers, 1841-1911 Rigsarkivet, Denmark). La Providence Carolina Point Total

Enslaved Laborers 47 29 76 Men 24 23 47 Women 23 6 29 Creoles 16 16 32 Africans 31 13 44 Christians 47 29 76 Heathens 0 0 0 How many baptized 47 29 76 Field laborers 43 20 63 House servants 2 4 6 Tradesmen 0 2 2 Invalids 2 3 5 In the sick-house 2 4 6 Lawfully married couples 8 2 10 Births to married couples in last year 2 3 5 Married to individuals on other estates 1 4 5 Couples not lawfully married 0 0 0 Births to unmarried couples in last year 0 0 0 Deaths in last year 2 2 4 Number of Negro houses 16 17 33 Location of Negro houses HG* HG* HG* Acres of land for Negro houses 4 2 6 Land in sugarcane 0 0 0 Land in cotton NA 9 9 Land fallow 0 6 6 Land in provisions 4 4 8 Land in pasture or uncultivated 52 39 91 Total land in estate 60 60 120 *HG = High Ground

While Tamaryn was owner of Carolina Point the tax records indicate that only one free person was living on the island during this period. It is not until Baron de Bretton purchases the property in 1819 that a family takes residence in the plantation big house again. Shortly after Peter Tamaryn died in 1806 events half a world away began to have sweeping effects on the Danish West Indies (Knight 2002). The Napoleonic Wars raging in Europe affected the Caribbean islands many of whom remained colonies of the very powers at war. Such was the case with the Danish West Indies. England demanded

26 that Denmark remain neutral during this time and furthermore surrender its entire naval fleet to the British. Denmark refused and in a short time the capital city Copenhagen was nearly destroyed. News of this quickly spread to the Caribbean and the Danish colonies of St. Thomas. St. John, and St. Croix quickly surrendered realizing they stood no chance against the British and their fleets stationed in the Caribbean. The occupation of the islands lasted until 1815 having an astounding effect on the inhabitants in the Danish colonies. No longer was the entrepot of St. Thomas allowed to conduct trade with anyone other than the British and her allies. Hatch points out that this had an immense affect on the Danish colonies since at this point in history a majority of the trade conducted out of theses ports was with South America (1972: 63). Trade with North America was also forbidden beginning in 1812 with the outbreak of hostilities between these two powers. For a period of 11 years the island colonies of the Danish were under the control of the English with regards to trade. As the Napoleonic and American War of 1812 drew to a close the situation in the Danish West Indies returned to a more normal pace.

Table 5. Title chain for Carolina Point 1769-1911 (Central Management Archives, West Indies Audit Registers for St. Thomas, 1755-1915 Rigsarkivet, Denmark). Date Owner 1769 Jean Renaud 1793 Peter Tamaryn 1807 Archibold Kerr 1819 Baron Lucas de Bretton Sr. 1828 Christian D. Eckardt 1829 O. Brown and A. Helm 1829 Owen Brown 1831 Cosmo Francovitch 1834 James Hazzel Jr. 1841 Benjamin Barton 1843 Barton Heirs 1850 Barton Heirs and Raimond Certain 1860 Eugene Pannet and Josph Daniel 1866 Joseph N. Daniel Sr. 1878 Daniel Heirs (all of Water Island) 1905 J.P. Thorsen (all of Water Island) 1905 N.C.E. Hansen (all of Water Island) 1905 N.H. Anderson (all of Water Island) 1911 East Asiatic Company (all of Water Island)

Carolina Point never seemed to recover after the 11 years of British occupation which ended in 1818. Table 5 reveals that after the British left the Danish West Indies the estate of Carolina Point changed hands eight times before emancipation in 1848. While Carolina Point was never solely a mono-crop plantation based economy the lean years during British occupation led to the plantation diminishing in acreage, slave population, land under cultivation, and value. Emancipation began slowly in this portion of the Caribbean. Britain’s abolition of slavery in 1835 surely must have created tension for those enslaved in the nearby Danish colonies. In fact worldwide abolition seemed to be inevitable for all but the most unwavering nations. On July 28, 1847 the King of Denmark Christian VIII proclaimed that any child born from this day forward to parents who were slaves would be a free person and that all those currently enslaved in the colonies would be freed after a twelve year probationary period (Hatch 1972, Knight 2002). The news was delivered in the colonies and met with disbelief by the slaves. Over the next eleven months both slave and free alike considered what would occur at the end of the trial period. This ended with a bloody and violent insurrection by the slaves of St. Croix on July 2, 1848. Some 5000 slaves from nearby plantations gathered in the town square after taking out years of frustration on their owners demanding freedom. After ransacking the town’s administrative facilities the Governor General arrived to quite unexpectedly proclaim that all those enslaved were now free persons. As expected this was met with great joy by the large crowd gathered in the town’s square . The end of slavery had little effect on the former slaves in the Danish West Indies. This is somewhat akin to the situation in the United States where sharecropping replaced institutionalized slavery the sugar and cotton plantations carried on as if little had changed. The freedom the slaves had so long sought brought with it many responsibilities such as finding land on which to live. The rather sudden emancipation of the Danish West Indies resulted in mayhem for planter and slave alike. It is assumed that many plantation owners worked out arrangements whereby the slaves were allowed to maintain their homes and provision grounds in exchange for continuing the same physical labors they had practiced for centuries.

28 At Carolina Point however there was an ever decreasing population of planters and slaves and the repeated exchange of the plantation provided even less stability. While the property changed hands many times the most noticeable occurrence for this study is the burning of the estate’s Great House. From probate records Knight has determined that a fire set to burn brush adjacent to the house got out of control and consumed the entire structure. Joseph Daniel who was the estate’s owner in 1862 when the fire occurred, attempted to seek $400 from the Pannet estate since it was Eugene Pannet’s son who had reportedly set the fire (Knight 2002:186). These facts are important for discussion later as artifacts recovered from the then abandoned slave village will be compared to those recovered from the Great House. While the incident of the burning of the Great House may have been unfortunate for Joseph Daniel it provides an excellent terminus post quem for the comparison of the Great House and the Slave Village. Almost all activity on Water Island ceased after the destruction of the Great House at Carolina Point. There were still some small ventures of livestock rearing occurring at La Providence, however for the most part all agricultural activities had ceased. It was not until 1904-1905 that the United States took an interest in purchasing the Danish colonies (Hatch 1972; Knight 2002). The United States began excavations of the Panama Canal in 1902 and the purchase of the Danish holdings would enable American ships to re-supply coal loads before continuing on to other ports. The notion of purchasing the islands was discussed many times in Congress with several proposals put forth to the Danish government. However it was not until the German government began inquiring about purchasing the islands from Denmark that the United States seriously began to consider the ramifications of what this could mean. The purchase of Water Island by the East Asiatic Company in 1911 settled many of the concerns the Americans had concerning the possibility of a German outpost in the Caribbean. The East Asiatic Company was a Danish based steamship line that had purchased Water Island with the notion that a coaling station would be placed on the island. However the construction of coaling stations or dry docks never occurred. The possibility of a German presence in the Caribbean once again merited discussion in 1915. With World War I raging in Europe, the United States government

29 once again began negotiations with the Danish concerning the purchase of the islands. The United States, fearing that the Germans may attack American shipping lines or worse yet attack the recently completed Panama Canal, approached the Danish government with a proposal to purchase all their holdings in the Caribbean if the Danes would simply name their price (Knight 195). The Danes, well aware of what was occurring in Europe, quickly agreed to the American’s offer since it may well have lost the islands to the Germans if their bid for the conquest of that continent was successful. In August of 1916 a one-time payment of $25 million dollars was proposed and the Danish Government accepted. On January 17, 1917 the purchase of the Danish West Indies was completed and the islands officially became a territory known now as the United States Virgin Islands (Tyson et al.1984: 62). The United States military eventually began fortifying Water Island with a total of 53 structures which included large underground bunkers on the north end of the island, two ammunition bunkers near Carolina Point, and several other smaller structures which are no longer standing. The structures were placed here to deter the possibility of an attack by German and later the Japanese forces on America’s new territories in the Caribbean. No such attacks ever occurred and the facilities on Water Island appear to have only been used in training exercises and drills (Knight 2002: 200). After the military abandoned Water Island, it was leased to a private citizen in 1952 for a forty year term. As this lease expiration began to draw near the Federal government decided to transfer the title of the island into private hands. In order for this to occur an archaeological assessment of the island’s cultural areas was undertaken. It was this study which began in 1992 by Anderson and Wild that led to the 1998 excavations at several sites on Water Island. Today Water Island is now in the hands of several of the island’s full and part time residents.

30 CHAPTER SIX

FIELD RECONNAISSANCE AND EXCAVATIONS

A major goal of the 1998 field season at Carolina Point was to locate the remains of the associated slave village. To accomplish this, Oxholm’s 1778 map (Figure 5) which depicted a series of nine structures, believed to be the slave village down-slope and south of the Great House, was utilized in the initial search for these structures. A large amount of brush consisting of catch-and-keep, and pinquin was removed in order to access these areas. Oldendorp an 18th century Moravian missionary recorded considerable detail concerning Danish colonial life with special emphasis on slave welfare and lifestyles. For instance he observed several instances of pinquin being planted by slaves and free alike, to serve as property boundary markers (Oldendorp 1987: 131). The thorny nature of these plants served to keep animals out of kitchen gardens as well. In the Virgin Islands today, large patches of pinquin often indicate former living areas. After the area had been sufficiently cleared the outlines of the former structures became apparent. Budget, personnel, and time restraints prevented the 1992 field crew from fully exploring this area prior to 1998. The first area investigated was a large concentration of stone and coral rubble believed at first to be a retaining wall used in terrace gardening. After further clearing it was apparent that several pieces of stone and coral along the northernmost edge of the area had plaster adhering to their southern face. It was determined that this had originally been an interior plastered wall of a structure. After further delineating the remaining wall lines, Structure One (Figure 6) appeared rectangular with dimensions of 4.5 meters north/south, by 8.3 meters east/west. Since this location fit well with where Oxholm had indicated the slave village was located this structure was assigned the name Slave Structure One. Situated similarly to the Great House, Slave Structure One was aligned 60 degrees east of North. From field observations and artifact analysis best estimates suggest that this structure was fashioned in a half timber style of architecture or full stone walls that have

31 since been robbed. A continuous foundation of cut coral and native stone defined the base of the structure. It has been considered that this stone and coral foundation served to prevent deterioration of a possible wattle and daub wall from rainfall and moisture from exposure to the ground. With the foundation in place, splattering drip lines and ground moisture have little or no effect on the mud walls. If indeed these were half timbered dwellings one would expect several intermittent large timbers placed within the foundation at around a meter apart. Between these timbers, branches or vines would be woven in a wattle and daub fashion upon which mud was applied. After this had been completed, the interior of the walls were plastered. A determination of whether the exterior of the structure was plastered cannot be made with any certainty. The roof of the structure was most likely thatched with palm fronds, as was the practice in this region, however the recovery of several small nails similar to those used in roofing point to the possibility that some form of substantial roof framework was in place. Soils within and outside the structure consisted of a gritty loam with Munsell colors ranging from 5YR 3/3 dark reddish brown to 7.5YR 4/4 brown. A considerable quantity of roots were encountered throughout the levels until bedrock was reached. Bio- turbation caused by roots and crabs in the area may have resulted in the disturbance or movement of some of the artifacts in the record. Excavations within the structure located a hard packed earthen floor at approximately 40 centimeters below datum. The packed floor was only 5-10 centimeters above the underlying bedrock. This floor extended throughout the interior of the structure with no corresponding level outside the structure. This was probably a prepared earthen floor that may have been leveled to bedrock before loose earth was brought in and packed down. A likely doorway was located in the southwest corner where an absence of stone and trimmed coral indicated that there was a south facing door. Given the occupants tacit desire for privacy from the Carolina Point main house it would stand to reason that the doorway would open towards other slave cabins in the village. A total of eight units were placed in the interior with another five placed around the exterior to examine yard use (Figure 6).

______

38 52 60

42 51

77 58

81 62 Stone/Coral

55 Excavation Units 0 Meters 5

Figure 6. Slave Structure One with excavation units.

Figure 7. North wall of Slave Structure One. A second area further down-slope of the Structure One proved to be the remains of a stone and coral lined foundation similar in materials and construction to the Slave Structure One. This structure was assigned the designation of Slave Structure Two. Slave Structure Two was much different in layout to Structure One (Figure 8). Structure Two is ‘L’ shaped measuring 15 meters north/south along the western edge by 8.5 meters with the base of the ‘L’ aligned East/West and the upright back of the ‘L’ aligned almost perfectly North. Slave Structure Two located southeast of Slave Structure One, was discovered only after the removal of copious amounts of pinquin and catch-and-keep. The remains of Slave Structure Two appear very similar in construction technique to Slave Structure One. Cut coral and local stone were set in a continuous foundation, which outlined the footprint of the structure. A total of 10 excavation units were placed both in the interior as well as the exterior. It is thought that this structure made use of a half-timbered design similar to Structure One. Wattle and daub used in the construction of structures such as this and Slave Structure One would easily disintegrate in the tropical environment leaving only this much more inert base. The roof of this structure is thought to have been composed of

34 thatch. The absence of any substantial amount of flat (window) glass from this area also suggests that if windows were present they simply made use of shutters in place of glass. No doorways were located during excavations in this area. However a packed earthen floor was encountered at approximately 30 centimeters below datum in a number of units in the Northwest corner of the structure. Excavation units 74, 93, 99, and 100 aligned North/South along the western wall of the structure all encountered this floor at the same depth (Figure 8 and 9). Large artifacts such as a drill brace, several examples of low- fired earthenwares, portions of an olive jar and a trowel, were all located just above this packed level. Additionally, a posthole discovered in the Southeast corner of Excavation Unit 93 measured 15 cm in diameter and extended to a depth of 47 cm. Interestingly the posthole fill was composed solely of Cittarium pica. Forty four whole or nearly whole shells were recovered from this feature. Whether or not the shells were placed in the feature after it was abandoned or simply fell into the posthole and could not get out has not been determined. A total of ten units associated with this structure were excavated. Eight units were placed throughout the interior with another two placed on the exterior. The third area investigated was assumed to be a sheet midden southwest and downhill of Structure One. Overturned trees in the area contained a large number of artifacts in their exposed rootballs, which led to the decision to excavate in this area. Since no above ground structural remains were located in this area the question of whether the artifacts present in the area were a result of slopewash was investigated. Initially, two units were placed in this area to determine the extent of the sheet midden deposits. Excavation unit 57 placed in this area encountered a solid plaster floor at 45 centimeters below datum. An additional twelve units were placed in this area to define the dimensions of the floor (Figure 10). Eventually the floor was found to extend 4.3 meters east/west by 3.1 meters north/south.

35 72

101

71 70 73

Stone/Coral 65 Excavation Units 0 Meters 5

Figure 8. Slave Structure Two with excavation units.

Figure 9. Western wall of Slave Structure Two looking south.

37 Slave Structure Three differed from the previous two in several respects. Initially the discovery of Slave Structure Three came about very fortuitously. As previously mentioned, test units placed in this area discovered a plaster floor in one unit at approximately 45 centimeters below datum. Thirteen total units placed in the area to delineate the width and length of the plaster floor provided an East/West measurement of 4.3 meters by 3.1 meters North/South. This structure is aligned similarly to Slave Structure One at approximately 60 degrees east of North. This structure was by far the most deeply buried structure of the three studied, averaging depths of approximately one half meter below datum. The slope directly North of Slave Structure Three rose at an angle of over 45 degrees until it reached the possible Overseers structure. Heavy rainfall and gradual alluviation easily explain how this structure became so deeply buried. Soils in this area were identical to those encountered in the previously examined structures averaging 5Yr 4/4 dark reddish brown. No stratigraphic differences in the soils could be viewed in the profiles of the units. This should come as no surprise since this soil only accumulated over the structure in the last 200 years,---(most likely from slope wash),---- allowing little time for substantial pedogenesis to occur. The plaster floor was shallowest along the southernmost edge of the structure increasing in depth as one moves north. Over 10 gallons of flotation, fine screen, and floral and faunal samples were taken at the base of Excavation Units 78, 79, 85, and 86. The samples were taken at approximately 10 cm above the plaster floor. In the Southeast corner of the intact plaster floor in Excavation Unit 57 there appears to be impressions of a horseshoe that could only have been made while the plaster was drying. Whether these imprints are the result of intentional decoration for an unknown purpose or merely result from accidental contact cannot be determined. Feature 7 a posthole located in Excavation Unit 66 points to the likely use of wattle and daub, post in ground construction. Since this structure deviates greatly in construction from the previous two structures it is suggested that this structure represents possibly the first generation of slave housing. A 1783 French two sous coin recovered from below the floor in Excavation Unit 78 strengthens the belief that this structure was constructed early in the plantation’s existence. The depth of deposits and artifacts contained within suggest that this structure was most likely abandoned some time early in the nineteenth century.

38 Two other areas of interest located during reconnaissance were the bedrock mortar and ‘lots of bottles area’ (LBA). The bedrock mortar (Figure 12) had numerous shallow impressions that had been used for crushing or grinding materials, presumably food. The ‘lots of bottles area’ was a region roughly two meters east/west by four meters north/south containing a remarkable amount of bottle glass among a rock cairn. The majority of the glass in this area derived from dark green ‘olive glass’ ‘wine’ bottles. The rather large glass fragments present here were all collected from the surface with no excavations required. Time constraints prevented any in depth examinations in this area. It is believed that the bottle fragment concentrations resulted from field clearing and terrace preparation.

92 85 56

91 86 68 79

Test Pit 82 80 57 Stone/Coral

PPM1 66 78 Excavation Units 0 Meters 5

Figure 10. Slave Structure Three with excavation units.

Figure 11. Photo of Slave Structure Three.

The three structures located during the reconnaissance phase were tested with a total of 36 one-by-one-meter units. The units were aligned along a grid established within the slave village. The arbitrarily based datum was assigned the designation 300 North 300 East. Each unit was started using 10-centimeter levels until natural stratigraphy was encountered. Each unit datum was placed in the highest corner of that unit to avoid negative depths in the first levels. Units were excavated by hand using trowels and shovel skimming. One quarter inch hardware cloth was used throughout the excavations except for soil and fine screen samples taken for special analysis. Several areas examined produced large amounts of plaster that was used in the interior of the structure sealing the waddle and daub construction. For monetary and logistical reasons only representative samples of plaster which revealed evidence of painting or were otherwise unique were kept since it was ubiquitous in the interior of the structures. Other items such as Cittarium Pica (whelk) shells were not collected since many such examples were witnessed crawling around during the data recovery phase and the antiquity of their presence in a unit level could not be determined.

40 After excavation began it soon became clear that no discernable variation in soil colors or textures were present. Most units, with the exception of those in and around Slave Structure Three, were shallow reaching only around 40 centimeters in depth before reaching bedrock. The weathered volcanic soils in the slave village were generally a homogenous reddish brown, gritty loam. Rainfall, soil composition, pH, and temperature led to excellent faunal preservation with less than favorable conditions for metal artifacts.

Figure 12. Bedrock Mortar with water applied to reveal pecking on surface.

CHAPTER SEVEN

PROVISION FARMING AND THE MARKET SYSTEM OF THE DANISH WEST INDIES

A brief history of how enslaved peoples in the Caribbean were able to gain access to the market economy enabling them to acquire goods is in order. The question that frequently arises in plantation archaeology concerns the source of many of the artifacts recovered from slave sites. While oftentimes the master is credited with supplying hand me downs in a piecemeal fashion to the slaves, this is definitely not the case in the Danish West Indies. Eyewitness accounts from the colonial era as well as modern scholars agree that slaves in the Danish West Indies and in the Caribbean as a whole were not provisioned with food, clothing, or other essentials to the degree that slaves in the southeastern United States were. J. L. Carstens, a St. Thomas planter in the 1740’s, describes the conditions under which the planters and slaves coexisted the slaves receive nothing from their master neither in the form of food nor clothing, except alone a little piece of land, which the master lets each of them stake out on the most distant outskirts of the plantation (1981[1740s]:88) 22 in Olwig

The Danish were rather late in entering into the practice of operating slave based plantations in the New World. By adopting different aspects of dealing with slaves from neighboring countries in the Caribbean, the Danish formed a hodgepodge relationship that is reflective of a pan-Caribbean laissez-faire attitude toward provisioning slaves. Initially plantation owners supplied the enslaved populations with foodstuffs since many of the new arrivals from Africa were unfamiliar with the climate, growing seasons, and crops available for cultivation. The system of supplying the bondsmen with provisions soon became financially unwise as well as extremely unstable due to the highly irregular state of availability of these foodstuffs. Mintz and Hall (1960) point out that conflict between colonial powers often resulted in the disruption of merchant shipping schedules that were the source of much of the provisions. Small-scale operators often lacked the funds with which to purchase the necessary foodstuffs and larger plantation holders who had the necessary monies often found that they could not locate an available supplier.

42 This led to what the authors describe as a “vicious circle of high prices, malnutrition, and reduced production and profits” (319). An alternative to this system was to allot the individual slaves small plots of land on the periphery of the estates for the purpose of raising their own provisions. To accomplish this, slaves were given the choice of continued rationing as in the case of the elderly or infirmed or a half-day off on Saturday to work on their gardens. Many of the enslaved individuals chose to farm these provision grounds in order to minimize the risk of starvation due to inadequate rationing. The provision grounds represented an important negotiation between the enslaved community and the planters. Through the allocation of inferior growing grounds the planter was able to unburden himself of the responsibility of providing the bulk of the slaves’ subsistence. From the slaves point of view however, these provision grounds symbolized a degree of autonomy from which they were able to provide for themselves and oftentimes be rewarded with a surplus. However during periods of severe drought or hurricanes, which caused provision crops to fail, the planters were responsible for providing basic subsistence goods. Provision grounds, oftentimes were located on hilly terrain not suitable for the production of large amounts of sugar cane, cotton or other profitable mono-crops. Reports from the period indicate that manioc, potatoes, maize, pumpkins, guinea corn, rope tobacco, melons, wild plums and berries and other vegetables were being grown in the provision grounds (Hall 1992: 338). The provision grounds became something of a point of contention and therefore an opportunity for resistance on the part of the slaves. Self-provisioning by the slaves as a system of subsistence proved profitable after a time. The slaves, realizing that surpluses were a natural extension of their efforts, sought to create an outlet for the sale or trade of their goods. Small informal markets, which began in such centers as Charlotte Amalie and Christiansted, soon grew to large regular occasions. West a resident of St. Croix in the 1780’s provides information regarding some of the items sold in the markets; These comprise hens, guinea fowl, ducks, pigeons, chickens, eggs, pigs, goats, yams, batatas, pumpkin, cassava bread, beans of various sorts, cucumbers, melons, oranges, mamee apples, papayas, bell apples, cashew, limes, guava, sugar apples, soursop, guavaberry, okra, bananas, bacuba, tannia, turnips, carrots, parsley, cabbage and all the other kinds of fruit and vegetables that the area

43 produces for refreshment and nutrition. (West, 133 in Highfield and Tyson, 1997).

Planters and urban residents seem to have been involved as consumers in the market system. Some references suggest the planters were subsidizing the slave’s efforts by buying the provisions from them if they weren’t able to get a fair price at market. The planters would then give these provisions to those individuals on the plantation who were either unwilling or unable to tend to their own grounds. By recognizing and providing for other needs of the planters and urban milieu the enslaved communities were able to extract a considerable sum of money. While the sale of grass and firewood undoubtedly played some role in the economic activities of the Water Island slaves, the lucrative market of quicklime production for export to St. Thomas probably represented a wiser investment of time and energy. The markets provided an important opportunity for social interaction among the slaves from different plantations, an opportunity to further supplement their rations by barter or purchase, and to earn cash. Through engaging in these activities several industrious slaves were able to amass a small amount of wealth with which they were able to purchase imported goods of their choice. In Jamaica Mintz and Hall (1960) discuss some of the merchandise purchased by the bondsmen “Large quantities of imported goods consumed by the slaves passed through the hands of local importers, the largest traffic being in clothes, household wares, and other items of comfort and convenience not provided by the estate owners” (328). Hall states that “market vending was largely a female monopoly” while work on the provision grounds was largely the province of males. “For west Indian purposes, the slaves had adopted the prevalent practice of the Gold Coast, from which many of them had originated” (1960: 338). It appears from Hall’s account that females were largely responsible for the sale, barter, or purchase of goods both domestic and imported. Wilkie (1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2001) has written extensively on the subject of contextualizing European mass produced goods in the lives of the enslaved individuals in the Bahamas. She has argued that if slaves maintained It is of interest that without a true market on St. John the slaves there were often allowed to travel by boat to the markets on St. Thomas. However after the British

44 emancipated their nearby islands in 1815, trade was conducted through an agent, most often a boat captain who delivered their goods for sale and purchased requested items. Similarly the slaves on Water Island may have made use of such a system if they were not allowed to travel to St. Thomas. Thus it should follow that most of the artifacts excavated from the slave cabins are the direct result of individual choices made by the enslaved community who had access and means to purchase European mass manufactured goods. Similarly the faunal remains also reflect efforts of the slave community to provide their own subsistence.

45 CHAPTER EIGHT

SPECIALIZED ANALYSES

Pipe Fragments

White kaolin pipes and are one example of an artifact that would not have been provided by the owner, except perhaps at Christmas. Tobacco smoking was a common practice during colonial times for free and enslaved persons alike. Tobacco pipes recovered from Carolina Point came primarily from the Slave Village. Analysis of the tobacco pipe fragments recovered from Carolina Point was conducted by Donna Fried while working at the Southeast Archeological Center. Several observers have remarked on the ubiquitous association of slaves and tobacco pipes. “Smoking is an universal custom among [the slaves]…In order to be at all moments provided for this enjoyment, they carry in their breeches pocket a short pipe, about an inch in length from the bowl…Very often the pipe is so short…as to be in danger or burning the nose, or even the lips. I have frequently seen them smoking with the pipe so short as to hold it in the mouth by pressing with the lips upon the lower part of the bowl (Pinckard in Tyson et al. 1997:115). It is certainly likely that the enslaved population made use of every part of the pipe until there was nothing left but the bowl. A plantation owner in St. Croix writes describing the field slaves lunch break “They eat their roots quickly and then usually smoke short stumpy pipes, with bowls longer than the stems” (Haagensen in Tyson et al. 1997:38). Evidence for pipe smoking by slaves comes from sources other than artifactual data. The Newton Plantation Burial Grounds on Barbados was the site of study by Handler and Lange in which the skeletal specimens evidenced wear from smoking in the form of facets in the teeth produced by long-term pipe use in 42% of the population (Corruccinni et al. 1982: 443-59). Similar research on Surinam’s Plantation Waterloo revealed that 100% of the population that could be tested for this pathology showed signs of pipewear facets. Tobacco was grown on the provision grounds of Danish West Indies slaves both for their own personal use as well as for sale at the market (Schmidt in Tyson et al. 1997: 118).

46 Carolina Point Pipe Fragments by Weight

s 250 200 150 100 50

Weight in gram 0

m m n rs 3 ior e er xt Roo Patio Kitche E rth th Oversee Burn Roo No Nor Slave StructureSlave 1 StructureSlave 2 Structur Ar e a

Figure 13. Pipe Fragments by Weight in grams.

Pipe Fragments per Unit Excavated

16 14 12 10 8

Ratio 6 4 2 0

r s o om er ti e terio tchen Pa x Room i ers rn Ro E th K v ucture 1 ucture 2 ucture 3 th O tr tr tr Bu Nor Nor Slave S Slave S Slave S Ar e a

Figure 14. Pipe Fragments per Units Excavated.

47 Some interesting distribution patterns can be seen when examined over the entire estate. Pipe bowl and stem weights were used to identify the greatest concentration of pipe fragments at Carolina Point. Figure 13 and Figure 14 represent the horizontal distribution of pipe fragments by weight and then by ratio. The preceding tables reveal first the gross weight distribution of pipe fragments at Carolina Point. To compensate for differences in the numbers of units excavated in any one area, the second graph represents the ratio of pipe fragments per unit excavated. As can be seen, the greatest number of pipe fragments were recovered from the three slave structures. Relatively few pipe fragments were recovered from the Great House area as compared to the Slave Village with Slave Structure Three providing more specimens per unit excavated than all areas in the Great House combined. Pipe smoking undoubtedly provided one of the few pleasures enjoyed by the enslaved population on Water Island. A great majority of the pipe stems and bowls that were decorated were found to have been produced in the Netherlands. The presence of the predominantly Dutch pipes should come as no surprise since the Dutch had such a tremendous influence in the Danish West Indies. Lacking adequate numbers of Danish settlers wishing to colonize the islands the Crown in Copenhagen encouraged colonizers from other nations. The Dutch had interests in placing themselves in the Caribbean having previously settled St. Eustatius and Curacao. That the Dutch were present in the Danish West Indies is no surprise, however the strength of their numbers is of interest. As late as 1765 a visitor to the islands of St. Thomas and St. John observed that “Danes numbered less than half the Dutch population” (Hall 1992: 11). In fact Hall writes that Dutch was considered the “lingua franca of commerce and social intercourse” (1992: 9) Dutch was often used in the issuance of proclamations, and orders, leaving Danish as a language spoken mainly within the Danish occupants of the fort (Hall1992: 9).

Figure 15. Pipe Stems and Bowls recovered from Slave Village.

49 Clothing

Several observers from the colonial period remarked on the attire worn by the enslaved populations of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix (Carstens, Oldendorp, West, Haagensen). Early reports state that most field slaves wore next to nothing at all. Those who were “clothed” wore a “rag to cover their nakedness and shame” (Haagensen in Tyson et al. 1997:40). Owing to the high temperature throughout the year and the planters lack of provisioning it is not remarkable that most slaves went without clothes during the early period of slavery in the islands. During the later half of the 18th century with the establishment of Moravian churches on the islands, many enslaved Africans began wearing “proper” attire to church meetings. Reverend C.G.A. Oldendrop believed that the slaves’ feelings of “the impropriety of a predominantly naked church meeting” led to the practice of wearing clothes to attend services (1987: 74). In later years it became the responsibility of the plantation owners to provide their slaves with minimally around five meters of coarse cloth annually (Hall1992: 67). From this allotment the slaves were able to fashion work clothes suitable for most of the week. It should be noted that relations between the enslaved population and their owners changed through time and that the practice of providing a few meters of coarse cloth likely came after years of refusing to do so. However the practice of wearing elaborate and fanciful wares on Sunday, which began with the establishment of the Moravian church, soon became the rule (Oldendorp 1987: 74) The practice of “dressing up” on their free days allowed the slaves a chance to bring out their finest garments for which they had spent much of their market earnings. (Oldendorp 1987, Schmidt 1788, West in Tyson et al. 1997). Hall cites one source describing his observance of upwards of 200 slaves on their way to church dressed in “chintz and other finery, such that a stranger would not think that they were slaves” (1992: 112). Several accounts attest to the fact that slaves made great efforts to acquire nice clothes causing one writer to state that “The negroes of this island (St. Croix) area as well clothed as any that I saw…; upon Sundays, in particular some of them display a great deal of finery (Brady in Tyson et al. 1997: 162). It appears that a large percentage of the earnings acquired through the market economy went towards providing adequate clothing and in many instances beyond that.

50 Expensive clothing worn on Sundays and holidays served as a means of self expression whereby the slaves were able to exhibit to whites and free blacks, through conspicuous consumption of costly clothing, that their legal status as slaves did not limit them to simple tastes. Through acquiring rather costly apparel the slaves also communicated the notion that the finer things in life were not out of their reach. The chintz and finery mentioned by the two authors above clearly seems to be an intentional effort by the enslaved population to reject stereotypes of them as simple laborers with no aspirations for objects coveted by the Europeans. Several clothing related artifacts including over 230 buttons were recovered from the excavations at Carolina Point. While a majority of the clothing related artifacts came from the Burned Room a considerable amount were found in the Slave Village. Nearly all the artifacts in this class are buttons, some handmade from bone, while others are brass, iron, or porcelain. In Slave Structure One a total of 16 buttons were recovered (Figure 16). Of these the overwhelming majority 63% were brass, 25% were bone. Brass, and composites of brass and iron each represented 6% each by weight. Slave Structure Two offered a much different distribution of button material. Of the 22 buttons recovered from this structure bone buttons constituted 68% with only 18% represented by brass buttons. This structure contained buttons of a much finer nature. Mother of pearl represented 9% and gilded buttons represented the final 5%. Slave Structure Three produced 21 buttons with roughly half (47%) cut from bone, 38% were brass, 10% were iron and the remaining 5% were of an unidentifiable nature. The differences in button material would suggest that slaves were purchasing items such as jackets with metal or porcelain buttons or perhaps were given hand-me-downs from the plantation owners. Another interpretation is that the bone buttons were being made on the plantation for clothes

Figure 16. Buttons from Slave Structure One.

52 A total of six beads excavated from Slave Structures Two and Three were examined by Dr. Marvin Smith. Two beads from Slave Structure Two were found to probably date to the mid nineteenth century. Another four beads from Slave Structure Three all date to post 1820’s. None of the beads examined by Smith appear to be exceptional and they are mentioned here only for their possible use in dating the structures (Smith in Anderson et al. 2002). Other clothing related artifacts such as buckles, hooks and eyes, fragmentary scissors and an ivory needle case point to the production or modification of clothing within the Slave Village. If the Carolina Point slave population was provisioned with an amount of rough cloth annually, as was the practice on most of the large plantations, there would be a need to fashion these into garments. The high percentage of bone buttons, along with scissor fragments, and a needle case present in the Slave Village suggest the manufacture of clothing. However as has been noted previously it was often the practice for slaves in the Caribbean to purchase cloth or garments at the Sunday market. The porcelain and metal buttons obviously had their origins elsewhere other than the plantation. Numerous accounts from the Danish West Indies, detailing how nicely the slaves dressed on Sunday indicate that there was a marked dichotomy between work and leisure attire. Most observers agree with Oldendorp’s comments on slave clothing. While working the Negroes were nothing more than a pair of long trousers made of rough linen, accompanied only rarely by a short shirt….Their Sunday and festive attire is much more elaborate and of better quality. The Negroes acquire the necessary money for their clothing and other needs by selling some of the produce from their planting as well as some of the poultry and other livestock which they have raised (Oldendorp in Tyson et at: 74-75). It is apparent from reports such as the previous that clothing, especially nice Sunday garments, convey a message that Sunday is the slaves’ personal “free” time not that of the owners. That slaves made extra efforts to purchase or barter for fine clothing and accessories proves that they were not accepting to the stereotypes of them as possessing a “coarse and wild nature”(Carstens in Tyson et al. 1997:6).

53 With regards to how the enslaved populations at Carolina Point were clothed there is little evidence to determine any type of pattern from the meager numbers of clothing- related artifacts recovered during the excavations. However the nature of the buttons recovered reveals that at least some were manufactured by hand such as the bone buttons while others must have been obtained off island (brass/porcelain). As with the ceramics, as we will later see, there appears to have been a mix of locally obtainable goods combined with those which were available at the informal markets.

Diet

As mentioned above the responsibility of providing sustenance fell on the slaves themselves except in extreme cases of drought or hurricanes which caused the provision grounds to fail. J.C. Schmidt, a manager a plantation manager on St. Croix in the 1780’s, provides a detailed list of some of the produce grown in the provision grounds. Among them are both small and large corn the latter of which husks can be sold in the towns as horse fodder, potatoes, yams, cassavas, beans, pumpkins, tobacco, okra, and cabbage. Along with the produce being grown, livestock in the form of poultry, pigs, and goats were raised for consumption and sale (Schmidt in Tyson et al. 1997: 117-118). Analysis of the faunal material recovered from Carolina Point was conducted by Dr. Irv Quitmyer from the University of Florida. Quitmyer’s analysis shows that a large percent of the protein in the slaves’ diet was provided by fish. Lead fishing weights recovered from Slave Structure One indicate that the residents of this cabin engaged in fishing most likely for personal use as well as possibly for sale. Lieutenant Brady, a British Naval officer visiting the Danish West Indies during the early 1820’s remarked on the “vessels” used in this practice. Since slaves were not allowed to possess boats for fear they would reach freedom in Puerto Rico or elsewhere they made use of “rafts, not otherwise adapted to marine purposes than by possessing the property of flotation” (Brady in Tyson et al. 1997:162).

Figure 17. Lead fishing weights from Slave Structure One. Runaway slave advertisements often state that said runaway is an “excellent fisherman” (Tyson et al. 1997:101) or simply list his occupation as that of a fisherman (Tyson et al. 1997:99). Indeed in a Caribbean environment with a near total lack of terrestrial indigenous fauna on the island available for exploitation, the sea and its’ many resources supplied a lion’s share of the protein in the diet. While fishing was a common method of obtaining game on many plantations, some slaves also exploited the avian world for their profit. Hans West a Danish educator living in St. Croix between 1788-91 and J. L. Carstens a St. Thomas planter from the early eighteenth century both remarked on how slaves obtained birds. “Still many other sources of income exist for the Negroes, such as day labor or shooting blue doves or other wild birds of game” (West in Tyson et al. 1997:134). “Besides being good farmers and fishermen, they are also for the most part good at bird shooting, bagging several varieties of wild birds, which they sell” (Carstens in Tyson et al. 1997:11). It is

55 unfortunate that neither man made reference to whom these guns belonged although it is supposed that firearms usage was very tightly regulated. Without more artifactual evidence for gun ownership by the slaves at Carolina Point it is impossible to state with any certainty that they indeed possessed firearms. Although the question of ownership is moot, the fact that slaves occasionally used guns for shooting birds iguanas or feral game is without question. Through the raising of produce and livestock supplemented with fruit collecting, fishing and other game collecting the enslaved population’s diet could be considered sufficiently varied so as to minimize diseases of deficiency such as scurvy. The skeletons excavated in 1934-35 by A.H. Julien from Tamarind Tree Bay and Landing Bay were originally thought to be Native American due to their association with pre-Columbian ceramics. But when J.C. Trevor visited Water Island the following year (Buxton et al. 1938), he re-excavated the burials and sent them to Britain for study. The skeletons were shown by T.D. Stewart to be African or Negro in origin and therefore must be the remains of a historic occupation. No evidence of pathologies associated with malnutrition were reported by either of the researchers. It is posited that the burials represent a slave burial ground associated with the enslaved occupants of Carolina Point Plantation. How the slaves prepared their foodstuffs is only touched on by observers of the period. West commenting on slave diet said “their greatest delicacies are meals prepared with a small piece of pork or beef and many vegetables, strongly seasoned with Spanish or red pepper. In this manner, the field workers cook their pepper pot of Kallaloo…(West in Tyson et al. 1997: 134). Brady added his observation that The common and favourite (sic) mess with negroes is a soup called calaluem which is composed of pork or fish, pigeon peas, ochras (sic), yams, capsicum, and other vegetables, boiled in water, with a pudding of corn-meal; this is commonly their supper (Brady in Tyson et al. 1992: 162). Both of these accounts are in agreement with what Ferguson writes concerning West African food practices and their relation to colonoware vessels from South Carolina. Relish pots, as Ferguson refers to them, contained “well-

56 cooked, sometimes spicy vegetables; occasionally small pieces of meat or fish are added” (Ferguson 1992:97). It is apparent that the West African practice of preparing soup or stew based meals continued in the West Indies. The relation to the soup or stew based meals and colonowares in South Carolina or low-fired earthenwares in the Caribbean can be seen from the two historic accounts provided above. The pepper pots or Kallaloo spoken about by West are most likely similar to the low-fired earthenwares recovered from Carolina Point. Researchers in the West Indies have known since Gartley’s article on Afro- Cruzan Pottery in 1979 about these vessels and their relationship to enslaved Africans. The presence of these low-fired earthenwares is clear here (Table 8). Examples of these vessels were found in each of the slave structures, although in varying amounts. The total quantity of low-fired earthenwares recovered from areas other than the slave village amounted to less than half that of Slave Structure One which contained the smallest amount of all the structures. It is fair to say that the production and use of these vessels was done primarily by the enslaved population at Carolina Point. The use of low-fired earthenware cooking vessels to prepare typically West African dishes indicates the continued practice of food preparation and consumption which began in Africa.(Ferguson 1992:94- 95) If does not appear that the owners of the plantation had much use for or desire to obtain vessels of this type since their presence outside the Slave Village is minimal. The concentration of these vessels in the Slave Village suggests that for the most part meals cooked by the slaves for their use consisted of a starch such as corn meal, potatoes, or yams, a mixture of vegetables and spices for the “relish”, with small amounts of protein in the form of fish or pork. Oldendorp noted that “They (the slaves) take their main meal of the day in the evening, and at that time the women cook enough to provide for the following midday meal as well” (Oldendorp in Tyson et al. 1992: 76). The preparation of stewed type meals allowed for the consumption of pre-prepared meals in the fields the following day. Stews and soups such as those listed above could be allowed to simmer unattended for hours thus freeing the cook from the lengthy preparation time of other meals. West African dietary preferences and food preparation techniques

57 continued to be practiced to some degree in the West Indies by enslaved Africans throughout the period of slavery.

Table 6. Faunal material recovered by weight from different loci of Carolina Point. Areas Weight in (g) % of total weight Slave Structure One 34.18 2.85% Slave Structure Two 306.97 25.20% Slave Structure Three 784.61 64.40% Great House Burned Room 46.8 3.84% Great House North Room 14.85 1.23% Great House Overseers 3.41 0.28% Great House North Exterior 9.87 0.81% Great House Kitchen 1.2 0.09% Great House Patio 15.8 1.30% 1217.69 100%

Table 6 reveals the breakdown of faunal remains from different areas of the plantation by weight. Slave Structure One combined to account for 34.18 grams of faunal material 21% of which was represented by a single specimen of Capra/Ovis. The majority of faunal material, by weight, recovered from Slave Structure One was represented by bone identifiable only as mammalian accounting for 59%. Boney fish including parrotfish and grouper represented only 11% of the cabin assemblage. A single Turbinidae operculum represented 8% with reptiles represented by iguana totaling 1%. A total of 306.97 grams of faunal material was identified from Slave Structure Two. Of this 90% of the total weight was identified as mammal which included Capra/Ovis, Bos Taurus, Sus scrofa, and Rattus rattus. Reptile including iguanidae and turtle represented only 0.2% of the total weight from Slave Structure Two. Aves also represented only 0.2% of the sub- assemblage illustrated by a single fragment. Fish represented 8% of the assemblage and included such species as barracuda, boxfish, parrotfish, shark, grouper, jack, triggerfish, and hogfish. The habitat of many of these fish is to be found offshore on the island’s many reefs. It is most likely that these specimens were caught in traps or either with lines and hooks or possibly speared. A total of 1.3% was identifiable as mollusca with the remaining 0.3% identifiable only as vertebrata.

58 Table 7. Faunal remains from Carolina Point Plantation.

Taxon Count % MNI % Weight (g) % Vertebrata 64 6.35 - - 15.20 1.33 Animalia 6 0.60 - - 2.53 0.22 Mammalia 67 6.65 - - 12.03 1.05 Mammalia (small) 1 0.10 - - 0.04 0.00 Mammalia (medium) 3 0.30 - - 0.92 0.08 Mammalia (large) 480 47.62 - - 710.83 62.10 Rodentia 5 0.50 - - 0.30 0.03 Rattus sp. 5 0.50 2 6.06 1.04 0.09 Felis domesticus 1 0.10 1 3.03 2.77 0.24 Artiodactyla 4 0.40 - - 3.48 0.30 Sus scrofa 25 2.48 1 3.03 56.84 4.97 Equus asinus 1 0.10 1 3.03 13.80 1.21 Bos taurus 8 0.79 1 3.03 218.09 19.05 Capra/Ovis 21 2.08 2 6.06 29.49 2.58 Aves 12 1.19 - - 9.30 0.81 Aves (medium) 4 0.40 - - 1.49 0.13 Gallus gallus 2 0.20 2 6.06 5.64 0.49 Iguanidae 7 0.69 2 6.06 2.06 0.18 Testudines 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.28 0.02 cf. Condrichthyes 2 0.20 - - 0.49 0.04 Lamniformes 2 0.20 1 3.03 0.75 0.07 Osteichthyes 218 21.63 - - 31.01 2.71 Osteichthyes (large) 1 0.10 - - 3.38 0.30 Muraenidae 3 0.30 1 3.03 0.31 0.03 Holocentrus sp. 5 0.50 1 3.03 0.66 0.06 Serranidae 1 0.10 - - 0.19 0.02 Epinephelus sp. 7 0.69 2 6.06 5.93 0.52 Carangidae 1 0.10 - - 0.13 0.01 Caranx sp. 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.17 0.01 Lutjanus sp. 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.27 0.02 Haemulon sp. 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.48 0.04 Sphyraena sp. 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.32 0.03 Bodianus sp. 3 0.30 1 3.03 3.35 0.29 Scaridae 8 0.79 - - 2.25 0.20 Scarus sp. 3 0.30 1 3.03 0.58 0.05 Sparisoma sp. 19 1.88 4 12.12 4.55 0.40 Sparisoma viride 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.33 0.03 Scombridae 1 0.10 1 3.03 0.17 0.01 Balistes sp. 5 0.50 2 6.06 2.53 0.22 Ostraciidae 5 0.50 1 3.03 0.48 0.04 Lactophrys sp. 2 0.20 - - 0.22 0.02 Total 1008 100 33 100 1144.68 100

59 Slave Structure Three was dominated in weight by mammals which contributed 93% of the total weight excavated from this cabin. Mammals were represented by cow, pig, sheep, and burro. Fish accounted for 3.51% of the total weight representing the fish were such reef species as parrotfish, groupers, boxfishes, moray eels, grunts, snapper, jacks, hogfish, and triggerfish. Bird represented 1.55% with chicken as the only identifiable species. Reptiles, mollusks, and bivalves combined to account for the remaining 2%. Table 7able 7 lists the taxons recovered from Carolina Point Plantation. As mentioned earlier nearly 93% (by weight) of the faunal material recovered from the 1998 excavations were from the three slave cabins investigated. Table 7 also provides a breakdown of the fauna as they contribute to the assemblage as a whole. Percentages of faunal count, MNI (minimum number of individuals), and percentages of weight are listed. As any one of these presented alone would tend to bias the results all three are listed in the table. Remains of large mammals dominate both the faunal count and weight categories with 47.6% and 62.1% respectively. However Sparisomas (parrotfish) represent the highest total MNI with 12.12%. The discrepancies between count, weight, and MNI reflect the biases inherent in relying on a single analytical model. As mentioned in Chapter Five one quarter inch hardware cloth was used exclusively for screening except for special soil and flotation samples. Sampling bias which tends to exclude smaller bones such as those of small fish which likely played an important role in the diet of the Carolina Point population affected the outcome of the analysis. However since the goal of the project was to determine the nature and extent of the deposits prior to their transfer from federal to private land owners it was not possible to screen through a smaller gage and excavate the amount necessary to achieve this.

STONE ARTIFACTS

Artifacts created from stone, constituted nine percent (9%) of the total weight of the Carolina Point Slave Village assembly. This is comprised of excavations within and directly around the three structures examined. Stone artifacts are comprised of plaster derived from lime production, lithics in the forms of gunflints, strike-a-lites, and battered bipolar flint specimens, and slate writing tools. Artifacts constructed from stone serve a myriad of functions such as architectural in the case of plaster or writing as in the case of the writing slate and pencil fragments recovered. This chapter will discuss the results of

60 the varying analysis conducted on the different stone artifacts recovered from the Carolina Point Slave Village.

LITHIC SPECIMENS

Several examples of flint were recovered from various sites during the 1998 field season. Analysis of the flint artifacts recovered from Carolina Point was conducted by Dr. Phillip Carr of the University of South Alabama. Carr’s analysis determined that most of the specimens were unidentifiable as specific tools such as gunflints. Analysis of linear measurements on length, width, thickness, weight and revealed that there are two varieties of easily recognizable artifacts 1) intentionally produced tools such as gunflints and 2) amorphous expedient strike-a-lights most likely produced from discarded ballast stones since flint does not naturally occur in the Virgin Islands. The following segment will discuss the time period the tools were produced, the country of their origin, and the probable use of the unidentifiable specimens. Flint is a siliceous stone occurring in strata of chalk such as that found in England and France. Its physical properties include predictable fracturing when shaped which makes it favorable to other stones that are not as easily fashioned. According to Dolomieu (1960:52), flint produces an abundant amount of sparks to ignite the gunpowder held in the pan with minimal damage to the steel “frizzen” of the gun. This allows for the repeated use and ability to refashion the gunflint after performance. The ability of flint to produce sparks when struck against steel also allows for the production of fire if fanned in tinder. The fact that flint can be used to produce sparks would have made it invaluable to people of the past to provide the initial spark from which their cooking and heating fires were produced. Although useful these strike-a-lights as they are known do not have an easily recognizable form. According to Kent “Any piece of broken flint (i.e., an edge without cortex) will serve to draw sparks from a hardened piece of steel. The only modifications to a broken piece of flint to be used in fire-making which might be necessary would involve rough chipping to reduce its size or perhaps to dull an edge held by the user. Admittedly some ancient fire-making flints were probably more

61 carefully shaped by chipping, but the ordinary and most economical “fire- flint” was little more than a chip” Kent (1983: 30). Since there is no mental template of what a strike-a-light should look like it would seem that indeed any piece of flint can be used to produce the desired effect of producing sparks. This fact prevents a formal classification of flints as strike-a-lights since both complete gunflints as well as minimally modified nodules both produce the desired effect. However it is possible to note edge use on many of the specimens so as to determine if the specimen resulted from reduction or was actually utilized for spark production. Many of the specimens reveal edge wear, which could be deduced to have resulted from spark production. The determination of whether a specimen represented a gunflint, strike-a-light or otherwise utilized flake was made by Dr. Phillip J. Carr. Carr examined each specimen noting such features as raw material, portion of fragment, number of facets, dorsal scars, percentage of dorsal cortex, etc. These elements are noted in an attempt to formally record all observable attributes present on each specimen. While these measurements are valuable in quantifying each specimen, the arbitrary form of many of the utilized flakes and strike-a-lights prevent the researcher from formally identifying or grouping together any of the specimens on measurement similarity alone.

Formal Tools History

The history of stone tool use by humans is inextricably linked with the evolution of our species and is far to long and detailed as to be entered into to here. However if we are to pick up during the known occupation of the site we find that chipped stone technology employed in the manufacture of the formal tools is consistent with the known occupation of the site. Beginning around 1650 (Chapel 1962: 40-45) the classic flintlock that is still in use today by some black powder enthusiasts was being produced in England, France, and other Western European countries.

The first type of French flint used is what is known as a gunspall. A gunspall is “nothing more nor less than individual spalls knocked off the surfaces or rounded boulders of chert, (Hamilton 1960:77) producing a “wedge shaped,..nonlenticular”

62 gunflint. (Hamilton 1960:74). “Whereas the eighteenth-century mass-produced gunflint was cut from previously prepared blades of flint, the gunspall was struck straight from the chert nodule and its shape was therefore largely dictated by the way in which the siliceous stone flaked.” (Noel-Hume 1976: 219) Dates for this type of particular sparking tool date from 1675-1750 (Hamilton 1960:74). “The dates for the beginnings of gun-flint making in England are not precise. It may be that it is a continuation of strike-a-light industries which have their origins during the Stone Age, as Skertchly (1879) has suggested.” White (1975:69). The early English flints were also of the wedge shape known as gunspalls. However these were not widely produced due to the widespread availability of the higher quality flints produced in France. The production of gunspalls no doubt relied on the luck of the napper in producing a flake suitable for use in a firearm. DeLotbiniere states that the production of gunspalls created a “waste of material, and only a small number could be made in a short time” (in Kenmotsu 1990:204). Kenmotsu believes that a single core would probably only produce one or two usable gunspalls (1990:204). In researching the transition date from spall production to that of blade technology Kenmotsu has determined that while the blade technology may have existed at least in France from 1663 it was not perfected until 1740. (1990:204).

According to Hamilton “English flints do not make their appearance until about 1750, and they are of the usual prism like form. By 1775 all gunflints are prism shaped.” (1960:74). This transition in gunflint production greatly increases the amount of gunflints that can be produced from a single nodule of chert. Dolomieu states that the production of gunflints “leaves much waste…nearly half of the mass of the best nodules cannot be flaked, and it is rare if more than 50 gunflints are furnished by one block.” (1960:60). Although Dolomieu believed this technology to be wasteful it surely was more economically viable at least in terms of raw material than the previous spall production technology which according to Kenmotsu would only produce one or two gunspalls in comparison to 50 produced from blade technology. (provided of course the original nodules were of comparable size.) The technology for gunflint production had changed from simply striking off spalls to driving off long blades from which the true prismatic gunflints were derived. This technological revolution allowed for the mass production of

63 a somewhat more ‘standardized’ type gunflint. The French as stated were the first to truly master this form of gunflint production and the enjoyed a monopoly over the market for nearly half of a century. In fact Whitthoft has noted that “over 95% of the gunflints found in camps occupied during the American Revolution, including even British camps, are of French origin”(1966:22). The desire for the “superior” French gunflints it would seem, prevented any substantial production of native English flints.

It was not until the Napoleonic Wars of the 1790’s that the British were forced to start manufacturing their own gunflints to provision their troops with the necessary hardware. The most diagnostic differences between the French and English gunflints are color and secondary retouching. According to Woodward “In general one might say that the French flints were of the honey or taffy colored types, with rounded heels, thinner and flatter than those of English manufacture” (1960: 35). Carlyle Smith goes further stating

The blond French flints display a secondary chipping along the sides and around the back. This results in a rounded back and a “gnawed” appearance in contrast with the smooth planes that resulted from the primary chipping, The black English flints…display little or no secondary chipping along the sides and across the back (Smith1960: 46).

The more rounded lightly colored (honey, brown) French gunflints are distinguishable from the black ‘squarer’ English gunflints. Based upon color and secondary treatments the two types of gunflints were identified as either French or English.

Figure 18 reveals that French gunflints outnumber English gunflints by more than 3 to 1 (20 to 6). The Napoleonic wars besides prompting the development of the British gunflint industry also had a direct effect on the Danish West Indies. During the British occupation of the islands a ban on imports from other than England and her allies may have resulted in the presence of the six British gunflints found at Carolina Point. It appears from the dominance of French gunflints present in comparison to those of the British, that there was a preference for the higher quality French specimens.

64 16 Brown with grey mottles 14 (French) 12 Honey, translucent, high 10 quality (French) Black with grey mottles 8 (English) Number 6 Black, high quality 4 (English) 2 Burnt (Unidentified) 0 1 Gunflint Color

Figure 18. Carolina Point Gunflints by Country of Origin.

The lithic database lists color of each specimen : BG= black with grey mottles and high quality (English), B= black of medium quality that is sometimes weathered (English), BRG= brown with grey mottles and high quality (Most likely French), GG= grey with grey mottles (Undetermined) T= tan (French) H= honey, translucent and high quality (French) W= white with mottles (Undetermined) G= green (Undetermined) C= somewhat clear with mottles (Undetermined)

The presence of a number (260) of non-diagnostic lithics were recovered from Carolina Point as well as a limited number (14) from three other sites on the island. It is likely that these specimens were obtained from ship’s ballast stones arriving from Europe.The occupants of the slave village were reducing these stones to produce simple expedient tools such as blades and strike-a-lights. A majority of the non-diagnostic specimens are relatively small, amorphous in nature and do not exhibit evidence of long term use. Of the total lithic sample all examples that revealed retouch, multiple uses, or

65 specific formal use were described in the preceding section and are listed under identifiable tools section of the accompanying spreadsheet.

The non formal tools or non-diagnostic lithics examined revealed a number of interesting aspects such as the following chart. Figure 19 reveals the distribution of these lithics based on their color which as previously described correlates well with the source of its origin. The black, and black with grey mottles varieties from England outnumber the brown and honey French varieties. It appears that while there was a definite preference for the French flints for formal tools while the unidentified specimens are more heavily weighted toward the British specimens. A possible reason for this could exist in the greater number of British ships arriving in the area to supply the nearby British colonies. These ships with ballast stones loaded in the harbors of England could have easily been the source of the somewhat lower grade flints these specimens represent.

Black (English)

90 Black with grey mottles 80 (English) 70 Brown with grey 60 mottles(French) 50 Clear (Unidentified) 40

Number 30 20 Green (Unidentified) 10 0 Grey with grey mottles 1 (Unidentified) Color Honey (French)

Figure 19. Lithic tools by country of origin if determined.

The linear measurements performed on these specimens also reveals that the predominant forms present represent bipolarized amorphous elements. Bipolarized forms can often indicate that there is a low quantity of available material. While this may be the case, it is uncertain whether or not the availability of flint ballast stones was limited to the

66 occupants of Water Island. By crushing the flints on an anvil with a hammerstone expedient cutting tools could be produced. Likewise when struck with steel strike-a- lights these amorphous forms could produce the desired sparks to produce a fire. Since so few complete flakes were present it is highly unlikely that any skilled knapper was present on the island. The preponderance of bipolar ‘cores’ is likely the result of a lack of knowledge of how to produce specific flakes. As previously mentioned the preponderance of amorphous bipolarized flakes and cores as seen in the preceding chart could indicate that a minimal amount of raw material was available and that the occupants of the slave village were involved in a reduction process that maximizes the amount of usable expedient tools with a minimum of stone tool technology.

Complete Flake

Medial Flake 120 100 Distal Flake 80 Shatter 60

Number 40 Bipolarized, Amorphous-Many Sided 20 Bipolar Flake with Ventral 0 Surface 1 Complete, Proximal, Medial, or Distal Bipolar Flake Element

Figure 20. Non-formal tools from Carolina Point Plantation.

CONCLUSION

From the analysis of the lithic material recovered from Carolina Point, one can readily see through the examination of the formal tools that there is a preference for the ‘superior’ French gunflints (20 to 6) over the British produced flints. As previously

67 discussed most people in the late eighteenth century, the British included, relied on the French to produce gunflints for use by the military as well as civilian personnel. It should come as no surprise that the presence of French gunflints, which became available in the 1740’s, dominate the sample examined. The few examples of British gunflints present would indicate a date of no earlier than 1790 since this is the period the British are forced to produce their own flints due to the Napoleanic Wars and possibly could have resulted from the British occupation of the area during this time.

The analysis of the informal tools has revealed several interesting points; English examples outnumber those from France by almost two to one (131 to 66). This could result from the greater number of English ships arriving with ballast stones from home and unloading this weight in the area. The production of these informal tools seems to indicate a reduction strategy involving hammerstones and anvils, which would account for the large number of bipolar cores and flakes encountered, primarily in the slave village. These expedient tools produced from this reduction strategy would most likely have been simple cutting edges and strike-a-lights. Since none of the samples examined revealed extensive reuse it could be suggested that they were intended only as single use disposable tools.

The dates for the production of the formal tools dovetail nicely with the dates from the analysis of the other classes of artifacts. The analysis of lithics for dating purposes appears to be of greatest use when investigating sites from the same period as Carolina Point since there is abundant historical data regarding the worldwide use of the French and English gunflints. More interesting is the nascent form of lithic reduction that is occurring in the slave village at Carolina Point. The presence of so many lithics in Slave Structure One indicates that one or more individuals living in this cabin created stone tools for expedient tool use, or possibly for trade/ resale at the market. With so many tools present it seems that their presence would be greatly reduced if the goal was to only produce small expedient tools. It is the author’s belief that the remains of the lithics from Slave Structure One represent one of the many small industries that slaves throughout the Danish West Indies endeavored in order to provide additional income with which they could purchase goods at the informal markets.

EARTHENWARES

Low fired earthenwares recovered from Water Island during the 1998 field season can be grouped into two broad categories. The first and oldest are those resulting from the prehistoric aboriginal occupation known as Elenan Ostionoid, while the second more recent dates to the African occupation of the area brought to the Caribbean for use as slave labor. Upon examination there appears to be little observable differences between the two, which likely results from the finite number of resources, (clay, temper) ceramic technologies (molding, firing) available to both groups. This chapter attempts to describe the two types, their history, commonalties and differences. Six sites excavated in 1998 resulted in the recovery of low-fired earthenwares. Three of these sites (Carolina Point, Sprat Bay, and Ruyter’s Bay) represent known historic occupations with no substantial prehistoric component. While the earthenwares recovered from Elephant Bay, and Banana Bay South clearly represent an earlier aboriginal occupation. Tamarind Tree Bay, a multi-component site contains both of these ceramics types. In fact Tamarind Tree Bay was the subject of an archaeological investigation in the early 1930’s by Trevor, Buxton, and Julien in which several burials (Buxton et al. 1938) were recovered with associated grave goods comprised primarily of low fired ceramics. Initially these earthenwares as well as the accompanying skeletal remains were misidentified as aboriginal in origin, but were later correctly identified by T.D. Stewart as African. The fact that these vessels resembled those produced by the aboriginal population so closely is the first example of the confusion created in trying to differentiate between the two.

Historic African Produced Ceramics

The development of African produced ceramics in the Caribbean have been known to scholars since at least the early 1970’s. Edward S. Rutsch, commenting in a report on salvage operations at Cinnamon Bay, St. John, states that a collection of earthenware sherds recovered from this site were “not European in form or a result of

69 aboriginal technology but rather a piece of material culture technology from West Africa brought here by African immigrants…”(1970:29). However it was not until 1979 that the publication of Gartley’s article “Afro-Cruzan Pottery: A new style of Colonial Earthenware from St. Croix” really examined this particular class of material culture. Gartley’s describes this type of pottery as “an unglazed earthenware, hand modeled and fired in open hearths”(1979: 47). Since that time a number of scholars working throughout the Caribbean have recovered and reported on these earthenwares (Armstrong 1990; Crane 1993; Hauser and Armstrong 1999; Mathewson 1972; Righter 1982).

Accounts from the Virgin Islands illustrate that the production of low-fired earthenwares by enslaved Africans was intact during the 18th century. Righter provides a quote from St. Thomas planter J.L. Cartens from the year 1740;

As the plantation slaves receive nothing from their masters except…and a small lot that the master assigns to each of them on the outskirts of the plantation. And also there are a number of industrious and profitable craftsmen, who by their [craft] not only acquire food and the few clothing that some of them use, but also collect savings. Some of them are potters, who from the clay make and bake all the pots and trays that throughout the country are used by whites and blacks for cooking, baking and warming the food. The pots are like “Jyde-pattern” without legs; the trays or bowls are in the shape of the crown of a hat. (Figure 21) (Cartens in Righter 1984: 8).

Mathewson describes the manner in which these earthenwares were conducted (the) pottery was always hand-made and was never fashioned with the help of a potter’s wheel. The pots were moulded from a single lump of clay and/or formed by the addition of successive build up of sausage- shaped rolls of clay commonly known as coils or rings. Prior to firing, vessels were usually burnished or polished with a pebble or similar tool. The firing of the pottery was traditionally carried out without use of a kiln

70 of any type, and was restricted to the open-hearth firing technique. (Mathewson 1972: 55).

Figure 21. Low fired earthenwares from Slave Structure Two.

71 Once it was recognized that Africans, who had arrived in the Danish West Indies during the 18th and 19th Centuries, were responsible for producing these earthenwares, a new focus on this class of material remains began. Similarly in the Southeastern United States researchers had begun to recognize and study a related form of the African produced earthenwares (Anthony 1986; Ferguson 1978; 1992; Noel-Hume, 1962; Wheaton et al. 1983). The examples present in the U.S. South were initially called “Colono-Indian” ware by Noel Hume (1976:62) because it was thought at the time that these vessels were being produced by groups such as the Catawba for sale to Europeans. However after some further consideration Ferguson, consulting with Richard Polhemus, determined that many of the ceramics previously thought to be of native manufacture were indeed produced by enslaved Africans. This revelation led the way for further research into what would come to be known as Colonoware. Colonoware as it is known in the southeast is usually described as hand molded, low-fired, unglazed earthenwares, sometimes constructed to mimic European forms. This definition, while generic, serves to provide a general understanding of what types of earthenwares were being encountered throughout the area. Several studies on these low- fired earthenwares have been conducted in the southeast to determine the ethnic affiliation of the creators of these ceramics. Leland Ferguson began researching the earthenwares recovered throughout South Carolina and determined that in fact the Native Americans were not alone in the manufacture of low-fired earthenwares (Ferguson 1978). He proposed that these ceramics were probably produced by African-American slaves for their own use. Wheaton, Friedlander, and Garrow have also conducted other work of this nature on a series of sites in Berkeley County South Carolina (1983). Their research concluded in an assignment of two varieties, one being a “thicker, poorly fired, poorly manufactured type and a thinner, better fired and manufactured type.”(Wheaton et al. 1983: 226). These varieties were labeled “Colono” meant to represent the cruder African produced vessels and “Catawba” to describe the finer Native produced pieces (Wheaton et al. 1983: 226). Attributes such as thickness, form, surface treatment, decoration and manufacture method were all considered.

72 Anthony has also conducted similar work at Daniel’s Island, South Carolina. In this study the terms “Catawba” and “Colono” are replaced with less restrictive terms such as “Lessene Lustered” and “Smoothed”, “Yaughan” and “River Burnished” (Anthony 1986: 7-28). In this typological classification “Yaughan” represents the former “Colono” while “River Burnished” is substituted for “Catawba” with the remaining two used for those vessels that fall in between (Anthony 1986: 7-28). This study reveals the progress in our understanding of the people that created these types of ceramics. The interest in identifying the ethnic origins of locally produced ceramics is not limited to South Carolina. Regions in Florida have produced examples of earthenwares that resemble European forms such as the presence of foot rings. However these items are generally considered to be products of Native American manufacture particularly the Apalchee in north Florida, and are not likely produced by African-Americans. (Vernon 1988). The effort to determine the identity of the creators of this type of ceramic is not limited to the U.S. southeast. Johnston and Lundberg report that Afro-colonial vessels were made of a plain, coarse earthenware, and non- diagnostic sherds of that ware appear similar, in many ways, to body sherds from pre-Columbian vessels. In several cases, what we had been calling late prehistoric (Elenoid series) pottery has actually turned out to be Afro-colonial ware. This historic-period pottery…may account for as much as 25% of the supposedly prehistoric archaeological site record on St. Croix (1983:51-52). This quote illustrates the difficulty in assigning any ethnic affiliations to the creators of these particular styles of ceramics.

Comparison of Low-Fired Earthenwares from Water Island

Over 800 sherds recovered from six sites on Water Island were analyzed noting weight, thickness, temper, color, vessel part, smudging and decoration if present. As previously mentioned, three of the sites producing earthenwares, are recorded historic occupations dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Two other sites with similar ceramics were clearly prehistoric, securely dating between A.D. 560-860 from

73 radiocarbon samples taken at Banana Bay South. While some slight deviations exist between these two temporally distant classes of artifacts, many of the same problems faced by Johnston and Lundberg (1983) on St. Croix are present here. A quantifiable comparison of average vessel thickness arrived at from sherd analysis is presented below (Figure 22). Each site produced an average thickness between 6.91 mms (Ruyter’s Bay) and 8.51 mms (Banana Bay South). The thicker vessel average (8.51 mms) from Banana Bay South may be explained by the presence of often-thicker cassava griddle fragments included in this analysis. Even with the inclusion of cassava griddle fragments, thickness averages are remarkably similar from each of the six sites.

9 Carolina Point 8 n=214 7 Sprat Bay n=208 6 5 Ruyter's Bay n=25

4 Tamarind Tree 3 Bay n=145 2 Elephant Bay n=37 1 Banana Bay 0 South n=176 Mean Vessel Thickness

Figure 22. Mean vessel thickness (mm) of earthenwares recovered from six sites on Water Island. Temper, as best can be determined, was not significantly different overall from the six sites examined. It is argued here that if these vessels were indeed produced on the island from locally available resources, i.e. clay, and temper, that there should be no appreciable difference between the two ceramic types. Since it is widely accepted that the aboriginal occupants of the islands did not possess knowledge of the potter’s wheel or kiln firing technology there should be an overall similarity in construction and firing of the vessels with those produced in historic times by enslaved Africans. However Armstrong notes, citing Handler and Lange’s work, that not all African produced low-

74 fired earthenwares were hand built, “wheel and kiln ceramic traditions in Barbados reflected European innovations such as the production of specialized forms related to sugar industry needs”(Armstrong 1990: 150). The fact that not all of these low-fired earthenwares were hand built should come as no surprise considering the substantial cultural influences at work across the different islands of the Caribbean. For Water Island in particular where there is no specialized emphasis on sugar production the evidence that the historic period ceramics were produced by wheel or fired with the aid of a kiln is absent. It is then suggested that both groups, the aboriginal inhabitants, and the enslaved Africans participated in similar techniques to form as well as fire their respective ceramics. Hauser and Armstrong (1999) discuss the autonomy of enslaved Africans living on the East End of St. John in the purchase of commodities such as ceramics (1999:92). In their study of the exchange patterns of low fired earthenwares from St. John, through petrography and X-ray fluorescence analysis, the authors found that the majority of specimens examined could not have been produced on St. John (Hauser et al. 1999:89). They argue that the clays used in the production of the vessel parts recovered from the East End of St. John most likely originated in the Spanish West Indies. While a small number of ceramics (10) (Hauser et al. 1999:88) were likely produced on St. John for use in “intra-island exchange”, the majority were imported from the Spanish West Indies. The majorities of examples cited as resulting from inter-island exchange however are wheel thrown and lead glazed. Wheel thrown, lead glazed ceramics recovered from Water Island were not included in this analysis, opting instead for their placement in the overall historic ceramic analysis based on their method of manufacture and decoration. It is likely that many of the specimens recovered from Water Island fall into Hauser and Armstrong’s Type 3 category (hand molded with no lead glaze) (1999:88) and could therefore have been produced on site. The specimens from Water Island most closely fall into this category and could be considered to be products manufactured for intra-island exchange. If this indeed is the case, then the prehistoric ceramics as well as the historic African ceramics would therefore most likely have been produced on Water Island. This suggests that the similarities in the two are due to the commonalties in

75 construction and firing techniques shared by both groups as well as the finite availability of resources available to them. This is not to suggest that both groups were limited in their individual cultural expressions through the production of these ceramics by clay, temper and firing. Form and decoration are more likely going to be used in the expression of emblemic style (Weissner 1991). The rims recovered from Sprat Bay and Carolina Point exhibit “a constricted neck with a flaring rim” (Gartley 1979: 47). This quote provided by Gartley in his report of the most common “Afro-Cruzan” earthenwares found on St. Croix succinctly describes the earthenwares from Water Island thought to be African-Caribbean in origin. The “olla” type of vessel dominated the St. Croix assemblage with only a few examples of bowls present at the time of publication. While none of the Water Island specimens are complete enough for vessel reconstruction, rim profiles suggest that a number of the specimens recovered were of the “olla” type with characteristic constricted necks and outflaring rims described by Gartley (Figure 23). However, those sites with clear aboriginal occupations (Banana Bay South, Elephant Bay) exhibit a different type of vessel morphology. In general, of the rims present, a majority are either incurving or straight sided. Additionally the lack of decoration, (appliques) is characteristic of the African produced ceramics. Only a few examples of rim decoration were present from the samples recovered. Adornos are clearly depicted on two vessel rims while a small loop is present on another. Another example reveals what could be a mendhole, added after firing, to prevent further damage to the vessel. In general however, each of the rims present reveals an incurving form towards the lip and none appear to have the constricted necks typical of the African produced ceramics. Conclusion: The analysis of low-fired earthenwares from Water Island has led to some interesting results. Previous work conducted in the Caribbean has faced the same problems in attempting to identify the creators of these ceramics (Hauser 1999; Armstrong 1990, 2000). Techniques for the construction and subsequent firing are similar, as well as the materials (clay and temper) used in the creation of these vessels. While there is no magic bullet for the identification of a ceramic sherd as either Elenan

76 Ostinoid, or African-Caribbean, some general observations can be deduced. While not all rims from the Elenan period exhibit incurving or convex shapes at the lip, a majority of those recovered from Water Island do. The presence of appliques or adornos on rim sherds is strictly limited to sherds recovered from prehistoric sites on the island. Constricted necks with outflaring rims are most often associated with the African produced “olla” style of earthenwares. Finally the association of these ceramics with other prehistoric or historic artifacts in undisturbed contexts is the most reliable indicator of the period in which they were produced.

HISTORIC CERAMICS

Analysis of the ceramics recovered from the slave village at Carolina Point have revealed several interesting aspects of choice and consumption in the Danish West Indies. The first class of ceramics to be mentioned is these low-fired earthenwares thought to have been produced by the slaves for their own use. Of late, much attention has been paid to this particular class of artifact found in the Caribbean. This is due in a large part to previous work on “colonoware” by Noel-Hume, Ferguson, Wheaton and Garrow and others with the implication that these vessels represent an “Africanism” or cultural survival of sorts. While attention has shifted away from searching for ethnic survivals through the study of these ceramics, they can still tell us something about the individual choices being made. Low-fired earthenwares were recovered in varying percentages over the three slave structures. Totaling the percentages from the three cabins reveals an average of 26% of the total ceramic assemblage from this area compared to less than 1% of that from the burned room. X-ray fluorescence spectometry and petrography analysis such as that conducted by Hauser and Armstrong on St. John (2000) to locate clay sources for the production of these ceramics have not been conducted on these samples. It may be the case that these ceramics were not produced on Water Island but were rather purchased at the slave markets much like the European ceramics. To quote Carstens again …And also there are a number of industrious and profitable craftsmen, who by their [craft] not only acquire food and the few clothing that some of them use, but also collect savings. Some of them are potters, who from the clay make and bake all the pots and trays that throughout the country

77 are used by whites and blacks for cooking, baking and warming the food (Carstens in Tyson et al. 1997).

Figure 23. “Olla” type vessels from Slave Structure Two.

78 It seems likely that these types of ceramics would have been offered for sale at the market and could represent the conscience choice on the part of the consumer to acquire these vessels for particular purposes such as the preparation of certain dishes. Perhaps future research such as that conducted by Hauser and Armstrong will reveal the manufacture source of these specimens.

EUROPEAN CERAMICS

European ceramics were one of the largest artifact types recovered from Carolina Point. An overview of the types of historic ceramics recovered from Carolina Point is provided here to elucidate the differences between the plantation owner and the slaves’ possessions. The huge demand for Chinese export porcelains in Europe led to a progression of ceramic types that attempted to imitate the fine wares of the Far East. Chinese porcelains were first commercially available in adequate numbers for public consumption around the 1660’s (South 1977). The clarity and translucence of this ware made it very desirable in Europe as well as the colonies. An effort to duplicate this ware led to the creation of creamware in nearly a century later. Thomas Astbury developed a method of combining very clean kaolinite clay with ground flint which produced a very white body which was then coated with a clear lead glaze in the 1720’s (Gooden 1966:15). However Josiah Wedgewood of the Wedgewood ceramics fame perfected this technique and began offering “creamware” in the 1750’s. Creamware did not quite recreate the purity of porcelain, however it was a very popular ceramic both in Europe and abroad. Creamware as its name implies had a creamy quality to it that is best described as an off white identifiable in archeological contexts by its slight yellow to green tin in the pooling particularly around the footrings or other areas where the glaze tended to puddle. The second breakthrough in ceramic technology attempting to recreate Chinese porcelain came in the 1780’s when Wedgewood added small amounts of cobalt to the lead glaze which essentially masked the yellowish quality of the previous lead glaze. The new pottery type known as pearlware was much whiter than its predecessor and was adorned with an almost infinite number of decorations including transfer prints of almost limitless colors which had been available in the earlier creamwares only in black.

79 Sponged wares, engine turned wares such as mochas, and hand painted designs of flora and fauna were abundant at this time. However none of these decorations were produced at the extraordinary level of shell edged wares. This decorative technique involved impressing the edges of the vessels most often plates, with a particular pattern usually an impressed bud with curved or straight lines that were then painted over most commonly in blue or green but were also available in red, yellow, and other colors. The final technological breakthrough in the attempt to mimic porcelain came in the 1820’s with the development of whiteware. This particular ceramic was nearly as white as the Chinese porcelain however the translucence of the Chinese porcelain was never achieved. Whiteware lacked the blue tint found in the crevices of pearlware due to improvements in the manufacture of the underlying paste which by this time had achieved a much whiter appearance than either creamware of pearlware. Whiteware came about as cobalt which had been added to creamware to create pearlware was removed from the glaze formula. Decorations for this type of ceramic were nearly identical to those of pearlware with the only major difference being the “whiteness” of the body. Decorations on the English wares varied greatly from simple impressed patterns that were not painted such as Queen’s ware on early creamwares to multiple colored transfer prints applied to later pearlwares and whitewares. Decorations played an important role in the relative cost of a ceramic ware. George Miller arrived at a number of indices which reflected the actual cost of a particular ware to the consumer based on historic catalogs and references (1991). His work determined that simply decorated wares such as shell edged, sponged, spattered, and annular wares were the cheapest to produce and subsequently were the most affordable. Conversely highly decorated wares including multiple color transfer prints, intricately decorated monochrome transfer prints such as Willowware, and porcelain were the most expensive. A total of 107,422.19 grams of historic ceramics were analyzed from Carolina Point. The presence of large numbers of European mass-produced wares in the Slave Village suggests that slaves purchased these wares, most likely from the market economy. With the establishment of Carolina Point in 1761, around the same time as creamwares are introduced into the world market, and the plantations ultimate demise in 1862 during the height of whitewares’ popularity, it should come as no surprise that a

80 majority of the European mass-produced ceramics consisted of refined white earthenwares. While examples of faience, delft, and slipwares were present in the Slave Village their numbers were not in any measure comparable with those of the refined white earthenwares. Table 8 provides an idea of the weight in grams of the refined earthenwares that each structure contributed to the overall assemblage.

Table 8. Weight in (g) of refined earthenwares from each Slave Structure.

Slave Structure One Slave Structure Two Slave Structure Three Creamware = 133.42 Creamware = 71.17 Creamware = 1136.78 Pearlware = 667.35 Pearlware = 102.26 Pearlware = 1269.95 Whiteware = 23.29 Whiteware = 36.9 Whiteware = 231.54

While the weights vary a great deal between the structures in sheer numbers, there is still a discernable pattern of pearlware dominating the ceramic assemblages of each structure with creamwares second in importance. This is undoubtedly a result of the periods in which these structures were occupied. Structure 3, which had the greatest amount of creamware, is in line with the hypothesis that this structure was the first constructed and occupied. The Mean Ceramic Dates (MCD) of each structure is based on South’s (1977) formula, with modifications by Carlson (1983)*.

*(Formula for Mean Ceramic Dating ∑(XYcw)/ ∑(Ycw)=Zcw. Yc=ceramic count: Yw=ceramic weight X=median manufacture date, and Z=the calculated mean ceramic date.)

The ceramic dates were based primarily on these types of refined earthenwares since they were far and away the most numerous types encountered. Other ceramic types such as porcelain which have such a tremendous date range were omitted to avoid skewing the dates either way. Chronologically non-diagnostic wares such as lead glazed coarse earthenwares that do not have well established dates of manufacture and are still being produced were omitted as well. White bodied refined earthenwares, some stonewares such as ginger beer, delft, faience, and refined redware fragments whose dates of manufacture are documented were used for this study.

81 Through historical research we were able to ascertain the beginning and end dates of occupation for Carolina Point Plantation. Jean Renaud first started paying taxes on the estate in 1769. The Danish colonial government at that time allowed an eight year moratorium of taxation on newly acquired properties so as to encourage successful growth of plantations in the islands. Recently we have learned that the fire that destroyed the Great House occurred in late 1861 or more likely 1862. This would mean that at Carolina Point there is minimally a 100-year span of continual occupation. Since the fire that destroyed the Great House came twelve years after emancipation in the Danish West Indies it is safe to say that after the fire no one was living at the estate. Census records reveal that after 1833 the slave population at Carolina Point never rose above ten individuals. With the presumed abandonment of the slave village in or shortly after 1848, and the destruction of the Great House in 1862, the beginning and end dates of occupation are relatively firm. With this information verified through tax and census records, Carolina Point serves as an example to test the usefulness or futility of Mean Ceramic Dating. As previously mentioned only ceramics with well documented dates of manufacture were used in this analysis to avoid the chance that anomalies created by extended dates of manufacture such as that of porcelain, would not be encountered. South suggests that certain types of ceramics such as decorated delft wares which have a two hundred year time span, be assigned a median date of 1750 for eighteenth century sites and 1650 for 17th century sites. (1977:213). For our study it was clearly appropriate to adopt 1750 for our MCD for delft since Carolina Point is clearly a late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century site. Likewise porcelain specimens were not calculated in this study for reasons mentioned above. MCD’s were calculated first, for each unit level to discern if chronologically stratified deposits existed. Due to the extremely shallow soil conditions from which the artifacts were recovered, no marked chronological differences associated with depth were noted. The MCD’s for each level were then averaged for each particular unit. The unit dates for each area were then averaged to provide a MCD for each of the structures. Individual level and unit MCD’s can be found in the Historic Ceramic appendix. The calculated MCD for Slave Structure One for instance is 1803.4, Slave Structure Two has a MCD of 1810 and Slave Structure Three dated to 1801.6. The dates are very close in

82 range, however Slave Structure Three does have an earlier date than the other structures. Discards of more recent ceramic types such as whitewares, after the structure was abandoned could make the date for this structure actually later than when it was occupied. The Burned Room assemblage presented an interesting opportunity for study. Since so many vessels were partially or fully reconstructed (176) this allowed for the determination of dates based on maker’s marks and specific transfer printed patterns. However for the most part ceramics from the Burned Room assemblage were contemporaneous with those recovered from other areas of the plantation. The Mean Ceramic Date calculated for the entire plantation, minus the Burn Room assemblage, equaled a date of 1811.5 (Table 9). The known dates of occupation based on tax records are 1761-1862 with a mean date of occupation occurring in 1811.5. (1862 – 1761 = 101 / 2 = 50.5 + 1761 = 1811.5) The dates used for the ceramic analysis again were based on specific types of refined white earthenwares and their respective decorative motifs that have well known dates of manufacture. It is incredible that the known dates of occupation coincide so closely with the MCD arrived at through the analysis. Dates used for this study were provided by (South1977) and (Carlson1983). In general, the ceramic dates from the Slave Village are earlier than those for the Great House, which may indicate that the ceramics slave had access to in the market were “out of date” by European tastes or more likely it reflects the decreased population size of the Slave Village following 1835. Other areas such as the possible Overseers structure provided dates that were much earlier than those from the Great House or Slave Village. Table 9 provides the averaged dates for each of the areas excavated, with the exception of the Burn Room.

83 Table 9. Averaged Mean Ceramic Dates for Carolina Point Plantation Areas (not including Burned Room)

Great House Areas Slave Structures

North Exterior 1831.9 Structure One 1803.4 Kitchen 1844.6 Structure Two 1810 North Room 1818.1 Structure Three 1801.6 Patio 1821.1 Outbuilding 1799.6 Overseers 1773.6

The “Overseers” structure may have originally served as the Great House, in the early 1761-1792 period of Carolina Point. This building may have been home to Jean Renaud or the overseer before the construction of the much more substantial Great House. The Great House Kitchen and North Exterior dates are subject to some question as some of the unit level dates are derived from singular examples of decorated whitewares. Wilkie’s work on the Bahamian Plantation, Clifton, has led to some interesting conclusions concerning enslaved peoples’ choices in purchasing European mass produced ceramics. Wilkie’s overall conclusions are that a “creolization model” should be applied to the study of how “mass-produced materials could be used and perceived in uniquely African ways”. The construction of a unique “African-based identity” through the incorporation of specific colors, decorations, and forms on European mass produced ceramics is suggested. To quantify these findings we examined the ceramic assemblages from each of the slave cabins and compared these results to those of the burned room. Polychrome decorated ceramics were recovered in varying percentages from all four structures with the greatest percentage from Slave Structure One and the least percent from the burned room. The total percentage of blue monochrome decorated ceramics from each of the sites reveals a huge difference. The burned room assemblage is dominated by blue monochromes, while polychromes outnumber blue monochromes from nearly all the slave structures. This is largely accounted for by the fact that the plantation owners were selecting sets of blue on white transfer prints versus the gradual accumulation of ceramics

84 found in the slave village. It seems that if the slaves had a preference for blue on white monochromes over the polychromes, these would have accumulated in larger quantities over time. The percentage of undecorated ceramics is interesting as well. Nearly identical percentages came from each of the slave cabins accounting for over a third of the assemblage, while less than a quarter of the burned room ceramics are undecorated. Porcelains included in this analysis account for nearly all of the undecorated wares from the burned room. Undecorated creamwares and center sherds from shell edged specimens account for the large percentage of undecorated wares from the slave structures. The slave cabin ceramic assemblage is reflective of nearly a century of occupation, while the burned room specimens date to the latter half of the Carolina Point occupation. Taking into account differing depositional dates as well as the relative abundance of porcelain from the great house provides some answer for the differing percentages in the plain wares category. The “Other” category includes utilitarian wares such as stonewares and coarse earthenwares that we believe were chosen for function rather than style and therefore do not communicate any preference on the part of the consumer.

CONCLUSION

During the summer of 1998 a team of archeologists from the Southeast Archeological Center as well as researchers from a number of other universities and organizations took part in an effort to fully document the remains of several archeological sites on Water Island the fourth largest island in the United States Virgin Islands. In order to facilitate the transfer of landholdings currently in the hands of the Department of the Interior out of federal control, an inventory and assessment of archeological sites on Water Island had to be conducted. Among the sites investigated was a major plantation site known as Carolina Point in operation from 1769 until the Danish emancipated their bondsmen in 1848. The lives of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and in the New World as a whole have largely been ignored in historical text. According to Hatch (1972:33) the 1720 population of Africans outnumbered those of their European counterparts by eight to one in the Virgin Islands. The role of Africans and their descendants in the Danish West Indies was not limited only to bondage. Interestingly the succession of planters who owned Carolina Point include the founder, Jean Renaud who was listed in the tax records as a ‘mullato’ (Rigsarkivet 1769), a ‘free negro’ Peter Tamaryn who succeeded Renaud, and several owners of European descent who followed. At Carolina Plantation’s peak of production the slave population reached 60 individuals (Matrikler Tables 1769-1848). The plantation specialized in a variety of activities including lime production, livestock rearing, and the raising of subsistence crops. Fortuitously for researchers, in 1778 a detailed map of Water Island was commissioned which included Carolina Point plantation and its outlying structures. Among the edifices depicted were nine slave structures shown downhill from the Great House. Previous archeological research conducted in the 1930’s succeeded in recovering the remains of a number of enslaved individuals who were buried in the nearby Tamarind Tree Bay. When the remains were first analyzed (Buxton et al. 1938) they were believed to be Native American due to their association with prehistoric pottery. After Stewart

86 (1939) conducted further craniometrics he determined that the skeletal material represented an enslaved African burial ground that had intruded into an earlier prehistoric Native American site. By utilizing the Oxholm map the archeologists were able to locate the remains of three slave structures located near the Tamarind Tree burial site. The structural remnants included locally available stone, coral and plaster fragments which rose only a few centimeters above the ground surface. The Danish practiced a system whereby the enslaved population provided most if not all of their needs through the raising of subsistence crops and rearing of livestock. Other endeavors entered into by slaves for monetary gain include the production of charcoal lime or pottery, gathering of firewood or grasses for roofing and livestock, fishing, hunting or any of a multitude of tasks whereby industrious bondsmen could gain a modicum of material goods. This system allowed planters to unburden themselves with provisioning their enslaved populations with housing, food, and clothes; while it also allowed slaves a certain degree of autonomy with which they could improve their unfortunate circumstances. The laissez faire system of management employed by the Danish differed greatly from the paternalistic approach utilized in the American south. Attitudes toward slavery in the American south differed greatly than those held by their Caribbean counterparts. In the United States, particularly after the abolition of the slave trade, enslaved workers were viewed as commodities much like any other valuable possession a planter may have owned. With limited availability the onus was on the planter to provide for the slaves material needs. In the Caribbean however where slave ships departing from Africa on their way to North and South America would often stop to re-supply their holds. This resulted in an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor almost constantly circulating through the Caribbean. The three slave structures located during the 1998 field season were tested with a total of 36 1-by1 meter units placed both within the slave structures as well as just outside to ascertain evidence of yard activities. Information gained from the excavations allowed researchers to examine several aspects of the enslaved laborers daily lives. One of the most striking observations was the predominance of clay tobacco pipe fragments found in the slave village versus the number found in the Great House area. The presence of so many clay pipe fragments in the slave village is one indicator that the enslaved occupants

87 of Carolina Point were able to purchase items for their own personal use. There is little doubt given the planter’s attitudes towards not provisioning the enslaved in the Danish West Indies with housing, food, or clothing that they would certainly not provide tobacco and pipes to the persons in their possession so it is a reasonable assumption that these items came into the slave village through trade, barter, or purchase at the large informal markets. Other items which represent the possessions of the enslaved community which were likely purchased are the remains of buttons and beads found associated with the former slave dwellings. Interestingly a majority of the buttons recovered from Slave Structures One were brass (63%) rather than bone (25%) which could be made locally. The obvious preference for the more expensive buttons likely is an expression of the slave community’s penchant for “chintz and other finery…” (Hall 1992: 112). In Slave Structure Two a much different distribution is seen. Of the 22 buttons recovered from this structure 68% were bone, and only 18% were brass. However Slave Structure Two contained relatively more expensive buttons with Mother of pearl representing 9% and gilded buttons representing 5%. The final cabin investigated Slave Structure Three provided a roughly equal proportion of hand-made to manufactured buttons. Bone buttons accounted for 47% with 38% represented by brass. Ten percent were iron and the remaining 5% were unidentifiable due to poor preservation. Examining the diets of the slave population at Carolina Point reveals that there existed a mixed reliance on domestic and wild foods (primarily fish). While each cabin differed with respect to the percentages of domestic vs. wild the general nature of the faunal remains point to a strategy of risk minimization through the exploitation of a wide range of resources. The rearing of livestock provided a large part of the enslaved community’s diet however this was supplemented with the addition of fish likely caught or collected from the nearby reefs. Of the fish specimens that were recovered from the slave cabins a number of them share reef habitats where they are most often collected. Whether caught on lines, nets, or spears it is apparent that the slave community had access to boats whereby they could access these reefs. A number of lead fishing weights recovered from the slave cabins also testify to the practice of increasing the breadth of

88 their resource base which therefore reduced the risk of relying on terrestrial specimens exclusively. Stone artifacts were preserved with the least amount of deformation. A total of 26 gunflints as well as 260 non-formal tools were recovered from the Carolina Point plantation with ten gunflints originating from the slave structures. Over 200 non-formal tools originated from the slave cabins which likely represents the use and re-use of flints as strike-a-lights and expedient tools. The most likely source of these flints was discarded ballast stones from European ships passing through the Danish West Indies. Oftentimes once the ship’s stores were replenished the captain would order the release of a portion of the ship’s ballast stones. The abandoned stones could then be used by the inhabitants of the islands for a multitude of purposes. Analysis of the lithic specimens recovered from the slave village indicate that a hammer and anvil technique was employed with resulted in the production of a large number of bipolar cores. This technique would be expected from a group not trained in the lithic core or blade reduction technology. The resulting cores however would still work nicely as strike-a-lights or other expedient cutting tools. The presence of the ten gunflints however indicates that at Carolina Point the slaves possessed firearms. One of the most informative artifact classes recovered from the slave cabin excavations were the low-fired slave produced earthenwares. For many years this pottery was mistakenly believed to result from aboriginal potters. Gartley (1979) was the first to recognize that the presence of plain, unglazed, hand modeled pottery from slave village contexts were actually produced by the plantation’s bondsmen. Several historical accounts refer to the production of pottery by the enslaved population (Carstens in Righter 1984; Mathewson 1972). However it was not until Gartley’s (1979) article in the Virgin Islands that researchers in the area began to study the slave produced wares. Since then a number of researchers have focused their studies on this particular artifact type (Armstrong 1990; Crane 1993; Hauser and Armstrong 1999; Mathewson 1972; Righter 1982). Over 800 low fired earthenware sherds were recovered during the 1998 field season. After analysis of temper, vessel form, and thickness it was determined that the aboriginal and slave produced wares were so similar as to prevent determining the culture

89 that created them outside of the contexts from which they were recovered. The production of these vessels is remarkably similar to examples found in West Africa from the same period. Examples of slave produced earthenwares in the United States have been more intensely studied (Anthony 1986; Ferguson 1978; 1992; Noel-Hume, 1962; Wheaton et al. 1983). The presence of these wares in the slave village are the artifacts most closely associated with the culture present in Africa before the enslaved individuals were forcibly removed from their homeland. While the production of low-fired earthenwares represent a direct tie to the homeland of the enslaved Africans, the bondsmen transformed European mass produced goods to reflect their culture. Primary among these were British produced earthenwares particularly decorated creamwares and pearlwares. Analysis of the pottery recovered from the plantation Great House revealed that the owners of the plantation selected styles that were reflective of a Georgian order, primarily blue shell edged earthenwares and undecorated porcelain. The ceramic assemblages from the slave village differ greatly from those recovered from the Great House. With regard to decoration the ceramics recovered from the Slave Village display a higher proportion of polychrome wares. Wilkie’s study of slave cabins on the Bahamian plantation (2000b) discovered that with “mass-produced materials could be used and perceived in uniquely African ways”. To quantify these findings we examined the ceramic assemblages from each of the slave cabins and compared these results to those of the burned room. Polychrome decorated ceramics were recovered in varying percentages from all four structures with the greatest percentage from Slave Structure One and the least percent from the burned room. The total percentage of blue monochrome decorated ceramics from each of the sites reveals a huge difference. The burned room assemblage is dominated by blue monochromes, while polychromes outnumber blue monochromes from nearly all the slave structures. This is largely accounted for by the fact that the plantation owners were selecting sets of blue on white transfer prints versus the gradual accumulation of ceramics found in the slave village. It seems that if the slaves had a preference for blue on white monochromes over the polychromes, these would have accumulated in larger quantities over time.

90 The percentage of undecorated ceramics is interesting as well. Nearly identical percentages came from each of the slave cabins accounting for over a third of the assemblage, while less than a quarter of the burned room ceramics are undecorated. Porcelains included in this analysis account for nearly all of the undecorated wares from the burned room. Undecorated creamwares and center sherds from shell edged specimens account for the large percentage of undecorated wares from the slave structures. The slave cabin ceramic assemblage is reflective of nearly a century of occupation, while the burned room specimens date to the latter half of the Carolina Point occupation. Taking into account differing depositional dates as well as the relative abundance of porcelain from the great house provides some answer for the differing percentages in the plain wares category. The fact that throughout the Caribbean large market systems existed is without question. Many researchers (Kellar 2002; Mintz 1993; Mintz and Price 1976; Wilkie 2005) have analyzed the importance that these markets played in the lives of enslaved people throughout the Caribbean. The economic availability of mass produced European products allowed enslaved peoples in the Caribbean to exercise choice in purchasing most of their material culture. As discussed earlier the Danish formed a system of slavery in which the onus of providing housing, food, and oftentimes clothes fell on the bondsmen themselves. At first blush this would seem that the planters had lost their sense of noblesse oblige however over time the demands put on the enslaved to fend for themselves allowed them to reap the benefits of self sustenance. Agricultural production, livestock rearing, limestone burning, pottery manufacture, charcoal sales, hunting and fishing were all means by which the enslaved populations decreased the ‘risk’ of starvation and death (Young 1997). While providing themselves with meager standards of living many of the enslaved persons also communicated a sense of themselves through the purchase of material culture they felt reflected an Afro-Caribbean sense of style. The use of traditional pottery formed in the similar styles as were created in Africa is one way in which the Carolina Point enslaved population expressed the differences they shared with those who owned them. Other differences can be found in the style of architecture. The use of bricks would have been prohibitively expensive for the slaves on Water Island however the owners seem to have used them in places in

91 which they would have been most noticeable. The use of tobacco as a momentary reprieve from their lives of forced servitude also attests to the differences that can be witnessed archeologically between the slaves and those who enslaved them. Other differences in mass produced goods can most effectively be witnessed in the choices individuals made when selecting ceramics for their homes. Comparison of the ceramics from the burned room and the slave village reveal differences in choice between the planter and the enslaved community. Variety, in color and decoration tend to be most pronounced in the slave village with the burned room assemblage suggesting a more uniform “orderly” choice of wares. The choice of the enslaved community to purchase ceramics reflective of their cultural identity should be seen as a medium of cultural identity in much the same ways as language, dress, and architecture. However there does appear to be a pattern indicating preferences for polychrome wares not found to the same degree in the planter’s assemblage. If an opportunity to examine the artifacts from a slave site in the Danish West Indies were to present itself again there are a few things that the author would consider. Primarily recording of each of the colors present on all ceramic artifacts recovered from the slave village site and the Great House site would allow for a determination of whether the enslaved Africans living on the plantation were consciously selecting ceramics of a certain color or style. While the analysis conducted for this project listed the primary color present on the artifact all colors should be recorded. While logistically impossible for this project due to budget and time constraints, a smaller screen size should be systematically used when evidence of faunal remains are present. If column samples are taken systematically in every unit level this will allow the presence of small fish, which undoubtedly contributed greatly to the diet of these individuals, to be examined and would essentially remove the bias created from larger screens. Illustrations of enslaved Africans lifeways in the Caribbean are seen archeologically in the presence of increased amounts of kaolin pipe fragments, greater percentages of polychrome European ceramics than found in the planters home, the presence of traditional low-fired earthenwares, and a mixed faunal assemblage that represents livestock rearing as well as utilization of aquatic resources. Carolina Point plantation owners whether they were white, black, or a mixture of the two chose to

92 purchase items that reflected their perceived status. The people on whose toiling and suffering provided them with the ability to purchase these goods actively chose to identify themselves through their own purchases.

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101 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Steven Kidd was born in Laurel, Mississippi in 1971. He is the son of Robert and Martha Kidd. He has one sister Stacey who along with her husband Scott Posey have a son named Will. He attended West Jones High School in Soso, Mississippi where he graduated in 1989. After high school Steven attended the University of Southern Mississippi where he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. His association with the Southeast Archeological Center began in 1998 when Steven traveled to the Virgin Islands where the fieldwork for this thesis would be completed. Steven began attending classes in the graduate program in anthropology at Florida State University in August of 1998. While attending classes at Florida State Steven continued working at the Southeast Archeological Center where he is still employed as an archaeologist.

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