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TURTLEIZING MARINERS –THE TRANS-ATLANTIC TRADE AND CONSUMPTION OF LARGE TESTUDINES IN 16TH- TO 18TH-CENTURY MARITIME COMMUNITIES A Dissertation By MEGAN C. HAGSETH Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Kevin Crisman Committee Members, Cemal Pulak Daryl de Ruiter Evan Haefeli Head of Department, Daryl de Ruiter August 2020 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2020 Megan C. Hagseth ABSTRACT Turtle, tortoise, turpin, and terapen (terrapin) are just a few of the wide variety of terms found in primary documents of the maritime world to refer to reptiles belonging to the order Testudines. These animals were a heavily exploited resource during the 16th through the 19th centuries as a commodity for Europe and a convenient shipboard food. Throughout the Age of Sail, the green sea turtle was a vital food source for mariners, mentioned across a wide array of historical sources, from ship logs and sailors’ journals to newspapers, letters, art, and literature. Cross-referencing and comparing these works with archaeological data identifies patterns of culture in shipboard and coastal community life that contrast with trends identified in urban consumer centers, which were often a destination for this commodity. This study seeks to reconstruct more than merely a nutritional narrative but to identify the cultural contexts of Testudines meat use by maritime communities and how this relates to larger societies. This work will create a better understanding of sailor life during this period by providing an insight into the intersection between daily maritime life and larger forces such as economics and ideology. The evidence examined in this study highlights political and cultural events that directly contributed to the over-hunting of sea turtles and the depletion of their population. This new interpretation of past sea turtle and human interaction has beneficial applications to modern conservation efforts focused on wild sea turtle populations. Coastal communities have a longstanding relationship with these animals, which are significant ii elements of regional subsistence and culture. Archaeological excavations of both coastal sites and shipwrecks have produced faunal assemblages containing significant numbers of sea turtle elements, creating a need to understand the functional, historical, and cultural role of these animals in past maritime communities. Inquiry along these lines will facilitate applying cultural relativism in the development of modern sea turtle conservation programs. The use of historical particularism to understand paradigms of human and turtle interaction is essential to fully understand the current endangered status of the latter. iii DEDICATION To Clara and Paul Hagseth for serving as my “rubber duck.” iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank my committee chair, Dr. Crisman, and my committee members, Dr. Pulak, Dr. de Ruiter, and Dr. Haefeli, for their guidance and support throughout this research. Their experience and expertise strengthened my work and challenged me as a scholar. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) for facilitating my research through financial support and archives access. I am also indebted to the Cayman Islands National Museum, the museums staff, and museum director Dr. Leshikar-Denton for supporting this research through collaboration, providing lab space, and providing access to the archaeological material and excavation documents from the Cayman Islands Turtle Bone (CITB) Site GCL075. Special thanks to museum volunteer Christopher Fletcher who assisted with photography. Dr. Donny Hamilton also aided this dissertation by providing access to the faunal assemblage and documents from the excavation of Port Royal he directed; thank you, Donny. I would also like to express my appreciation to Addison Wynn and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, for allowing me to examine comparative samples of marine turtle bones, which better equipped me to study the assemblages considered in this dissertation. Thanks also to Annaliese Dempsey, Rachel Matheny, and Grace Tsai for data collection and research assistance. Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé was also vital to this work, providing assistance with the translation of French sources, for which I am greatly v appreciative. These four colleagues contributed to a dynamic which fostered innovation and excellence in archaeological scholarship, for which I will always be indebted. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their encouragement, and my husband and daughter for their support. vi CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This work was supervised by a dissertation committee consisting of Dr. Kevin Crisman (Committee Chair), Dr. Cemal Pulak, and Dr. Daryl de Ruiter of the Department of Anthropology and Dr. Evan Haefeli of the Department of History. Dr. Donny Hamilton provided access to the assemblage and original excavation data from the Texas A&M University excavation of the Port Royal site in Jamaica. The assemblage and excavation data analyzed for Chapter 5 was provided by Dr. Leshikar- Denton and the Cayman Islands National Museum. The analyses were presented by myself at the 2020 Society of Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting. All other work conducted for the dissertation was completed by myself independently. Funding Sources Graduate study was supported by an assistantship from Texas A&M University and a departmental dissertation enhancement grant from the Department of Anthropology. This work was also made possible in part by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) project grant. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the INA. vii NOMENCLATURE BIO Biomass CINM Cayman Islands National Museum CITB Cayman Islands Turtle Bone (Site) INA Institute of Nautical Archaeology MNI Minimum Number of Individuals MTWGT Meat Weight NISP Number of Identified Specimens SCL Straight Carapace Length SHA Society of Historical Archaeology NMNH Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History SPNO Number of Species TAMU Texas A&M University viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ............................................................vii NOMENCLATURE ...................................................................................................... .viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ .xii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... .xv 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Scholarship on Human Exploitation of Sea Turtle Populations .............................. 4 1.2. Biology and Nomenclature...................................................................................... 6 1.2.1. Chelonii ............................................................................................................ 8 1.2.2. Morphological Characteristics of Turtle Skeletal Structures ......................... 14 1.3. Methodology ......................................................................................................... 19 1.3.1. Age and Size ................................................................................................... 21 1.3.2. Quantification ................................................................................................. 22 1.4. Anthropology Literature Review .......................................................................... 23 2. FEEDING EXPANSION AND CONQUEST WITH TURTLE ................................. 27 2.1. Early Accounts and First Encounters .................................................................... 31 2.2. Sending Turtle to Europe in the 16th Century ....................................................... 36 2.3. Turtle in 17th to Early 18th Century Maritime Culture and History....................... 37 3. 16TH – 17TH-CENTURY TURTLE BUTCHERY PATTERNS .................................. 46 3.1. Port Royal Jamaica ................................................................................................ 48 3.1.1. Site Introduction ............................................................................................. 48 3.1.2. Faunal Assemblage ......................................................................................... 51 3.2. Turtle in Late 17th-Century and Early 18th-Century Foodways in the Caribbean . 64 ix 3.2.1. Geospatial Analysis ........................................................................................ 64 3.2.2. Class and Social Hierarchy ............................................................................. 68 3.2.3. Religion .........................................................................................................