University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 12-2012 An Archaeological and Historical Investigation of a 19th Century Leprosarium at Hassel Island, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands Amanda Marie Barton [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Barton, Amanda Marie, "An Archaeological and Historical Investigation of a 19th Century Leprosarium at Hassel Island, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/1361 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Amanda Marie Barton entitled "An Archaeological and Historical Investigation of a 19th Century Leprosarium at Hassel Island, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology. Barbara J. Heath, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: David G. Anderson, Elizabeth Kellar DeCorse Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) An Archaeological and Historical Investigation of a 19th Century Leprosarium at Hassel Island, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands A Thesis Presented for the Master of Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Amanda Marie Barton December 2012 Acknowledgements There are many people who have helped during this five-year journey. First off, thank you to Dr. Judy Sichler, who suggested my name when she found out about this project. Thank you to Ken Wild, the Virgin Islands National Park Service, and the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park, for allowing (and funding) me to work in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Thank you to Holly Norton, Susanna Pershern, Lauran Riser, Vibe Martens, and Andreas Latif for all your help with this project, and companionship while in the Virgin Islands. Thank you to Rune Winfield, Vibe Martens, and Andreas Latif for spending time researching and translating documents in Denmark. The historical background on this site would not have been possible without you. Thank you to my committee members, Drs. Barbara Heath, Elizabeth Kellar DeCorse, and David Anderson, for all your help and patience during this journey. Thank you to Dr. Gerald Schroedl for advice and suggested reading material. Thank you to Dr. Kandi Hollenbach for giving me suggestions on where to go with my thesis research whenever I got stuck in a rut. Thank you to Dan Marcel for making my site map look professional and for keeping me laughing throughout this project. A big thank you to Chad Caswell and Howard Cyr for showing me how to make a distribution map in ArcGIS. Finally, thank you to Jessica Vavrasek, for constantly telling me to work on my thesis, and to my husband, Colby Brooks, thank you for your patience, and I know you are very happy that I am done with this project. ii Abstract Located on Hassel Island, a small island off the coast of Charlotte Amalie, in St. Thomas, USVI, a small leprosarium, or quarantine hospital for those affected with leprosy, was in operation from 1833 to 1861 as a way to isolate those with leprosy from the general population. Surface and sub-surface excavations took place over the spring and summer of 2008 in preparation for proposed National Park Service hiking trail that would be laid parallel to the site remains. Firstly, this thesis provides a historical background on leprosy, as well as a background on how leprosy and disease has been studied by anthropologists and archaeologists. Secondly, a historical background is provided on Hassel Island and its leprosarium along with a description of the archaeological investigation performed there. Finally, an analysis of the recovered artifacts and spatial analysis is used to understand what life would have been like at the leprosarium. Results of this analysis, based on the historical and archaeological record, suggests that conditions at the leprosarium were less than ideal. A high occurrence of container glass fragments attributed to liquor bottles suggests that drinking was a form of medicating, especially with the lack of patent medicine bottles recovered. The ceramics recovered were mostly utilitarian stoneware and coarse earthenwares, and inexpensive refined earthenwares. The lack of personal items implies that patients were unable financially or were not allowed to express much in the way of individuality. iii Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Leprosy and Treatment in Western Europe and the Tropics .......................................... 4 Chapter 3 The Anthropology and Archaeology of Disease and Confinement ............................. 16 Chapter 4 St. Thomas and Hassel Island Description and Historical Background ....................... 25 A Brief Introduction to St. Thomas .......................................................................................... 25 Historical Archaeology in the Virgin Islands ........................................................................... 28 Hassel Island’s Economic Importance ...................................................................................... 30 National Park Service Acquisition and National Register Status ............................................. 32 Disease and Quarantine on Hassel Island ................................................................................. 33 Chapter 5 Fieldwork on Hassel Island .......................................................................................... 45 Prior Fieldwork at Leprosy Hospital......................................................................................... 45 Fieldwork: May-June 2008 ....................................................................................................... 46 Site Cleanup and Walkover ...................................................................................................... 46 Systematic Grid Collection ....................................................................................................... 56 Test Units .................................................................................................................................. 63 General Surface Collection ....................................................................................................... 67 Site Formation ........................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 6 Artifact Analysis .......................................................................................................... 70 Lab and Analysis Methods........................................................................................................ 70 Results of Artifact Analysis ...................................................................................................... 70 Artifacts that Date to and Possibly Date to the Leprosy Hospital ............................................ 72 Ceramics Types ......................................................................................................................... 74 Porcelain ................................................................................................................................... 74 Stoneware .................................................................................................................................. 74 Refined Earthenware ................................................................................................................. 77 Coarse Earthenware ................................................................................................................ 101 Container Glass ....................................................................................................................... 104 Black or Dark Olive Glass ...................................................................................................... 105 Dip Mold ................................................................................................................................. 105 Applied Finish ......................................................................................................................... 108 Three-piece/Ricketts Mold...................................................................................................... 109 Cracked Off Finish .................................................................................................................. 109 Dr. J.G.B. Siegert Aromatic Bitters ........................................................................................ 112 iv “P.Herrink” or P.F. Heering Cherry Liqueur .......................................................................... 114 Inter-site Comparison