Archaeological Reconnaissance to Locate French and English Plantations in Dominica (Eastern Caribbean) 1700-1900

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Mark W. Hauser will conduct one field season of archaeological and ethnohistoric research in the Parish of St. Marks, Dominica. The proposed research is an intensive archaeological survey in Dominica (Eastern Caribbean) to identify and record discrete archaeological components associated with transfers from French to British imperial control (pre 1763 and post 1763). The survey will focus on areas of Dominica where different kinds of evidence suggest that there were early settlements associated with French settlers and continued occupation into the nineteenth century under British control. The research questions addressed are: 1) the role of political boundaries in shaping the movement of ideas, peoples and things, 2) the ways in which diversity in ideas, peoples and things is managed within these political boundaries, and 3) how the logistics required to link the metropoles and colonies of empires provided a potential cause for change in the political and economic networks of settlers. Dominica as a frontier colony was a contested terrain where the differences between metropolitan dictates and colonial practices was heightened. The nature of the research questions require basic data in areas that allow the identification of early plantation settlements with continued occupation: A) using a combination of archaeological strategies locate structural features and cultural deposits associated with a limited number of plantations with both pre and post 1763 deposits; B) establish a chronology for these features through archaeological excavation; and C) map the organization of each of the plantations in order to establish the range of variation of land use. Specifically by looking at the organization of space and the kinds of economic networks represented in material remains, this project will examine how colonial empires "administered diversity". The Dominica Plantation Settlement Project will provide much needed information at both theoretical and substantive levels. The intellectual merit of the research rests in its ability to address archaeologically the ways in which empires administer colonies and colonies administer subjects. It will be a crucial first step in a larger project which seeks to identify some of the common characteristics and substantive differences between Atlantic era empires (including Spain, Britain, France and Netherlands) and empires more commonly described in the archaeological literature (Aztec, Inca, and Roman) through an analysis of colonial holdings in the Caribbean. The broader impacts of this high-risk study are that it will contribute significant information during a poorly understood period in colonial Dominican history. The increase in knowledge that comes from documenting plantation settlements will provide comparative data for other colonial holdings and provide the basis for major revisions in our consideration of slavery and colonialism. Dominica and U.S. students and volunteers will participate in the project to enhance their training and increase their knowledge of the importance of Dominica's early colonial history. This research will further international collaboration with local scholars.