This volume provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of the archaeology of a single Caribbean island yet published. Drawing together scholars from the Caribbean, north America and Europe, all working from a range of disciplines within the broader scope of archaeology, and drawing upon recent and innovative fieldwork, the collected papers touch upon a wider variety of archaeological case studies. 0Divided into four sections each under the editorial supervision of a specialist scholar, the papers contained in this volume start with an overview of different approaches to the pre-contact archaeology of the island of Barbados and focus upon recent debates and issues surrounding material culture, economic change and site location. Two following sections focus upon recent developments in historical archaeology, looking at a series of urban and plantation case studies, and then the application of scientific techniques to material cultural and ecofactual evidence. The final section considers the social implications of Barbados' past and recent developments in community heritage, education and management. 0Extensively illustrated and referenced, this volume considers in detail the historical diversity of archaeological work undertaken on the island, yet will also look forward to examine the key trends and currents that will inform the study of the archaeology of Barbados in the future.

Collected papers on all aspects of Barbados' history, heritage, and archaeology, this volume will have considerable impact upon the wider context of Caribbeanist archaeology, history and heritage studies.

This volume brings together examples of the best research to address the complexity of the Caribbean past.

A sweeping overview of the scholarly information available on archaeology in the Caribbean, tackling the usual questions of colonization, adaptation, and evolution while embracing such newer aspects as geoinformatics and archaeometry.

This book offers an overview of the material expressions of Caribbean religious expressions, including those that have been imported through the vehicle of colonialism, and which subsequently changed and adapted within the Caribbean Islands and those religious expressions which developed through the contact of African, indigenous and imported world views. This book takes a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing from subjects as diverse as archaeology, religious studies, history, human geography and anthropology. It introduces current topical debates around the role of colonialism and religion in the Caribbean, and also considers theoretical approaches to the study of Caribbean religions set within a wider global context. This approach introduces the reader to a number of important and topical concepts around the wider study of Caribbean religions, and illuminates the complex cultural history and interplay of these religions in the Caribbean Islands. Richly illustrated and drawing upon a range of different cultural approaches, it offers new and challenging perspectives on the development and cultural history of Caribbean spiritual and religious expression through the lens of the material world. The book is for anyone interested in the Caribbean as a region and the role of religious behaviour in human society. Students of religions, archaeology and anthropology will find a number of thought-provoking and important case studies which relate complex theories to real-world case studies. Any profits from this book will be donated to UNICEF Eastern Caribbean projects supporting vulnerable children in the region (https://www.unicef.org/easterncaribbean/).

What is the role of local Caribbean individuals and communities in creating and perpetuating archaeological heritage? How has archaeological knowledge been integrated into education plans in different countries? This book aims to fill a gap in both archaeological scholarship and popular knowledge by providing a platform for local Caribbean voices to speak about the archaeological heritage of their region. To achieve this, each chapter of the book focuses on identifying and developing strategies that academics, heritage practitioners, and non-scholars from the insular Caribbean can adopt to stimulate a necessary dialogue on how archaeological heritage is used and produced on various academic, political, and social levels. Contributors are: Zara Ali, Arlene Álvarez, Lisette Roura Alvarez, Irvince Nanichi Auguiste, Victoria Borg O’Flaherty, Lornadale L. Charles, Eldris Con Aguilar, Raymundo A.C.F. Dijkhoff, Matthieu Ecrabet, Kevin Farmer, Cameron Gill, Eduardo Herrera Malatesta, Katarina Jacobson, Joseph Sony Jean, Debra Kay Palmer, Harold Kelly, Wilhelm Londoño Díaz, Stacey Mac Donald, Jerry Michel, Ashleigh John Morris, Andrea Richards, Kara M. Roopsingh, Pierre Sainte-Luce, Tibisay Sankatsing Nava, and Laurent Christian Ursulet.

First book-length archaeological study of a nonelite white population on a Caribbean plantation Archaeology below the Cliff: Race, Class, and Redlegs in Barbadian Sugar Society is the first archaeological study of the poor whites of Barbados, the descendants of seventeenth-century European indentured servants and small farmers. “Redlegs” is a pejorative to describe the marginalized group who remained after the island transitioned to a sugar monoculture economy dependent on the labor of enslaved Africans. A sizable portion of the “white” minority, the Redlegs largely existed on the peripheries of the plantation landscape in an area called “Below Cliff,” which was deemed unsuitable for profitable agricultural production. Just as the land on which they resided was cast as marginal, so too have the poor whites historically and contemporarily been derided as peripheral and isolated as well as idle, alcoholic, degenerate, inbred, and irrelevant to a functional island society and economy. Using archaeological, historical, and oral sources, Matthew C. Reilly shows how the precarious existence of the Barbadian Redlegs challenged elite hypercapitalistic notions of economics, race, and class as they were developing in colonial society. Experiencing pronounced economic hardship, similar to that of the enslaved, albeit under very different circumstances, Barbadian Redlegs developed strategies to live in a harsh environment. Reilly’s investigations reveal that what developed in Below Cliff was a moral economy, based on community needs rather than free-market prices. Reilly extensively excavated households from the tenantry area on the boundaries of the Clifton Hall Plantation, which was abandoned in the 1960s, to explore the daily lives of poor white tenants and investigate their relationships with island economic processes and networks. Despite misconceptions of strict racial isolation, evidence also highlights the importance of poor white encounters and relationships with Afro-Barbadians. Historical data are also incorporated to address how an underrepresented demographic experienced the plantation landscape. Ultimately, Reilly’s narrative situates the Redlegs within island history, privileging inclusion and embeddedness over exclusion and isolation.