Urbanity, Sociability, and Commercial Exchange in the Barbados Sugar Trade: A Comparative Colonial Archaeological Perspective on Bridgetown, Barbados in the Seventeenth Century

In one of the most notable studies on the political economy of the modern Atlantic world, Sidney W. Mintz (Mintz, Sweetness and power: the place of sugar in modern history. Penguin, London, 1985) explored the rise of sugar production in the Caribbean and emphasized Barbados’ role in shaping the trajectory of the sugar industry in the seventeenth century. Yet, while sugar was certainly the defining commodity of the Barbadian economy, not all of the island’s citizens were directly involved in the sugar production process. Residents of the island’s main urban center, Bridgetown, lived at the interface between producers of sugar on rural estates in Barbados and consumers of sugar in metropolitan Europe. They were the glue that held the emerging Atlantic sugar business together and their efforts to develop a functioning urban infrastructure in Barbados helped fuel the trade in this valuable commodity.     

Review

Nature and Nurture: Aboriginal child-rearing in north-central Arnhem Land. By Annette Hamilton. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1981. Pp. 183, Appendix, Index. Price $9.95 (paper bound).     

Dietary analysis of Piraino 1, Sicily,Italy: the role of archaeopalynology in forensic science

Pollen from intestinal contents of mummies, backed by macrofloral analysis, provides important clues to diet, medicines, and season of death. Intestinal contents were recovered from the Piraino 1 mummy from the “Sepulcher of the Priests”, Piraino Mother Church, in the province of Messina, Sicily. Using standard palynological methods and pollen concentration technique, we quantified the numbers of pollen grains per gram of coprolite. The pollen spectrum was dominated by Polygalaceae, the Milkwort Family. Polygalaceae pollen is rarely found in archaeological sites. Based on comparison to published keys, we determined that the pollen came from a species of Polygala. Polygala contains species with medicinal value. We found nine other pollen types. Traces of Potamogeton (pondweed) was observed in preliminary scans. Multiple grains of Brassicaceae (mustard family), cereal (cultivated grains), Typha (cattail) and Cheno-am were found. Single grains of Castanea (chestnut), Fabaceae (bean family), Salix (willow), and Solanaceae (tomato family) were found. The preservation of the pollen was poor except for Polygala and the cereal pollen. Brassicaceae and Cheno-am have been part of the natural pollen spectrum in Sicily since ancient times. Cereal grains were consumed with prepared food. Importantly, background arboreal pollen was nearly absent. This indicates that Piraino 1 died during months of low pollination. The absence of olive pollen is important since this plant in Sicily reaches its maximum pollination in May and June and tapers off rapidly by mid-June. Therefore, absence of the key warm season airborne pollen type suggests a post-June death. Macrofossils, especially residue from grape pulp, indicates a death in September to November. His cause of death was likely a result of multiple myeloma. The methodological differences between archaeopalynology and forensic palynology are summarized. We suggest that the palynological methods presented here should be adopted for human remains analysis in forensic palynology.     

Evaluating chloroplast DNA in prehistoric Texas coprolites: medicinal,dietary, or ambient ancient DNA?

Molecular analysis of coprolites from Hinds Cave, Texas recovered chloroplast DNA sequences. The sequences were interpreted as evidence of diet. We analyzed 19 Hinds Cave coprolites to evaluate the potential sources of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and compared our results to previous studies. This review shows that some cpDNA sequences could be from well-known prehistoric plants foods. Some other sequences could have come from ambient plant material in the guts of small animals eaten by humans in antiquity. Using pollen concentration analysis, we identify sources of ambient plant material which could have been inhaled or imbibed. It is even possible that cpDNA sequences are from proplastids within ambient pollen grains themselves. However, three sequence types cannot be explained as resulting from only dietary or ambient sources. We suggest instead that these might be from medicinal or hallucinogenic plants. We compared these three sequences to existing sequences in the GenBank. We found that these sequences are 100% matches for Rhamnus, Fouquieria, and Solanum.     

Imperial Britain at War

An Imperial State at War: Britain from 1689 to 1815. Edited by Lawrence Stone (London: Routledge, 1994), 374 pp., £40.00 cloth.