Prize Possessions: Transported Material Culture of the Post-Abolition Enslaved – New Evidence from St Helena

Abstract

This article examines the artefacts of personal adornment recovered during recent archaeological excavations of a graveyard associated with the nineteenth century, British-run ‘Liberated African Establishment’ in Rupert's Valley, on the South Atlantic Island of St Helena. It presents evidence for the transportation of pre-enslavement cultural material, and identifies factors that may have affected the ability of captive Africans to retain personal effects. It also discusses the interpretative constraints that exist in identifying transported – as opposed to acquired – material culture in the context of the post-Abolition Transatlantic slave trade.