The Afro-Caribbean Ware from the Brimstone Hill Fortress, St. Kitts, West Indies: A Study in Ceramic Production

Abstract

The free and enslaved Africans who lived and worked at the Brimstone Hill Fortress in the 18th and 19th centuries were part of a multiethnic community within the dominant British colonial military culture, which sought to oppress expressions of individuality and cultural identity. The Afro-Caribbean ware from Brimstone Hill is compared to similar wares from nearby islands based on a set of quantitative and qualitative traits. Macroscopic analysis and results from Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of a sample of Brimstone Hill Afro-Caribbean ware indicates that the Afro-Caribbean from Brimstone Hill was produced on St. Kitts. The role of pottery production in the strategies employed by free and enslaved Africans to cope with the various risks facing marginalized and disenfranchised populations is discussed.