Conclusion: Meditations on the Archaeology of Northern Plantations

Abstract

IntroductionFrom the outset the archaeological investigations at Sylvester Manor have had a dual purpose. The first was to explore the early history of the property, during the period that it supplied provisions for two large sugar plantations on Barbados. The second was to further refine the multi-disciplinary, multi-scalar approach employed in those investigations. Over the course of the past nine field seasons the ability to experiment with new methods and techniques has been one of the great luxuries of project. From the use of geophysical survey in planning the overall excavation strategy to our experiments with micro-stratigraphic block lifts, the results have proven both instructive and informative. Although questions still remain concerning the archaeology of the manor and its interpretation, there seems little doubt concerning the productivity of the approach brought to the project.In summarizing the results of our investigations we are struck by the organic quality of the overall strategy that has been employed in the endeavor. Many of the excavation and sampling protocols we began with have changed, although not dramatically. Our initial use of arbitrary, 10 cm levels within visibly differentiated stratigraphic levels has proven to be useful in discerning depositional differences within what appear to be discrete layers. Five cm levels have proven even more sensitive, while a limited employment of microstratigraphic analysis offers the greatest resolution when needed. A large-scale archaeobiological sampling program proved to be overly ambitious and in many cases redundant. In some instances decisions to change sampling protocols were due to a demonstrated lack of results. Such was the case with parasitological analysis, and to a lesser degree the study of insect remains. After several seasons it was decided that samples for these analyses would no longer be collected unless a specific context were encountered that would promote better preservation, such as a privy or drain.These kinds of changes are inevitable in any long-term project and are part of the archaeological process, a concept Hodder is correct Conclusion: Meditations on the Archaeology of Northern PlantationsStephen A. Mrozowski, Katherine Howlett Hayes, Heather Trigg, Jack Gary, David Landon and Dennis Piechota