journal of african diaspora archaeology & heritage,

Vol. 3 No. 1, May, 2014, 1–25

Stone Artifacts and Glass Tools from

Enslaved African Contexts on St. Kitts’
Southeast Peninsula
TODD M. AHLMAN
Texas State University

BOBBY R. BRALY and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

University of Tennessee

St. Kitts, the first permanent English colony in the Caribbean, was dominated
by sugar monoculture. During the island’s mid-eighteenth-century financial
and political heights, the southeast peninsula was home to several sugar and
cotton plantations. Recent excavations have recovered considerable data
relating to the enslaved Africans who worked these plantations, including an
assemblage of stone and glass tools. The stone tools, made from local chert,
are dominated by cores, bifacial flakes, and utilized flakes, some of which
are strike-a-lights or fire flints. The glass tools are primarily unifacial scrapers
manufactured from bottle glass. Although enslaved African sites rarely
contain more than a few of these artifacts, comparisons with sites in the USA
and Caribbean suggest that chert and glass tool use among enslaved
Africans was a widespread phenomenon rather than an isolated occurrence.

keywords Afro-Caribbean implements, stone and glass tools, St. Kitts

Recent archaeological investigations (Ahlman 2008a; 2008b; 2009; 2012) on

the Caribbean island of St. Kitts’ southeast peninsula (Figure 1) have recovered
chipped stone artifacts (n5151) and glass tools (n58) from five sites dating from
the 1720s through the 1850s. The artifacts were directly recovered from enslaved
African contexts indicating their use and discard by enslaved people. Stone and
glass tools frequently are found on sites associated with enslaved and freed African
Americans and Afro-Caribbeans, although seldom in large numbers. Stone tools
have been found in slave contexts on the Bahamas (Wilkie and Farnsworth 2005),
Jamaica (Armstrong 1990), and St. John, US Virgin Islands (Kidd 2006), where
they have been interpreted as strike-a-lights or informal tools based on their use-
wear and contexts. Glass tools and utilized flakes also have been found in slave

ß W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2014 DOI 10.1179/2161944114Z.00000000011

2 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

figure 1 Location of St. Kitts and the southeast peninsula.

Map image by Todd Ahlman (2013).

contexts in the Caribbean (Armstrong 1998; Boling 2005; Farnsworth 1999; Kidd
2006), Mid-Atlantic (Klingelhofer 1987), and southeastern USA (Boling 2005;
Wilkie 1996), where they have been interpreted as planes and scrapers to shape
wood and make wooden tool handles. Although stone and glass tools have been
widely recovered from slave contexts, they are infrequent when compared to other
artifact categories and, for this reason, their role in the social and economic
activities of enslaved people is poorly understood.
In this article we review stone and glass artifacts from slave contexts in the
southeastern USA and Caribbean in order to place the St. Kitts analysis into a
larger geographic, social, and economic context. To do this we provide a brief
history of St. Kitts and describe the environment and landscape of the southeast
peninsula where the lithic and glass artifacts were found in enslaved African
contexts at five historic sites. The availability of glass and local chert provided
slaves on the southeast peninsula with access to materials that could be used to
shape wooden handles or shafts, to shred a variety of fibrous plant materials, and
as strike-a-lights or fire flints. These tools and materials provided enslaved persons
with alternatives to the manufacture and repair of some items, as well as a set of
skills that could be used in the production of goods for household consumption or
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 3

marketed in the local or island economies. We address the function of these

artifacts within the context of slavery on St. Kitts and the wider Caribbean as well
as the implications of these observations for the study of enslaved African lifeways.

Previous research
Glass and stone tools have been recovered from historic Euro-American, Native
American/AmerIndian, and enslaved African contexts in the southeastern USA and
Caribbean. In Maryland, Klingelhofer (1987) noted the occurrence of a worked
glass tumbler, a piece of mirror, and several gunflints from the Garrison Plantation
that appear to have been used as scrapers, but he did not address what the scrapers
were used to shape. At the Clifton Plantation slave village in the Bahamas, Laurie
Wilkie and Paul Farnsworth (2005: 181–182) noted a concentration of two
gunflint fragments and six ‘‘dime-sized’’ flakes. The lithics were found in four units
behind the main dwelling in association with an open-air, roofed structure that
was probably a kitchen. From this association they suggest that the lithics were
used as strike-a-lights.
Doug Armstrong (1990: 193–196) reports finding 138 chert flakes and cores at
the Drax Hall Plantation slave village on Jamaica. According to Armstrong, over a
quarter (27.5 percent, n538) of these had definite signs of use-wear and retouch.
Some of the flakes and tools with use-wear retained cortex, and all ranged from
28-50 mm long and 10-35 mm wide. Armstrong (1990: 194) noted that many had
‘‘[w]ell-worn surfaces […] on one or several edges’’ and that ‘‘[t]hese edges were
probably a by-product of use.’’ He postulated that the irregular shapes and sizes
of the flakes and tools meant they were ‘‘simply knocked off nodule cores’’ and
were used as strike-a-lights or fire flints (Armstrong 1990: 194).
Robert Steven Kidd (2006) reported the recovery of ten gunflints and 260 non-
formal lithic tools from slave contexts at the Carolina Point Plantation, Water
Island, St. John, US Virgin Islands. The gunflints were made from French and
English flints that he thought were derived from ballast stones dumped at or near
the island. Kidd interpreted the 260 lithics as expedient tools, most likely strike-a-
light flints, with some used for cutting. The bulk of the artifacts show evidence of
bipolar reduction. Few formal tools were found and even fewer of these exhibited
long-term use or retouch (Kidd 2006: 68). He provided no data regarding the
length or width of the non-formal tools, and suggests that their arbitrary forms
made it difficult to group them based on measurements. Kidd (2006: 68)
postulated that the large number of lithic artifacts from the site were
manufacturing debris from the production of expedient and formal tools that
were distributed elsewhere on St. John. Kidd (2006: 68) concluded that stone tool
production represented ‘‘one of the many small industries that slaves throughout
the Danish West Indies endeavored in order to provide additional income with
which they could purchase goods at the informal markets.’’
Evidence for the recovery, reuse, and curation of Native American tools and
projectile points also has been found in enslaved contexts in the southeastern
USA (Brown and Cooper 1990: 17; Wilkie 1997: 100, 102). The presence of
4 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

formal tools (bifaces and projectile points) has been interpreted as reuse or use in
conjuror or religious toolkits (Wilkie 1997).
Wilkie (1996) documented the occurrence of 35 utilized bottle glass sherds in
mid-nineteenth to early twentieth-century African-American contexts from the
Oakley Plantation in Louisiana. By examining the direction, location, and angle of
the use-wear on the utilized glass sherds, she concluded that utilized glass sherds
with no retouch, longitudinally oriented use-wear (utilized edge parallel to the
base and finish), and a utilized edge angle of less than 35 degrees were used as
knives, and the utilized glass sherds with retouched edges, latitudinally oriented
use-wear (utilized edge perpendicular to base and finish), and a utilized edge angle
of greater than 35 degrees were used as scrapers. Most tools were manufactured
from body sherds, while shoulder, neck, and finish, and heel and base sherds were
seldom used for this purpose. In discussions with a former Oakley Plantation
resident, Wilkie found that by the 1930s only a few residents of the plantation had
the skill to prepare and use glass tools to smooth and shape axe and hoe handles.
Her informant further mentioned that glass tools were once used in a manner that
was similar to how razor blades were used for cutting and scraping in later periods
(Wilkie 1996).
Melissa Boling (2005) conducted an experimental analysis using modern glass
to interpret glass artifacts from 14 sites in Tennessee, South Carolina, and
Guadeloupe. She focused on wear patterns from their use on hard materials such
as wood and bone and on soft materials like jute and cotton string. She also
examined patterns of damage from post-depositional trampling. Boling (2005: 93)
found that scraping, whether on hard or soft materials, produced broad flake scars
with feather and step terminations and that use striations ran perpendicular to the
used edge; whereas planing produced broad flake scars with feather terminations
and use striations that also ran perpendicular to the used edge. Cutting and sawing
on soft and hard materials produced random microscars with step and feather
terminations and use striations that ran parallel with the used edge. Retouch and
use together produced broad overlapping flakes with mostly step terminations
and use striations running perpendicular to the worked edge. Her trampling
experiments produced randomly clustered, elongated, and broad flake scars and
microflakes with feather terminations. Overall, Boling (2005) found that polish
and microflakes were characteristic of use-wear and the location of the use-wear
on each item resulted primarily from what the item was used on rather than how it
was used.
Glass tools have been documented by Farnsworth (1999) in the Bahamas and
by Armstrong (1998) in Jamaica. Farnsworth (1999: 104) found ‘‘[s]everal
intentionally flaked glass bottle sherds’’ at the kitchen building of the Marine Farm
Plantation. He speculated they could have been used for a variety of purposes, such
as ‘‘cutting, scraping, scratching, [or] food preparations,’’ but concluded that the
glass tools were used to scratch the drawings of ships into one of the building’s
plaster-covered walls that he documented (Farnsworth 1999: 104). Armstrong
(1998) interpreted the Jamaican chipped glass artifacts as woodworking tools,
similar to what Wilkie (1996) identified in Louisiana, based on ethnographic
examples used to shape and smooth handles for cutlasses or machetes.
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 5

On St. Kitts, glass and stone tools have been found at the Brimstone Hill Fortress
and the slave village at Spring Plantation (DAACS 2012a). At the Spring
Plantation, a gunflint, flake, and shatter were found during shovel testing of the
slave village (DAACS 2012a), and gunflints and flakes were found at the Jessups
and New River sites on nearby Nevis (DAACS 2012b). At Brimstone Hill, a glass
scraper, gunflints, flakes, and unworked chert pebbles were found in an area where
enslaved Africans lived and worked (Schroedl 2010). Within the Royal Engineers
complex at Brimstone Hill, three times more gunflints were found in association
with enslaved Africans than in the Engineers’ contexts and, overall, gunflints
appear to be more common within slave contexts than British military contexts at
Brimstone Hill (Schroedl 2010). While constituting parts of weapons, gunflints
from the Royal Engineers’ complex and other slave contexts were just as likely
used as strike-a-lights by enslaved Africans and soldiers. In fact, some
combinations of stone and glass artifacts have been recovered on St. Kitts at all
the slave villages where investigations have been made and reported (Ahlman
2008b; 2009; 2012; DAACS 2012a; Schroedl 2010).
Stone tools also have been found at AmerIndian sites on St. Kitts, including four
locations on the southeast peninsula (Ahlman 2008a; Armstrong 1980; Goodwin
1979; Walker 1980). Walker’s (1980) analysis of the Sugar Factory site examined
1,041 flakes, flake tools, and formal tools to assess reduction sequences, tool
technology, and tool function. Bipolar reduction (see Andrefsky 2005: 253) was
used on 89.1 percent of the assemblage while freehand reduction was used on only
10.9 percent of the assemblage. Walker surmised that freehand percussion was
used for preparing larger cores, while bipolar reduction was used on smaller cores
to manufacture flake tools. Walker (1979) found that most tools were used on
hard substances like wood or shell.

History of St. Kitts and the southeast peninsula

St. Kitts, located in the northeastern Caribbean, was the first permanent British
settlement founded in the Caribbean in 1623, and was also occupied by the French
from 1625 to 1713 (Dyde 2005; 2008; Hubbard 2002). Africans were first brought
to St. Kitts as enslaved laborers in the 1620s. The planting, harvesting, and
processing of sugarcane, first introduced to St. Kitts during the 1640s, was labor
intensive and enslaved Africans were the primary labor source from the 1650s
through emancipation in 1834. As sugar production expanded, the importation of
captive laborers rose dramatically, so that by the mid-eighteenth century more
than 20,000 enslaved Africans lived on nearly 200 sugar plantations on the island
(Cox 1984).
By the early eighteenth century, the landholders with larger estates were
primarily engaged in sugar monoculture, with some smaller landholders raising a
variety of other crops such as cotton and indigo. By the mid-eighteenth century, St.
Kitts was one of the largest sugar producers in the world and, at the height of sugar
production in the late-eighteenth century, nearly all cultivatable land was used for
its production. Large sugar plantation owners generally owned hundreds of slaves
who labored in fields six days a week from sunup to sundown in gangs with
6 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

specific tasks. Sundays were set aside for worship, tending provision grounds, and
trading commodities. Skilled and unskilled workers were sometimes leased to
other plantations or the colonial government for which they received a portion of
the money paid to their masters. Slaves were given hoes, cane knives, machetes,
and other implements needed to work in the sugar or cotton fields, but planters
and overseers monitored these tools to prevent loss, breakage, and theft.
Nevertheless, enslaved laborers may have broken or lost tools intentionally as a
form of passive resistance. Broken handles or other wood parts were likely
replaced with locally available wood, similar to how modern sugar workers and
farmers use small, straight trees as replacement handles for their hoes and other
field equipment.
Small landholders owned few slaves and were generally provision or subsistence
farmers, cattle farmers, or they raised cotton or indigo. Many of their farms were
on marginal land, like the southeast peninsula, which is poorly suited for sugar
cultivation. Because of their marginal locations, most of these farms were seldom
occupied for very long. It is possible that enslaved Africans living on these
properties experienced more frequent shortfalls in food distributed to them as well
as grown in their own provision gardens than slaves living on larger plantations.
We hypothesize that enslaved laborers developed a variety of economic and social
strategies, including trading goods within informal and formal markets, to cope
with potential shortfalls and uncertainties.
Besides trading with other slaves or planters at formal Sunday markets, enslaved
Kittians may well have established informal and clandestine exchange networks
that included other commodities like Afro-Caribbean ware, baskets, and other
materials needed for day-to-day life (Ahlman et al. 2008; 2009; 2011). The full
extent of these types of trade networks in the Caribbean is unknown, but recent
research has begun to explore these relationships by looking at the trade of slave
and freedman-made pottery in Jamaica (Hauser 2008; 2011) and the French
Antilles (Hauser and Kelly 2011). Matthew Reeves (2011) and Jillian Galle (2011)
examine how Jamaican slaves purchased commercial goods from the proceeds of
leased work and internal market sales. Both conclude that enslaved laborers on
Jamaica were active participants in informal and formal market economies and
paid for everyday (sugar, flour, meat, fruit, and vegetables) and prestige goods
(e.g., ceramics, buttons, buckles, fabric, ribbons, and clothing) with the money
they earned from a variety of sources.
After emancipation in 1834, sugar production on St. Kitts continued until 2005
when the St. Kitts government ended nationalized sugar production and turned
to tourism as the island’s main industry. Since then, several large tourist-related
developments have been planned on the island, with the largest being on the
island’s southeast peninsula. Cultural heritage investigations related to these
activities and funded by the developer are the first of their kind on St. Kitts and
have recorded twenty-two sites thus far (Ahlman 2008a; 2008b; 2009).
The geology of St. Kitts’ southeast peninsula is characterized by volcanic
protrusions that are much older than the island’s northern peaks. Settling of these
remnant volcanic cones and their subsequent uplifting and erosion has created a
unique landscape where even older limestone deposits are exposed at the surface.
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 7

Because the southeast peninsula averages only about 15 inches of rainfall per year,
the vegetation is xeric, consisting of scrub, grassland, cacti, acacia, and yucca.
Records from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries show numerous
attempts at agricultural production on the southeast peninsula that failed because
of the arid environment (Ahlman 2012). Nevertheless, at least two sugar
plantation slave villages were active on the southeast peninsula until emancipation,
and the villages were occupied to the 1850s. Unsuccessful attempts to revive the
southeast peninsula plantations occurred in the twentieth century (Merrill 1958).

Sites investigated
Five of the 22 recorded sites on the southeast peninsula have been investigated
through limited testing (Figure 2). The five sites produced 151 lithic and eight
chipped glass artifacts. Sites 1 and 2 are larger, long-term slave villages and Sites 3,
6, and 8 represent smaller, short-term occupations. Site 6 unquestionably had a
slave occupation, but it is uncertain if enslaved Africans lived or worked at Sites 3
and 8. The five sites in this study are described below.

Site 1
Site 1 was a sugar plantation and cattle operation dating from 1720 to around
1850 (Ahlman 2012). According to the Triennial Slave Register, from 1817 to
1829 the number of enslaved people at this plantation declined from 58 to 49
(Ancestry.com 2010). Most enslaved Africans tended cattle or were employed as
field workers and servants. In total, 4,713 artifacts, including 30 lithic and three
chipped glass artifacts, were recovered during the investigations that included
excavation units and mechanical stripping. The excavation units focused on two
slave structures. Twelve lithic artifacts came from an excavation unit within a
cellar with stratified deposits dating between the 1740s and 1820s, while three
more came from units just outside of this structure. Eight lithic and two glass
pieces came from an excavation unit situated in a midden near a structure. The
other materials were found across the site during mechanical stripping. There is no
indication that the glass tools were created by trampling and no pre-Columbian
artifacts were found.

Site 2
Site 2 was a sugar plantation occupied from the early eighteenth century through
the twentieth century (Ahlman 2012). According to the Triennial Slave Register,
from 1817 to 1829 the number of enslaved people at this plantation stayed fairly
constant at 159 people, with almost equal numbers of births and deaths during this
time (Ancestry.com 2010). Most slaves were tasked to fieldwork with some
tending cattle or serving within the overseer’s house. Archaeological investigations
included site mapping, documentation of multiple structures, a surface collection,
excavation of six one-meter-square units, and mechanical stripping in selected
areas (Ahlman 2012). In total, 3,502 artifacts dating from the mid-eighteenth to
the early twentieth century were recovered and only two lithic and five glass
artifacts were found. Three of the glass tools and the two lithic tools were found in
8 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

figure 2 Location of five archaeological sites on St. Kitts’ southeast peninsula used in this
study (base map is 1984 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map of St. Christopher).
Map image by Todd Ahlman (2012).

surface contexts. The other two glass artifacts were found within a sub-floor slave
quarters deposit.

Site 3
Site 3 included a pre-Columbian component and a distinct, separate, historic
occupation that consisted of a cistern and water catchment, the foundation of a
three-bay structure, and a scatter of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century
artifacts (Ahlman 2012). Archaeological excavations included three one-meter-
square units and three 50-cm-square units that recovered 311 artifacts. Recovered
Afro-Caribbean ware suggests that enslaved Africans utilized the cistern at the site,
but there currently is no archaeological or documentary evidence to suggest that
they resided there. Included among the recovered materials were three lithic
artifacts found in an excavation unit situated five meters west of the cistern.

Site 6
Site 6 was a small land-holding occupied from the 1770s to 1820s (Ahlman 2009).
Site features consisted of a foundation, possible slave structures, and artifact
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 9

clusters. Archaeological excavations included six one-meter-square excavation

units and the mechanical stripping of 32.4 square meters (Ahlman 2009). No pre-
Columbian artifacts were recovered from the site. Among the 1,596 historic
artifacts were 113 lithic artifacts found in two excavation units near or under a
possible slave structure. These two excavation units produced over half of the
artifacts (n5816) from the investigations, including 77.6 percent of the Afro-
Caribbean ware found at the site and only 10 percent of the site’s European
ceramics.

Site 8
Site 8 consisted of the remnants of a three-bay, stone foundation and a cistern
(Ahlman 2008b). The archaeological excavations included six one-meter-square
units and three 50-cm-square units. Only 43 artifacts were recovered from the
excavation, including three lithic artifacts. The artifacts date from the late-
eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century and may represent an enslaved African
occupation, although this is unconfirmed from contemporary maps or other
documents.

Lithic and glass artifact analysis

This analysis focuses on technology and function (cf. Andrefsky 2005; Odell
2004). Technology refers to the particular stone tool reduction sequence that
identifies the steps in tool manufacture from raw material acquisition to finished
tool. Function refers to the interpreted use or action of the item (see Table 1 for
definitions of the descriptive and functional terms used here). Most (n5143) of the
151 lithic artifacts were recovered from enslaved African contexts at Sites 1 and 6.
Comparative studies on St. Kitts (Armstrong 1980; Goodwin 1979; Walker 1980;
Wilson 2007) and elsewhere in the Caribbean (Haviser 1999; Knippenberg 2006;
Knippenberg and Zijlstra 2008; Rostain 1997) show that the lithic raw materials
found in the southeast peninsula are small nodules of local chert, rather than ship
ballast or exotic cherts or flints (see Benson 2001). The lithic analysis examined 13
attributes (Table 2) that record metric and qualitative data on each artifact, and
aimed to identify manufacturing technology and artifact function. Using this
approach, the stone artifacts were classified into eight functional categories
dominated by small flakes and core or core fragments (Table 3).
The glass artifact analysis also included 13 attributes (Table 4) and focused
more on function than reduction technology, because glass tool manufacture used
bottle fragments rather than a core, eliminating the processes and byproducts of
core preparation. The recorded attributes for the glass tools also included
information to make comparisons with other artifact studies, especially Wilkie’s
(1996) analysis. Detailed comparisons with other reports (Armstrong 1998: 391–
392; Farnsworth 1999: 104; Kidd 2006; Wilkie and Farnsworth 2005: 181) are
limited, because these studies provided little or no contextual or dimensional data,
referring only to artifact occurrence and possible function. All of the glass tools
came from slave contexts at Sites 1 and 2 on St. Kitts.
10 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

TABLE 1

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORY DEFINITIONS

Functional category Definition

Knife Bifacial tool with two worked faces that meet to form a single edge
(Andrefsky 2005: 253), having at least one worked, elongated edge.
Scraper Tool with a retouched edge that has an angle of 60 to 90 degrees (Andrefsky 2005: 261).
Spokeshave Tool that typically has unifacial use-wear in a lenticular or semi-circular concave pattern.
Strike-a-light Stone implement that is struck against a piece of metal or
pyrite to produce a spark (Ballin and Wall 2005).
Fire flint Stone implement that is struck by a piece of metal to produce a spark.
Pieces show wear along one or more of the lateral edges and may have
concave wear along the lateral edge (Ballin and Wall 2005: 19).
Gun flint Prismatic, four-sided object with two faces, the leading edge is the
striking face and the back edge fits into the jaws of the gun’s cock.
The lower face is the flat side (Ballin and Wall 2005: 16; Kenmotsu 1990: 98).
Gun spall Wedge-shaped, non-lenticular flakes with a working edge (Kenmotsu 1990: 98).
The finished product is D-shaped (Ballin and Wall 2005).

Sites 2, 3, and 8 produced only small numbers of lithic artifacts (Table 3). The
Site 2 lithic assemblage (n52) included a gunflint, probably made from European
flint, and a tested pebble. The Site 3 assemblage (n53) included a cobble fragment,
a pebble fragment, and a tested pebble. The Site 8 assemblage (n53) included a
core fragment and two knife/scraper tools.
The glass tools from Site 1 (Tables 5 and 6) included a scraper (Figure 3b), a
spokeshave (Figure 3e), and one tool that appears to be a combination scraper and
spokeshave (Figure 3a). Use-wear on the combination scraper and spokeshave and
on the scraper is oriented longitudinally and wear on the spokeshave is oriented
perpendicular to the worked edge. Only the spokeshave exhibits purposeful
retouching. The edge angles for all but the scraper portion of the combination tool
were greater than 35 degrees. All of the tools were manufactured from dark green
liquor bottles.
The five glass tools from Site 2 are all scrapers (Tables 5 and 6). Three show
latitudinal use-wear and two exhibit purposeful retouch (Figure 3c and 3d). Only
one of the scrapers has an edge angle of less than 35 degrees. Two of the pieces are
from dark green case bottles and three are from dark green liquor bottles. Wilkie
(1996) documented a similar pattern of latitudinal use-wear and edge angles of
greater than 35 degrees on glass scrapers, similar to those from Site 2. Because data
in Wilkie’s (1996) Table 3 are inconsistent with her description regarding the
orientation of the use-wear, we elected to follow the text, which appears more
consistent than the table. In the assemblage at Oakley Plantation, however, she
also noted longitudinal use-wear on glass flakes with edge angles less than 35
degrees, which she interpreted as knives. This tool type is absent in the St. Kitts
assemblage and longitudinal use-wear at Site 1 does not match any tools reported
by Wilkie.
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 11

TABLE 2

ANALYTICAL CATEGORIES FOR LITHIC ARTIFACTS

Analytical category Analytical response

Category Techno-functional description: flake, core, tool
Bipolar Evidence of bipolar reduction present or absent
Platform Present or absent
Bulb Present of absent
Cortex Present or absent
Length Length in mm
Width Width in mm
Thickness Thickness in mm
Weight Weight to 0.01 gm
Color Qualitative color description
Local material Yes/no
Complete Complete or incomplete
Edge-wear Use or edge-wear present or absent

The 30 lithic artifacts from Site 1 (Table 3) consist of 18 flakes, four core
fragments, three gunflints, two pebble cores, two tested pebbles, and a knife/
scraper. The two gunflints made from black/gray flint with inclusions are likely
from the English Brandon Quarry and date after 1790 (Kenmotsu 1990: 95). The
single tan gunflint also may be from England, but also resembles some French
gunflints. Average metric measurements for all lithic materials are shown in
Table 7. The flakes are all chert and range in color from brown to light tan to light
gray. Only one flake exhibits evidence of bipolar reduction, suggesting that
freehand percussion was commonly used for flake removal. The cores (core
fragments, pebble cores, and tested pebbles) found at the site are only slightly
larger than the flakes. Seven of the eight cores are chert, with colors ranging from
brown, light tan, and light gray to dark red. One of the cores appears to be white
quartzite. No flakes in the assemblage appear to come from either red chert or
quartzite cores. The pebble core and tested pebbles exhibit evidence of bipolar
reduction, but there is no evidence of bipolar reduction on the core fragments.

TABLE 3

STONE ARTIFACTS BY SITE

Site no. Cobble Core Flake Gunflint Knife/scraper Pebble core Pebble Tested Total
fragment fragment fragment pebble
1 0 4 18 3 1 2 0 2 30
2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2
3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3
6 0 33 68 1 0 9 0 2 113
8 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3
Total 1 38 86 5 3 11 1 6 151
12 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

TABLE 4

ANALYTICAL CATEGORIES FOR GLASS ARTIFACTS

Analytical category Analytical response

Category Techno-functional description: scraper, spokeshave
Orientation Latitudinal/longitudinal
Location of wear Interior or exterior of vessel
Retouched Present or absent
Angle of wear Greater or less than 35 degrees
Length Length in mm
Width Width in mm
Thickness Thickness in mm
Weight Weight to 0.01 gm
Color Qualitative color description
Vessel form Rum/wine or case bottle
Vessel portion Rim, finish, neck, shoulder, body, heel, kick-up, base
Edge-wear Macroscopic observation: heavy, medium, or minor

Cortex is present on 12 (67 percent) of 18 flakes. This is less than that found at Site
6, where 55 (81 percent) of 68 flakes exhibit cortex.
The most striking feature of the lithics from Site 1 is macroscopic edge-wear
on flakes. Only 14 flakes and formal tools, excluding gunflints, with macroscopic
TABLE 5

GLASS TOOLS FROM SITES 1 AND 2

Site no. Category Orientation Location Retouch Edge angle Color* Vessel Vessel Edge
of wear form portion wear
1 Spokeshave Longitudinal Exterior Yes .35 degrees DG Rum/wine Body Heavily
bottle near heel worked
1 Scraper Longitudinal Interior No .35 degrees DG Rum/wine Kick up Minor
bottle edge-wear
1 Spokeshave/ Spokeshave Interior No .35 degrees DG Rum/wine Body Heavily
Scraper latitudinal/ on spokeshave, bottle worked
scraper ,35 degrees
longitudinal on scraper
2 Scraper Longitudinal Exterior Yes .35 degrees DG Case bottle Body Heavily
worked
2 Scraper Latitudinal Interior No .35 degrees DG Case bottle Body Minor
edge-wear
2 Scraper Latitudinal Exterior No .35 degrees DG Rum/wine Body Medium
bottle worked
2 Scraper Latitudinal Interior Yes ,35 degrees DG Rum/wine Body Heavily
bottle worked
2 Scraper Longitudinal Interior No .35 degrees DG Rum/wine Body Heavily
bottle worked

* DG5dark green
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 13

TABLE 6

GLASS ARTIFACT MEASUREMENTS (MM)

Site no. Tool Length Width Thickness

1 Spokeshave 39.77 28.76 9.01
1 Scraper 49.76 31.78 6.50
1 Spokeshave/scraper 38.74 23.52 5.64
2 Scraper 19.92 19.98 3.41
2 Scraper 33.38 23.86 5.91
2 Scraper 13.26 13.08 3.23
2 Scraper 31.19 23.95 3.98
2 Scraper 15.94 12.76 4.51

edge-wear have been recovered from the southeast peninsula and 10 are from Site
1. These include nine flakes (Figure 4a-d) and a single bifacially flaked tool (knife
or scraper) (Figure 4e). The wear on the flakes is evidenced by unifacial and
bifacial, small feathered, and step flake scars. While there is some battering, none
of the edges is blunted or crushed. Some of the flakes (see Figures 4b, 4e, and 6b)
appear to have concave wear on the edges. Ballin and Wall (2005) suggest that this
type of wear pattern is from using flakes as fire flints where a piece of metal is
struck or dragged against a chert flake to create a spark. Fire flint is a term that
Ballin and Wall (2005) prefer rather than strike-a-light, as the metal is struck
against the chert or flint causing the spark.
The 113 lithics recovered from Site 6 represent nearly 74 percent of all recovered
lithics from the southeast peninsula. The artifacts include 68 flakes, 33 core
fragments, nine pebble cores, two tested pebbles, and a gunflint (Table 3). The
pebble cores are generally larger than at Site 1. Six flakes, three core fragments,
and eight pebble cores exhibit bipolar reduction. In total, 94 lithic artifacts (83
percent) from Site 6 retain cortex ranging from around 5 percent to 100 percent of
each object’s exterior surface. The flakes from Site 6 exhibit little evidence for use,
as edge-wear was noted on only two flakes and the gunflint (Figure 5). The wear
on one of the two flakes is concave, suggesting its use as a fire flint. The wear on
one corner of the gunflint is concave on two sides with almost a denticulated or
spokeshave appearance. The other corner is rounded from use. Ballin and Wall
(2005) indicate that repeated use of fire flints also can lead to denticulated and
rounded edges as seen on this gunflint.
Gunflints occur in association with enslaved African occupations elsewhere on
St. Kitts as well as from those on St. John, Jamaica, and in the Bahamas, so their
occurrence at Sites 1, 2, and 6 is not unusual. Some slaves may have had access to
firearms or used gunflints for other purposes, particularly fire flints. The gunflints
found at these sites are technically gunspalls, which are wedge-shaped flakes with
prepared unifacial or bifacial striking surfaces (Kenmotsu 1990; White 1975).
Kenmotsu (1990: 110–112) found that used gunflints tend to have step-flaking on
the upper working surface and smoothing, polish, and light step-flaking on the
inferior (non-working) surface. She found that blunted or crushed edges
14 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

figure 3 Glass tools from Sites 1 and 2: (a) Site 1 spokeshave/scraper; (b) Site 1 scraper; (c)
and (d) Site 2 scrapers; (e) Site 1 spokeshave.
Drawing by Eric Carlson (2011).

infrequently occur on these items, mainly because of short-term use or

resharpening of the working edge. The gunflints from Sites 1 and 2 exhibit use-
wear along all of the edges (working and non-working) and the inferior surfaces
have bifacial feather and step-flake scars (Figure 6). None of them, however, has
what Ballin and Wall (2005; see also Ballin 2012) refer to as ‘‘powder burn’’ from
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 15

TABLE 7

AVERAGE LITHIC ARTIFACT MEASUREMENTS (MM)

Site no. Average length Average width Average thickness

Site 1
Core fragment 17.3 17.5 9.8
Flake 19.9 13.3 4.6
Gunflint 24.1 26.0 9.5
Knife/scraper 20.7 18.5 14.4
Pebble core 24.5 25.1 15.7
Tested pebble 37.7 39.0 22.4
Average 21.5 17.8 8.1
Site 2
Gunflint 20.1 25.3 7.5
Tested pebble 30.7 18.3 11.7
Average 25.4 21.8 9. 6
Site 3
Cobble fragment 74.1 55.8 13.8
Pebble fragment 12.7 9.0 7.1
Average 43.4 32.4 10.5
Site 6
Core fragment 15.4 11.2 7.3
Flake 15.4 13.7 4.4
Gunflint 17.2 23.2 10.4
Pebble core 23.4 21.7 16.2
Tested pebble 41.2 33.3 24.7
Average 16.5 14.0 6. 6
Site 8
Core fragment 15.8 11.9 6.2
Knife/scraper 24.5 22.5 7.7
Average 21.6 18.9 7.2

being used in a musket. The lateral edges of the gunflints are not necessarily
crushed or blunted, but show use that produced bifacial step flakes generally along
one edge. Other edges exhibit slight concave wear. This suggests that the St. Kitts
artifacts were not used exclusively as gunflints but were employed just as often as
fire flints or strike-a-lights.

Discussion
The glass tools recovered at Sites 1 and 2 differ from those reported by Wilkie
(1996), as there is no comparable patterning in the orientation of the cutting edge
on the St. Kitts tools. Wilkie also documented glass tools fashioned from multiple
16 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

figure 4 Flakes with edge-wear (a-d) and knife/scraper (e) from Site 1.
Photograph by Eric Carlson (2012).

portions of bottle fragments (heel and base, neck and finish, shoulder, and body)
whereas the glass tools recovered at Sites 1 and 2 are from body portions only.
The St. Kitts material includes six scrapers, one spokeshave, and one scraper/
spokeshave combination, with cutting edges oriented both latitudinally and
longitudinally. The glass tools are worked on the interior (n55) or exterior (n53),
and some are retouched (n53). Wilkie (1996) found a pattern of latitudinal use-
wear and edge angles greater than 35 degrees on scrapers. The glass scrapers
recovered from the St. Kitts sites do not show the same orientation of the cutting
edges. Site 1 tools exhibit primarily longitudinal use-wear in comparison with Site
2 tools that mostly have latitudinal use-wear. These differences are probably
idiosyncratic, and the apparent lack of patterning suggests expediency. Although
the glass tools from St. Kitts show no similarity in manufacture to those
documented by Wilkie (1996), the glass tools from Sites 1 and 2 appear to have
been used on soft materials like wood.
Glass tools, like those found on St. Kitts, likely were expedient tools. Expedient
tools include a variety of unmodified flakes and blades that require ‘‘little or no
effort in their production’’ and are not constrained by specific shapes or reduction
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 17

figure 5 Flakes with edge-wear (a and b) and gunflint (c) from Site 6.
Photograph by Eric Carlson (2012).

techniques (Andrefsky 2005: 31). As a result, there is a wide range of variability

in their size and shape. These tools can be used for a variety of tasks like cutting,
sawing, planing, and scraping. As Andrefsky (2005: 31) notes, different shaped
flakes ‘‘can be used for the same tasks’’ or similar shaped flakes ‘‘can be used for
different tasks.’’ Because of the variability in size and shape, as well as inferred
task, expedient tools are difficult to quantify, describe, and categorize.
Why would some enslaved laborers use expedient glass tools for woodworking
rather than metal tools that may have been available to them or that they may have
manufactured from scrap metal like barrel hoops? Not all slaves had equal access
to metal tools, because planters tended to supply tools only to laborers engaged in
specific tasks. A listing of expenses for the Simon estate (Cary 1771: 19–20) in
1771 shows tools for field (e.g., twelve dozen hoes) and sugar processing (e.g., four
ladles and four skimmers) were the most common tools purchased for the estate.
Coopers and carpentry tools are also listed. Not all metal tools suitable for
woodworking may have been available to enslaved persons and some metal tools,
such as hoes or machetes, are too large to work small wood items and not as sharp
as a piece of glass. Once a replacement handle was attached to an implement, a
glass or lithic tool could be used to further shape the grip (see Armstrong 1998:
391–392). Women and children also may have found using a glass flake quicker
18 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

figure 6 Gunflints from Site 1.

Drawing by Eric Carlson, 2012.

and more convenient when making or repairing household items such as wooden
spoons or toys.
The lithic artifacts analyzed here are associated with enslaved African contexts
and share similar morphology and reduction techniques, but are quite different
from other expedient cores, flakes, and tools reported from pre-Columbian
contexts in the Caribbean. The historic lithics do not exhibit the same frequency
of bipolar reduction technique that is characteristic of pre-Columbian lithic
technologies on St. Kitts (Walker 1980), or from slave contexts on St. John (Kidd
2006). Only 17 percent (n526) of the lithics examined here exhibit bipolar
reduction compared to the 89.1 percent that Walker observed on the pre-
Columbian lithics from the Sugar Factory Pier Site and the more than 50 percent
identified by Kidd (2006) on St. John. The St. Kitts lithics exhibiting bipolar
reduction include seven flakes, 13 pebble cores/tested pebbles, five core fragments,
and the knife/scraper from Site 1. For the most part, it appears that bipolar
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 19

reduction was used to ‘‘test’’ smaller pebbles rather than as a habitual reduction
strategy.
At Sites 1 and 6, cortex is present on 70-80 percent of the flakes. The cortex
ranges from 5 to 100 percent of the artifacts’ exterior surfaces, suggesting that
various stages of reduction are present at these sites. The range of flake size is
similar at both sites, but at Site 6 there are more large flakes. These flakes,
however, are much smaller than the ones from Drax Hall Plantation, Jamaica
(Armstrong 1990: 193–196). In general, the large amount of cortex and small size
of the flakes suggest that the parent materials were not large cobbles like ship
ballast, but instead slaves were using smaller cobbles available on the southeast
peninsula around the Great Salt Pond.
The striking platform on many of the flakes is crushed or absent. A variety of
conditions can produce this, but in general this results from harder objects used in
percussion, unfamiliarity with the tool stone’s properties, and inexperience of the
knapper (Andrefsky 2005). A combination of circumstances contributed to the
crushing of platforms as well as the inconsistent size and shape of the lithics.
The small percentage of lithic artifacts with edge damage suggests an expedient
stone tool technology similar to the glass tools. The use-wear on the lithic tools
indicates that flakes were either prepared for use, they were the byproducts of
manufacturing larger tools, they were used on very soft materials, they had very
short use lives, or they represent some combination of these variables. The tools
were removed from small cores and were too small to resharpen. It is difficult to
determine exactly what materials these tools were used on, but cutting or planing
soft woods, or cutting leaves, fronds, or reeds are possibilities and it is likely that
some served as fire flints at Site 1.
Normally expedient tools are discarded when dull or exhausted and a new flake
is struck from the parent core material. The scarcity of tool-quality stone on St.
Kitts suggests that flintknapping was not a long-term, successful strategy for
making enough reliable tools and the relatively small number of expedient tools
reflects this. In fact, the used flakes from St. Kitts may represent nothing more than
use of waste materials from the manufacture of other expedient or formal tools.
Formal tools, however, rarely are found at sites on the southeast peninsula.
Based on the available materials, a bipolar reduction technique would have been
the most appropriate reduction method available, but this reduction approach is
not evident suggesting a lack of stone tool manufacturing knowledge. Some
enslaved Africans may have known how to make stone tools or they may have
learned flintknapping from Europeans by using larger flint nodules that are best
reduced using freehand reduction techniques. Furthermore, some enslaved
Africans were skilled stone masons who shaped thousands of stone blocks used
in the construction of windmills, boiling houses, warehouses, and great houses
seen all over St. Kitts, and they too used freehand reduction techniques. It is
possible that the enslaved Africans who learned and used these skills translated this
knowledge to knap the locally available chert and glass. Bamforth and Finlay
(2008: 3) note that ‘‘skill in flintknapping is found in the intersection between
knowledge and practice.’’ To become skilled, a knapper needs long-term practice
to learn the proper routines and motor skills (Bleed 2008). The technique used to
20 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

flake stone can be easily applied to glass, but not as much skill is needed to make
glass tools. In contrast, making and maintaining gunflints requires specialized
knowledge (Kenmotsu 1990; White 1975). It is plausible that some enslaved
Africans were taught how to make gunflints by Europeans or they knew how to
make gunflints and refresh their firing edge, because, by the late-eighteenth
century, slaves served in armed militias on the island (Buckley 1979; Voelz 1993).
None of the gunflints from sites on the southeast peninsula, however, are made
from local chert. Tool-stone is scarce on St. Kitts and the flintknappers who had
little experience in using it could not widely experiment to create more effective
and efficient techniques, such as bipolar reduction; therefore, they did not acquire
the skills necessary for making materials in a consistent manner (Bamforth and
Finlay 2008; Bleed 2008).
Because of the small size of the available tool-stone and poorly developed
knapping skills, it is possible that enslaved Africans, while trying to replicate
gunflints, instead produced what are best described as fire flints. This is consistent
with Kenmotsu’s (1990) suggestion that a single small core could produce only one
or two gunspalls. The small size of individual nodules and cores from Sites 1, 2,
and 6 would produce very few fire flints. This tool-making strategy might account
for the high frequency of debitage with cortex. Some of the debris was used as
expedient tools for scraping and cutting in a manner similar to the glass tools.
Kidd (2006) concluded that lithic debitage from Carolina Point Plantation on St.
John was the manufacturing by-product of what he terms strike-a-lights, but were
most likely fire flints. He postulated that enslaved Africans traded fire flints to
produce ‘‘additional income … [to] purchase goods at informal markets’’ (Kidd
2006: 68). We suggest that enslaved Africans followed a similar strategy for
making fire flints. At Site 6, the manufacture of fire flints was probably not
restricted to household use, but was also for trade in formal and informal markets
on St. Kitts. Evidence for this at Site 6 is provided by the numerous flakes and
thirty-three cores, many of which are exhausted, and only a few utilized flakes. By
making fire flints and trading them, the residents at Site 6 potentially created a
commodity that they could exchange for money, food, or other goods in the
island’s markets.
Chert artifacts similar to those at Site 6 have been found in contemporary
contexts at the Brimstone Hill Fortress and Spring Plantation on St. Kitts. Research
on locally made Afro-Caribbean ware pottery shows that enslaved people who
resided on the southeast peninsula engaged in pottery manufacture and were
integrated into larger market networks (Ahlman et al. 2008; 2009; 2011). In fact,
contemporaneous Afro-Caribbean ware found at Brimstone Hill Fortress and
Spring Plantation may have been made with clay from the southeast peninsula
(Ahlman et al. 2011). This indicates that trade networks existed between slaves on
the southeast peninsula and at other locations on St. Kitts.
As others have shown, enslaved Africans in the Caribbean raised numerous
crops and made a variety of materials which they traded in informal and formal
markets, while earning money from working on and off plantations (Galle 2011;
Hauser 2008; Reeves 2011; Saunders 2002). Reeves (2011) and Galle (2011) have
suggested that enslaved Jamaicans were active participants in market economies.
 ARTIFACTS FROM ENSLAVED AFRICAN CONTEXTS ON ST. KITTS 21

Such enslaved laborers were able to purchase other provisions, ceramics, buttons,
and household items by selling items they made and surplus provisions or from
wages they had earned (Galle 2001; Reeves 2011). Reeves found that enslaved
Jamaicans were able to buy European ceramics, but some households had greater
purchasing power than others as represented by higher ratios of European
ceramics relative to locally produced ceramics. On St. Kitts, at Site 1, partial
excavation of a cellar under a slave dwelling produced 177 ceramic artifacts and
47 percent (n583) were European. At Site 2, an excavation unit within a slave
dwelling produced 370 ceramic artifacts and 68 percent (n5252) were European.
In comparison, at Site 6, where the bulk of the lithic materials were recovered,
excavations produced 171 ceramics and only 20 percent (n534) were European. If
Reeves (2011) and Galle (2011) are correct that a higher percentage of European
ceramics represents more buying power, then the enslaved Africans at Site 6
appear to have had considerably less buying power than the slaves living at Sites 1
and 2. This assumes, however, that enslaved Africans were acquiring money to buy
ceramics, beads, buttons, or other items to display wealth.
For some enslaved people, the manufacture and trade of items, like ceramics or
fire flints, may have been necessary to acquire food or other materials needed
for survival rather than to display wealth. Slave owners were required by law to
provide provisions and land for slaves to grow their own provisions. Higman
(1995: 207–208) notes that, on St. Kitts, planters were required to provide on a
weekly basis to each household:

N 9 pints of flour, yams, potatoes, plantains, or bananas

N 1.5 pounds of salted meat provisions
N 2.5 pounds of fresh fish or provisions, and
N 40 square feet of garden grounds per household.
Most provision grounds on St. Kitts were on poor soil and markets were ‘‘poorly
supplied with small stock and vegetables’’ (Higman 1995: 208). Some planters
held back food or failed to supply the amounts required by law, and this regime of
forced supply likely taxed marginal, small-scale landowners. Because the southeast
peninsula is extremely dry and the location of Site 6 is even more arid than Sites 1
and 2, the slaves at Site 6 perhaps saw more shortfalls in the provisions given to
them as well as those they produced themselves. These shortfalls and the arid
environment may have encouraged slaves to initiate a greater interest in making
and trading commodities like fire flints in order to acquire provisions through
other means. It was important to enslaved persons living on small, dry-land
holdings to diversify the commodities they made and traded, because they likely
experienced greater variability in the amount of provisions they were able to grow
or acquire from their masters. Through such trade, enslaved Africans would have
been able to obtain some of the food necessary to survive their harsh existence.

Conclusions
Stone and glass tools have been documented throughout the Caribbean and
southeastern USA, suggesting a broad pattern of expedient tool technologies and
22 TODD M. AHLMAN, BOBBY R. BRALY, and GERALD F. SCHROEDL

use among enslaved Africans (Armstrong 1990; Boling 2005; Kidd 2006; Wilkie
1996; Wilkie and Farnsworth 2005). Chert utilization by enslaved Africans is
documented on St. Kitts as well as Jamaica, the Bahamas, and US Virgin Islands,
showing that this is a widespread Caribbean phenomenon rather than an isolated
occurrence. For enslaved Africans on St. Kitts and elsewhere in the Caribbean,
metal and metal tools were often available to some, if not all of them, so why did
some occasionally choose to use glass and lithic tools? Our analysis suggests that
the glass tools were used to plane wood and work soft materials and perhaps this
was more effective in some instances than using metal tools. A working knowledge
of stone and stone-tool manufacture may have led enslaved Africans to use
naturally occurring chert on the southeast peninsula. Some stone tools may have
been used on wood and soft materials, but it appears that most of the recovered
debitage was the by-product of making fire flints. Fire flints were made for
household use and likely traded throughout St. Kitts. Households would have done
this for two reasons: first, to help deal with provision shortages, and second, to buy
goods like ceramics, buttons, and glass. Most lithics were found at Site 6 where
enslaved Africans appear to have made fire flints, but there are many fewer
European ceramics there than at Sites 1 or 2. This suggests that the occupants of
Site 6 may well have made and traded fire flints as one strategy to supplement what
little provisions they received or were able to grow rather than acquiring European
ceramics or other manufactured goods.

Acknowledgements
The archaeological investigations on the southeast peninsula were funded by
the Christophe Harbour Development Company/KHT Joint Venture, LLC. We
applaud their commitment to heritage preservation. Background research was
conducted at the St Christopher National Trust and St. Kitts National Archives.

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About the authors

Todd M. Ahlman is director of the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State
University. His research includes Caribbean historical archaeology. His work has
been published on ceramic production and exchange among free and enslaved
Africans in the Caribbean, personal and cultural identity, and Caribbean cultural
heritage laws.
Bobby R. Braly is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the
University of Tennessee. His research includes chiefdom-level societies in the late
prehistoric southeast USA and the archaeology of the Caribbean. Currently, he
serves as executive director for Historic Cane Hill, a non-profit-making historic
preservation group located in northwest Arkansas.
Gerald F. Schroedl is professor of anthropology at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville. His research interests in the Caribbean are focused primarily on the
British military and their use of enslaved Africans to further their objectives in the
region. From 1996 through 1999 and again from 2004 to 2008 he excavated at the
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, St Kitts, with the goal of documenting
archaeological evidence for enslaved Africans and making comparative studies of
contexts relating to British army officers and enlisted men.
Correspondence to: Todd M. Ahlman, Texas State University, 601 University
Dr., San Marcos, TX 78666 t_a57@txstate.edu (512) 2452724.