Each quarter, the Stanford Archaeology Center invites prominent archaeologists from around the globe to be in residence for a week as a Distinguished Lecturer. During their residency, the Distinguished Lecturer gives two lectures and interacts with faculty, postdoctoral scholars and students. Stanford Archaeology Center will host Prof. Teresa Singleton from Syracuse Universityover two days (February 19 and February 20) for the Winter Quarter of this academic year. 

Abstract:

The importation of enslaved Africans to Española in the early 1500s initially supplemented, and later, replaced Amer-Indian labor in the mining and sugar industries. After these enterprises declined, Afro-descendants continued to play key roles in settling the colony as laborers on farms and cattle ranches, in the building trades and domestic service, among other skilled and unskilled occupations.  By the seventeenth century, Afro-descendants comprised a Black majority population in Española.  Locating and identifying archaeological sites associated with this Black majority, however, has thus far been elusive.  Even at the sites of the earliest sugar plantations (1515-1550 ca.), where the ruins of 16th-century great houses still stand, it is unclear where and in what types of dwellings enslaved people were housed.  Although no slave dwellings have been identified, exploratory excavations yielded artifacts indicating Ameri-Indian influences on plantation foodways.  This lecture discusses the challenges confronted and the insights gained from ongoing research of identifying Afro-descendant sites in Dominican Republic.  The importation of enslaved Africans to Española in the early 1500s initially supplemented, and later, replaced Amer-Indian labor in the mining and sugar industries. After these enterprises declined, Afro-descendants continued to play key roles in settling the colony as laborers on farms and cattle ranches, in the building trades and domestic service, among other skilled and unskilled occupations.  By the seventeenth century, Afro-descendants comprised a Black majority population in Española.  Locating and identifying archaeological sites associated with this Black majority, however, has thus far been elusive.  Even at the sites of the earliest sugar plantations (1515-1550 ca.), where the ruins of 16th-century great houses still stand, it is unclear where and in what types of dwellings enslaved people were housed.  Although no slave dwellings have been identified, exploratory excavations yielded artifacts indicating Ameri-Indian influences on plantation foodways.  This lecture discusses the challenges confronted and the insights gained from ongoing research of identifying Afro-descendant sites in Dominican Republic.