Graduation Year

2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Anthropology

Major Professor

Brent Weisman

Keywords

archaeology, Caribbean

Abstract

In the Caribbean, the eighteenth century symbolized a period of shifting powers in the region. Spain abandoned control of many of the smaller islands in the Caribbean, which were quickly taken over and subsequently controlled by the three major European competitors: England, France, and the Netherlands. These islands would be traded as prizes during various European conflicts that would always spread into the region. Unfortunately, most of the archaeological work that has occurred within the Caribbean has tended to largely focus on the micro-scale analysis. While development of a macro-scale analysis to assist an understanding of the past in the Caribbean is called for, not much has been done yet. This study examines the Caribbean in the eighteenth century to develop a model for inter-site comparison. I shall argue that consumptive patterns are knowable and testable through the archaeological record and may be seen through the development of a model for inter-site comparison. Finally, the connections developed from the importation of various goods, such as ceramics, provide opportunities to test ideas about contested peripheries which can be seen by means of historical data and statistical inference to understand the past relationship between global events and local acts of consumption within the Caribbean.

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