The Nanny Town Maroons of Jamaica (original) (raw)

The Maroons

Cheryl White

Introduction

In the past twenty years, Maroon archaeology has emerged as an interesting genre of historical archaeology. The growing interest in the material remains of runaway slave descendants and their communities has refashioned how historical archaeologists approach and discuss African Diaspora material culture. Maroons are descendants of the enslaved who developed structured societies during the height of colonialism. Maroon communities were documented during the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries in isolated regions of the Caribbean’s Greater and Lesser Antilles and continental America. Maroons are distinguished by their place of habitation, language, customs, and unique history in relation to plantation enslaved. Because Maroon sites are often well hidden for obvious reasons, Maroon archaeology presents a unique set of challenges. Traditional archaeological survey and excavation techniques are not always applicable or sufficient to “address [the] recognition of sites, conducting excavations, construction of typologies and development of models that incorporate oral history and ethnoarchaeology” (Ngwenyama 2007, 273).

Maroon archaeological theory includes the traditional themes of rebellion, resistance, and retention and presents the innovation of a broader and more inclusive theory: ethnogenesis, the formation of a new ethnic group. The methods of explaining Maroon ethnogenesis include oral history, ethnoarchaeology, archaeometry, and creative techniques for surveying and excavating in dynamic terrains and environments. These methods, when combined, present a challenge for researchers of Maroon archaeology, but this challenge also marks a pivotal and perhaps a new way to discuss and understand a history that goes beyond a reliance on distant associations. The theory and methods place the focus on Maroons, a distinctly New World group with a material culture that speaks to its historical development among Europeans and indigenous peoples. The pertinent issues for the field of Maroon archaeology can be organized into four themes: site locations and geographical features; theory; method; and archaeological evidence.

Maroon Archaeological Sites

Maroon archaeological sites have been identified in present-day Jamaica, Cuba, Brazil, Suriname, and St. Croix. Geographical features, such as dense neotropical forests, wetland swamps, and mountainous terrains and terraces, presented environments where runaway enslaved could hide from colonial pursuers and flourish in relative isolation. Indigenous peoples also used these types of environments, and these locations offer the possibility of a range of material remains for recovery.

In the Maroon Ridge area of northwestern St. Croix, natural features such as inaccessible rock shelters of coves, caves, and overhangs provided quick, ready-made, indestructible shelters for transient Maroon camps in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Norton and Espenshade 2007). In contrast, in Cuba, Maroons used naturally stepped mountainous regions for permanent settlements (La Rosa Corzo 2003). The viewshed from the stepped mountains allowed Maroons to detect the whereabouts and distance of invading militias and to respond accordingly. In either setting, Maroons were able to determine how to use their short- or long-term place of residence for maximum defense in case of a colonial attack. According to historical records, seven-teenth- and eighteenth-century Maroon settlements in the dense tropical forest of Suriname (South America) boasted jutting spikes. These spikes were positioned in a moat formation which afforded Maroon inhabitants a defensive advantage (White 2009).

Theories and Methods Relating to Maroon Archaeology

The theories applied to Maroon research include cultural transformation, hybridity, creolization, and ethnogenesis. In addition, a range of methods are often employed to identify and analyze archaeological evidence from Maroon sites, including archaeology, ethnography and ethnoarchaeology, soil sampling, archaeometry, archival data, and oral history. These approaches provide researchers with the tools needed to identify, explore, and discuss the most definitive Maroon archaeological finds.

Creolization and hybridity theories that originated in African Diaspora cultural anthropology and plantation archaeology, have traditionally sought to dissect the nuances of African Diaspora cultural transformation. These paradigms are interchangeable and are used to explain recently developed ethnicities in the New World. Each term suggests that cultural transformation is a by-product of interaction under duress. In addition, the concept of cultural transformation emphasizes the retention of Africanisms. However, ethnogenesis also allows archaeologists to consider the material influences of indigenous peoples and Europeans, and this process is better suited for understanding Maroon archaeological finds.

Archaeology, aided by ethnography and oral history, is the primary method applied to the study of Suriname Maroon ancestral communities. White’s (2009) research focused on detecting architectural arrangements vis-àvis kinship relations, named places, and domestic and specialized material culture in contemporary and traditional Maroon villages in Suriname. Radiocarbon dating and artifact analysis shed light on the relationship Maroons had with indigenous peoples (Ngwenyama 2007). Archaeometry and ceramic analysis are only a few of the methods used in Maroon site interpretation.

Norton and Espenshade (2007) suggested that research methods at Maroon Ridge and subsequent Maroon settlements in St. Croix should include oral history interviews, soil surveys, and digital elevation models. These research methods may create a signature approach for locating potential shelters and caves. The major defining Maroon archaeological discoveries include long-term ancestral settlements and unique Maroon ceramic technologies. Other findings that will aid archeologists include distinct Maroon patterns of settlement, the fact that historical European vessels have been located in association with Maroon artifacts, earthwork features, architectural forms, and indigenous ceramics and earthworks that Maroons appropriated and reinterpreted.

In Cuba, long-term settlements called palenques are defined by subsistence plots, but they are more commonly found in the vast and rugged terrain in the southeastern part of the country. Cuba’s historical documentation of Maroons also notes ephemeral settlements known as rancheria. These temporary settlements offered shelter to armed bands during bouts of guerrilla warfare. More than thirty palenques are recorded, the first and largest of which is El Portillo, which was re-
corded in 1731. These settlements also supported animal husbandry and subsistence horticulture. A stable farming community is also noted in the archaeological record of eighteenth-century Maroons in Jamaica, where two regions of Maroon settlements have been archaeologically studied: the Windward Maroons of the Blue Mountains region and the Leeward Maroons of the Cockpit country. The first is Nanny Town, which is named after Jamaica’s only national heroine, Nanny of the Windward Maroons. Archaeological research found that Nanny Town is composed of three dispersed settlements where approximately 200 occupants engaged in subsistence farming. The Leeward community of Accompong Town has been studied both historically and archaeologically. In both cases, ethnoarchaeology was the primary method used.

Ethnoarchaeological research in Suriname has revealed a long-term Maroon settlement called Kumako, located in the dense tropical forest of the Upper Suriname River Basin (White 2009). The excavations at Kumako revealed earthwork features in the form of a manmade mound approximately one mile in circumference. Radiocarbon dates situate the mound in the prehistoric era, AD 560; in the seventeenth century, during the gran marronage; and in the mid-eighteenth century, when stable Maroon settlements developed. In addition to the settlement features, earthenware objects were recovered that featured technology similar to the Yabba and Colonoware ceramics excavated at plantation sites in the circum-Caribbean and southeastern United States. The features that distinguish Colonoware vessels-low-fired utilitarian earthenware pots-are similar to the features of Maroon vessels in Suriname. But the interpretation of how these vessels were used differs because of the different ethnospace in which Suriname Maroons used ceramics.

According to White’s (2009) research in Suriname, current ethnoarchaeological research findings demonstrate that Maroons used low-fired earthenware vessels primarily for rituals and not for subsistence-related activities, as is the common interpretation in plantation archaeology. Saramaka Maroon ceramic vessels called aghbangs are found in sacred shrines strategically placed in contemporary and traditional villages with customary arrangement patterns (White 2009). Their origin, however, as ethnographic and archival research has demonstrated, lies in the reciprocal relationship Saramaka Maroons had with their seventeenth- and eighteenthcentury indigenous neighbors.

Interactions between Maroons and Natives

The notion that Maroons had an enduring relationship with their indigenous counterparts has long been suggested in the historical literature of New World Blacks. However, it was thought that Maroons relied on their native neighbors in only peripheral ways until Scott Allen’s (2001) work in Brazil offered a more revealing look at exactly how Maroons were using indigenous ceramics. Allen’s work at Quilombos dos Palmares in Brazil contested the long-held belief that Maroons were the makers of their own ceramic vessels. Allen (2001) and Funari (2006) both surmised that ceramic sherds were either of indigenous origin or not solely Maroon. Their research could not identify a distinct Maroon ceramic tradition.

Conclusion

The foregoing discussion offers only a small portion of what remains to be uncovered in Maroon archaeology. Archaeological data have made a significant contribution to the growth of historical archaeology and to our understanding of Diaspora cultural transformation and development. The methodological concerns of Maroon archaeology include recognizing sites, conducting excavations, constructing typologies, and developing models that incorporate oral history and ethnoarchaeology. Maroon material culture is relevant at the local, regional,

Martinique

Benoît Bérard, Ryan Espersen, and Cheryl White

Martinique, which is administered directly by France, is located in the volcanic arc of the Lesser Antilles. The island has an area of 1,128 square kilometers. The French government’s archaeological maps of Martinique identify more than 100 Amerindian sites. The evidence for the earliest human occupation on Martinique found thus far dates to the first century BC at the Vivé site. In 1937, J. B. Delawarde was the first archaeologist to publish research based on research in Martinique (Delawarde 1937). Delawarde’s work focused on the excavations at the Anse Belleville prehistoric site. Since that time, Martinique has been a major center of precolonial archaeology in the Lesser Antilles. This work relies heavily on the work of local volunteers. Local support enabled Martinique to
and international levels, and as interest in research on this topic increases, it has the potential to provide a more dynamic perspective on the lives of New World Maroons.

Precolonial Archaeology

Knowledge of Martinique’s precolonial archaeology revolves around work conducted on a few major sites. In the 1970s, M. Mattioni conducted large excavations at early Cedrosan Saladoid sites, including Fond-Brûlé and Vivé. The latter site was also excavated by J. P. Giraud and B. Bérard (Bérard 2004) for several years in the 1990s.

The Vivé site was abandoned quickly at the beginning of the Mount Pelée volcanic eruption around AD 350-400, making it a Caribbean precolonial version of Pompeii. The exceptional preservation conditions have made Vivé a major attraction for archaeologists for decades. The many publications based on their research have made the Vivé site a primary reference for West Indian early ceramic occupation. The main middle-late Saladoid phase reference site is Dizac au Diamant. The site has been excavated by several researchers since the 1960s. N. Vidal conducted the most recent operation in the 1990s. The primary reference publication on post-Saladoid occupation in Martinique remains L. Allaire’s dissertation (1977), which is based on his work at the two major sites of Paquemar (Troumassan Troumassoid) and Macabou (Troumassan Suazoid). New sections of the Macabou site were excavated under S. Grouard’s direction in the period 2005-2009. The precolonial cultural chronology of Martinique is thus based on numerous recent and large excavations and is one of the major references for the Windward Islands.

The Colonial Period

Several colonial archaeology programs that combine archaeological, ethnoarchaeological, and archival research have been initiated in Martinique over the last two decades. Martinique was settled in 1635 by the French. Pierre Belain d’Esnambuc took possession of the island in the name of the Compagnie des Isles d’Amérique, although the island was still inhabited by the Island-Carib. This first French settlement in the town of Saint-Pierre began with the construction of the Saint-Pierre fort. Soon the first tobacco plantations were set up; they relied primarily on the labor of white indentured servants. A major change in the island occurred in 1654 with the arrival of between 300 and 400 Dutch Jews from Brazil. These immigrants introduced new techniques that significantly improved sugar production on Martinique. Because the Dutch Jews used enslaved labor, there was also an increase in the number of enslaved Africans on Martinique during this period. The first African enslaved arrived in the mid-1600s, and by 1700 the enslaved population numbered some 16,000, eclipsing the enslaved population of Saint-Domingue, which at the time was 9,000 . Sugar was the island’s primary commercial resource from the 1690 s to 1800 , and the profitability of this crop made Martinique the most valuable French colony in the Lesser Antilles. After France lost Saint Domingue at the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury because of the Haitian Revolution, Martinique became even more important. Over the next two centuries, Martinique was one of the most strategically valuable colonies during France’s conflicts with England in the West Indies.

Saint-Pierre was the island’s economic center until its complete destruction by the eruption of Mount Pelée on May 8, 1902. Several academic and contract archaeological research programs have been conducted at Saint-Pierre, primarily by S. Veuve, over the two last decades. These projects have focused on the first church (l’église du Fort), the first cemetery (le cimetière du fort), the cathedral, the psychiatric hospital (la maison coloniale de santé), the theater, the combat engineer house (la maison du genie), and several small private house blocks. The results of this research have been synthesized in a monograph publication that analyzes Saint-Pierre’s architectural and urban history, including the results of underwater excavations in Saint-Pierre Bay (Veuve 1999). A diachronic study of the Martinique strategic military defense has been conducted by Laurence Verrand, combining archaeological surveys and archival research (Verrand 2004). Verrand divided the island’s military history into four periods, each associated with a distinctive strategic military defense site pattern.

In 1672, during the first period (1635-1700), King Louis XIV ordered the construction of Fort Saint Louis in Baie de Fort-Royal. Two defensive batteries were maintained at Fort-Royal to protect the island from raids launched by buccaneers and Martinique’s indigenous population. During the second period (1700-1750), Martinique’s population doubled. The growth in the number of colonists and enslaved Africans and a shift from a tobacco-based economy to self-sustaining sugar plantations brought an increase in revenue and wealth. Batteries could now be found along the island’s coastal rim where natural barriers of toxic foliage (such as Hippomane mancinella), cliffs, reefs, and swamps were also used as defense mechanisms. Lime kilns made during the first three periods have been examined using ethnoarchaeological, historical, and archaeological techniques. Researchers have determined that lime, a local natural resource, was used to construct garrisons and a purifier for the sugar distillation process (the so-called claying process for making white sugar).

During the third period (1750-1802), which included the Seven Years’ War, Martinique resisted capture by the English in 1759 but fell to them in 1762/1763. Britain returned Martinique to France in the Peace of Paris treaty that ended the Seven Years’ War. In 1784, the French con-

structed a naval base in Martinique in order to make the island the center of their Caribbean operations. Following the institution of laws recognizing equal rights for free blacks across the French colonies in 1791 and 1792, unrest ensued in Martinique, pitting republicans in favor of those laws against the monarchists. The British, who sided with the monarchists, captured Martinique, Guadeloupe, Tobago, and Saint Lucia in 1794 in response to this unrest. However, Martinique was returned to France in the Peace of Amiens in 1802, and slavery was maintained as an institution in Martinique. In response to these invasions and occupations and an increase in slave revolts, the first landlocked fort was built to defend against land attacks. Slavery was finally abolished in Martinique in 1848. The fourth and final period (18031848) marked a shift in French military strategy. In the years leading up to the abolishment of slavery, there was increased concern about inland slave revolts. To remedy the issue, military installations were built on high ground to moderate the onset of tropical illnesses among vulnerable European soldiers. These fortifications provided a quick visual survey of surrounding areas as protection against potential threats.

After Saint-Pierre town and fortifications system, another well-developed research focus of colonial archaeology in Martinique is plantation and slavery archaeology. It began in the 1980s with industrial archaeology research led by the Université des Antilles et de la Guyane. To date, around fifteen masters’ theses have been written about plantations in Martinique, using classic historical approaches and analyses of the standing buildings and ruins. The first real archaeological excavations were conducted in the 1990s on the Crève Coeur, Fond Saint Jacques, and Dizac sugar plantations. These excavations were associated with a temporal analysis of the variability and evolution of sugar production. During the later 1990s, S. Veuve conducted an important excavation program at the Saint-Pierre plantation of the Jesuits (Veuve et al. 1999). As a result of Veuve’s work, the great house was completely excavated; as was the nineteenthcentury village that housed slaves and, after emancipation, free workers.

Kenneth Kelly’s (2008) investigations complement plantation archaeology research in Martinique. To better understand French colonial slavery during the French Revolution, Kelly conducted research at plantation Crève Coeur, located in the southern region of Martinique. His excavations focused on the enslaved village site. His finds included low-fired earthenware ceramics that are commonly referred to as Afro-Caribbeanware. In addition, he identified and excavated house floors, wroughtiron nails, and midden deposits with faunal remains.

Although a large quantity of articles, books, and field reports have been published in French, there are few English publications about Martinique’s archaeological record. Since 1994, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication has published an annual review of archaeological work undertaken on Martinique entitled Bilan Scientifique de la Région Martinique. This governmental body identifies, records, and oversees archaeological sites on the island.

The Nanny Town Maroons of Jamaica

Cheryl White

Historical Background

Enslaved Africans were introduced to Jamaica when Spain established New Seville in 1509. By 1655, after more than a century of colonial instability, Jamaica was acquired by England and the gran marronage-the largescale flight of slaves from plantations-was at its height. This led to the establishment of settled communities of Maroons comprised of runaway enslaved Africans and their descendants. Two Maroon strongholds emerged: the Leeward Maroons of the Cockpit country and the Windward Maroons of the Blue Mountains region (Bilby 1996). A significant Maroon site is the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Windward Maroon settlement in the parish of Portland, historically known as Nanny Town.

Named after its founding heroine “Grandy Nanny,” it is strategically situated along a bend of the Stony River. The village was surrounded by Abrahams Ridge in the foothills of the Blue Mountains (Figure N.1). The extended Nanny Town settlement is located roughly 2,000 meters above sea level at the foothills of the peak of the Blue Mountains.

Jamaican folklore and Caribbean literature perpetuate the history and myth of “Queen” Nanny and her penchant for militarism, which set the stage for years of guerilla warfare between the British and Maroons. To end the conflict, the British conceded with a “Land Patent to Nanny” (1739/1740), which functioned as a peace treaty between the Maroons and the British. The terms of the treaty created the conditions for the Maroon cul-

Figure N.1. Nanny Town in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Reproduced by permission of E. Kofi Agorsah.

tural development that is now being explored through archaeological investigations at Nanny Town.

Archaeological Research

Reconnaissance and later surveys of Nanny Town began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The survey results helped build a predictive model for identifying historical sites in the area (Bonner 1974). In 1974, Anthony Bonner did exploratory excavation that confirmed that the settlement was a type of garrison. Kofi Agorsah launched a full-scale excavation in 1993. Research at Nanny Town sought to explain the functional adaptation of Maroons in relation to migration routes, settlement patterns, food procurement, resource acquisition, and locally manufactured objects. This research used archaeological survey methods (including excavation), artifact analyses, and radiocarbon dating. Ethnographic accounts from descendants have also helped researchers interpret archaeological finds. To date, Nanny Town is the most extensively excavated Maroon site.

According to Agorsah’s (2001) research, Nanny Town had three settlement phases (Figure N.2). Phase I is distinguished by a preponderance of locally made anthropomorphic earthenware sherds and stone and shell artifacts. This phase may represent Maroon acculturation
through brief interaction with remaining local Taíno groups who would also have escaped from colonial people. Many ceramic artifacts exhibit indigenous construction techniques and decoration. The end of Phase I is marked by the appearance of Spanish coins with 1668 dates.

During Phase II, or what is commonly referred to as the Maroon Phase, a period spanning the 1650s to the early 1730s (Agorsah 2001), the folkloric/historic figure of Nanny emerges as an embattled heroine, mystic, and herbal healer. Part of this legend has some basis in the archaeological record: Agorsah’s survey of botanical remains revealed the presence of non-native curative plants. Agorsah describes the “town” as a sedentary community of around 200 occupants who were subsistence farmers at several dispersed settlements. By the early 1700s, Nanny and her fellow Maroons had declared war on the British.

The Maroon Phase offers the cultural markers of Nanny Town’s formative development. This second period of Maroon material development was characterized by the acquisition of household items and combat equipment during a period of repetitive battles with British settlers. Artifacts representative of this phase include "local ceramics, grinding stones and a considerable quantity of charcoal, gun flints, fragments of gun bar-

Figure N.2. Archaeological map of Nanny Town. Reproduced by permission of E. Kofi Agorsah.

rels, musket balls, iron nails, a red clay and several kaolin smoking pipe bowls and stems, [and] green and clear glass bottle fragments" (Agorsah 2001, 5).

In Phase III, the time of Maroons’ direct and open military encounter with British forces, a shift occurred in material culture toward a pattern that more closely resembled European consumerism than native or African traditions. The artifacts of Phase III include stone fortifications with and without petroglyphs. One engraved stone records the date of Nanny Town’s conquest by British officers as December 17, 1734 (Agorsah 1994). Domestic items that include medicine bottles, imported ceramic bowls, plates, and cups and scissors are artifactual indicators of Phase III (Agorsah 2001, 5).

The idea of Nanny as a Maroon combatant figure is an intrinsic part of Jamaican historiography. She is viewed as a reflection of the strength of character for which Jamaicans are known. Although historians question the archival evidence that supports the notion that “Queen” Nanny possessed the militaristic abilities as claimed by traditional oral history, their skepticism has not hindered ongoing efforts to recognize Nanny as a real historical figure. Because currently available primary sources do not indicate the spatial dimensions of Nanny Town, historians have no choice but to turn to
archaeological evidence, as archaeology has unveiled material intricacies about Nanny Town that situate the village geographically. Archaeological research at Nanny Town has found evidence of three occupational phases that demonstrates Maroon use of Jamaica’s Taíno material culture, new cultural lifeways in the Blue Mountains, and the presence of European strongholds. Equally important, the archaeology of Nanny Town is essential to the management of Jamaican cultural heritage today.

The National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management Foundation (NAAM)

Ieteke Witteveen

Founded in 1998, the National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management Foundation (NAAM), formerly called the Netherlands Antilles Archaeological and Anthropological Institute (AAINA), disseminates knowledge about the tangible and intangible heritage of Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius/ Statia. Its goal is to reinforce the Caribbean cultural identities of peoples in these countries. While the foundation is headquartered in Curaçao (Figure N.3), its board members are from the five islands of the Dutch Caribbean.

The NAAM’s main tasks are as follows:
(1) Preserve, register, document, and digitize artifact collections, including those of the Archaic, African, and colonial periods
(2) Manage heritage
(3) Educate the public, especially youngsters
(4) Conduct archaeological and anthropological research
(5) Provide advice about heritage legislation

The NAAM is currently involved in developing teaching materials for primary schools. It also publishes bimonthly articles on cultural heritage in newspapers in the Leeward and Windward Islands. Its publications are in the three national languages, Papiamentu, English, and Dutch. The NAAM has also staged exhibits on the Heritage of Slavery (2006), Freetowns of the Caribbean (2008), and the Afro-Caribbean spiritual heritage in Altars of Curaçao (2009).

One of the NAAM’s primary tools for policy and legislative advisement is a digital map of cultural/ historic sites called Mapa Kultural Histórico di Kòrsou. The

The Nanny Town Maroons of Jamaica (original) (raw)

The Maroons

Introduction

Maroon Archaeological Sites

Theories and Methods Relating to Maroon Archaeology

Interactions between Maroons and Natives

Conclusion

Martinique

Further Reading

Precolonial Archaeology

The Colonial Period

Further Reading

The Nanny Town Maroons of Jamaica

Historical Background

Archaeological Research

Further Reading

The National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management Foundation (NAAM)