Marine Shell and Small-Island Slavery in the Caribbean.

Caribbean slavery on plantations perched on very small islands that could be only a few dozen acres in extent was likely very different from slavery on the major islands. This article considers the results from three years of excavation and survey on the 150 ac. island of Little Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands, focusing on a cotton-farming plantation occupied by both free and enslaved people from about 1720 to 1790. The questions of oversight and control, as well as access to resources—frequent topics in plantation archaeology that are somewhat different here—frame the discussion of the limits and advantages of small islands and the effects of these on daily life and the structure of communities. A particular focus is given to the data provided by the study of marine-shell ecofacts recovered in the excavations and what these data can reveal about foodways, economy, and movement around the landscape. The article concludes that those enslaved on such smaller islands often had certain opportunities for movement and economic improvement denied those on larger or landlocked sites, but also serves as a reminder that these opportunities could not counter the impacts of enslavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]