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Gold and Glass: Seeking West African Expressions of Industry and Creativity

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Excavating the Histories of Slave-Trade and Pirate Ships

Part of the book series: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology ((CGHA))

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Abstract

Amongst artifact assemblages of early eighteenth century slave ship and pirate ships are gold items like dust and jewelry, and bottle fragments that appear to feature worked edges. Traveler accounts describe in detail how African communities involved in the slave trade, mined gold from rivers and beaches. Some gold artifacts in shipwreck collections, identified as Akan in origins, were part of a historic culture where both men and women wore symbolic jewelry on their necks, heads, wrists, knees and elbows blending art and social philosophy. Glass fragments, while useful as both cutting and smoothing tools, were used to for traditional African hair styling and scarification denoting ethnicity or social status. This research draws upon material culture from shipwrecks like La Concorde/Queen Anne’s Revenge (1717), Henrietta Marie (1700) and Whydah (1717), primary source historical documents, terrestrial archaeological collections, and ethnographic evidence. It explores the larger context and economics of glass tools, gold mining, and manufacturing processes as expressions of industry and art within African cultures. The chapter also addresses challenging questions about secondary or alternative social contexts of these artifacts as objects of utility and payment where gold and enslaved Africans were used to compensate pirate crew members for shipboard service, loss of limb or injury.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Lynn B. Harris

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  1. Lynn B. Harris
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Correspondence to Lynn B. Harris .

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  1. Prog Maritime Studies, History Dept, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Lynn Brenda Harris

  2. School of Arts, Sciences, Humanities, Shaw University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Valerie Ann Johnson

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Harris, L.B. (2022). Gold and Glass: Seeking West African Expressions of Industry and Creativity. In: Harris, L.B., Johnson, V.A. (eds) Excavating the Histories of Slave-Trade and Pirate Ships. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96233-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96233-3_6

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-96233-3

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