Abstract
An adult male buried in the late 1600s or early 1700s and excavated from a plantation slave cemetery in Barbados had the cemetery's richest assortment of grave goods: an iron knife, several types of metal jewelry, an earthenware pipe, and a necklace of money cowries, fish vertebrae, dog canine teeth, European glass beads, and a large carnelian bead probably from India. Most of these artifacts are unique to New World African descendant sites. The individual was probably an African-type diviner/healer whose high status in the slave community is reflected in his relatively elaborate artifact inventory.
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Handler, J.S. An African-Type Healer/Diviner and His Grave Goods: A Burial from a Plantation Slave Cemetery in Barbados, West Indies. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 1, 91–130 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027355822317
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027355822317