Growth faltering in a skeletal sample of enslaved nonadult Africans found at Lagos, Portugal (15th–17th centuries)

There is still much to be learned about enslavement in Curaçao, where little archaeological investigation into the historical era has been carried out. This article contributes to our knowledge on this subject through the analysis of a female individual buried in Pietermaai, an 18th century suburb of Willemstad. Excavated in the 1980s by the Archaeological-Anthropological Institute of the Netherlands Antilles, the remains are only now attracting osteological attention. Isotopic analysis has shown that this individual spent her childhood in West Africa, supporting morphological and metric analyses identifying her African ancestry. At the time of death, she had an adult chronological age (over 18 years), but her physical development indicated a non-adult biological age (possibly between 12 and 15 years). Such delayed development can occur due to many factors, including hard labour and disease. In the case of this individual, evidence such as enamel hypoplasia, osteochondritis dissecans, and periostitis may indicate stressful episodes throughout the life course. Clearly defined entheses and entheseal changes at muscle attachment sites on the arms and legs may indicate a physically demanding occupation. A variety of factors could therefore have contributed to her developmental delay. In the future, further analysis of buried populations in Curaçao will help to increase our understanding of the lifeways of enslaved people here. Meanwhile, the analysis of this isolated individual is important because it situates enslavement in a real body and indicates the value of reanalysis of human remains from existing archaeological collections in the Caribbean.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Delayed physical development in a first generation enslaved African woman from Pietermaai, Curaçao

Fricke

Laffoon

Victorina³

et al. 2019

“…In the Lagos case, the place where the individuals spent their childhood is uncertain, as well the conditions under which they grew. As above mentioned, what is known is that these enslaved individuals were probably captured in multiple locations from sub-Saharan Africa, bought and shipped by the Portuguese, and brought in different ages to the harbour of Lagos (Wasterlain et al, 2016(Wasterlain et al, , 2018Coelho et al, 2017;Rufino, Ferreira, & Wasterlain, 2017). In fact, when the Portuguese arrived to Africa, a relatively large and complex network of slave trade was already established (Caldeira, 2013(Caldeira, , 2017Marques, 2017;N'Diaye, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enamel hypoplasia in African enslaved individuals from Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th–17th centuries)

Wasterlain

Rufino

Carvalho

et al. 2020

Self Cite

Dental enamel hypoplasia, a defect of enamel formation, has been widely used for the investigation of growth disruptions in past populations, as it provides a permanent record of disturbances occurring during an individual's development. With the aim of recording changes in health status during development of the African enslaved individuals recovered from Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th-17th centuries), linear enamel hypoplastic defects were investigated in a sample of 78 individuals aged 12-40+ years old. Of the 744 anterior teeth present, 13.0% were not observable due to dental calculus, tooth wear or intentional modifications. In all, 647 teeth were macroscopically observed for the presence of dental enamel defects. The position of each defect on the crown was scored by measuring its distance to the cemento-enamel junction on the labial surface of the crown, being the age of occurrence of the physiological stress thereafter calculated. Of the 78 individuals, 89.7% had at least one defect. Of the 647 teeth, 63.5% presented at least one defect. The age of occurrence of the physiological stress ranged between 1.5 and 5.2 years of age, and the mean peak age was between 3.3 and 3.7 years. A previous study has found that the non-adult individuals of this skeletal assemblage died more frequently between 7 and 9 years. Although these two age ranges may represent distinct sets of adverse factors, such as weaning and workload, respectively, they reinforce the idea that the Lagos's individuals experienced harsh living conditions during childhood.

“…Ancestry estimation was performed based on morphometric (Coelho et al, ; Navega et al, ) and genetic (Martiniano et al, ) analyses. Age at death of non‐adults was achieved on the basis of dental development (i.e., dental calcification and sequence of formation and eruption of teeth) and skeletal development (i.e., long bones' lengths; Wasterlain et al, ). Adults' age at death was estimated based on the pulp/tooth ratio (Rodrigues, ) and on the postcranial skeleton (i.e., fusion of the clavicle and iliac crest and morphologic changes in the pubic symphysis, auricular surface of the iliac bone; Ferreira, Coelho, Coelho, Navega, & Wasterlain, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, 25 individuals (560 ± 30 BP, Cal AD 1310-1360, Cal BP 640-590, andCal AD 1385-1425, Cal BP 565-525, Beta-438015) and 114 individuals (370 ± 30 BP, Cal AD 1445-1530, Cal BP 505-420, and Cal AD 1545-1635, Cal BP 405-3015, Beta-434529) were also dated. Although there is considerable discussion on how slavery can be identified in the archaeological record and how difficult, if not impossible, this task can be (Handler and Lange, 2006;Okumura, 2011), in the case of Valle da Gafaria, archaeological evidences and historical records strongly suggest that the individuals were enslaved, as discussed in detail in previous studies (Cardoso, Spake, Wasterlain, & Ferreira, 2019;Wasterlain, Costa, & Ferreira, 2018;Wasterlain et al, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Discarded in the trash: Burials of African enslaved individuals in Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th–17th centuries)

Ferreira

Coelho

Wasterlain

2019

Self Cite

In 2009, an excavation carried out in Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal, allowed for the recovery of the skeletal remains of 158 individuals buried in a dump used during the 15th–17th centuries. The archaeological context of the findings, the presence of African items associated with the skeletons, the skulls' morphology, and the presence of intentionally modified teeth suggest that these individuals were African enslaved individuals. The aim of this work is to analyse how these men, women, and children were inhumed according to their sex and age (adults vs. non‐adults). Adults were mostly buried in supine position (54.3%). However, more women (27.3%) than men (9.5%) were inhumed in prone position. In non‐adults, the most common positions were the supine (36.2%) and the lateralis (38.8%). The foetal position was more commonly found in non‐adults (25.0%) than adults (4.3%, only women). Both adults (79.4%) and non‐adults (80.0%) were mostly buried with an orientation other than the typical Christian canonical practice at the time (head to west and feet to east). More non‐adult individuals (66.7%) appear to have been buried with care than adults (38.8%). Regarding both the orientation and the burial care, no differences were found between the sexes. Pieces of evidence of having been tied were found in four females, one male, and one non‐adult individual. All these results support the hypothesis that these individuals were discarded, bringing light to the way these African enslaved individuals were treated even at their death.