Excavation of an 18th-century midden in the community of La Concepción in the Chota Valley of the Northern Andes of Ecuador recovered refuse from the enslaved African-descended community that worked the Jesuit hacienda estate in this location. Analysis of the faunal remains from the midden and comparison with other zooarchaeological samples from New World plantations demonstrate a heavy reliance on beef during the 18th century at La Concepción. This is consistent with historical records of Andean Jesuit estates and the participation of Black forced laborers in the ranching of cattle and the creation of Black Atlantic ecologies. Enslaved laborers supplemented beef with both small game taken by hunting and small domestic livestock. Analysis of this faunal sample contributes to an understanding of the foodways of African descendants in the Andes and to an understanding of the environmental and socioeconomic conditions on Andean Jesuit haciendas during the Spanish colonial period. African-descendant people had an important role in the emergence of the Andean plantation environment.
The Irish immigrant experience in 19th-century North America is often framed in terms of processes of oppression and racialization. However, archaeological and documentary evidence from the industrial city of Lowell, Massachusetts, complicates this narrative, because Lowell’s Irish population transcended the initial trauma of immigration and the challenge of anti-Irish prejudice by leveraging the powers of the Catholic Church and of community-building mechanisms, such as residential clustering and voluntary associations, to become a major political force in the city. Consideration of domestic architecture and analysis of ceramic assemblages from excavations near St. Patrick’s Church, in the Irish enclave known as the “Acre,” in 2010–2012 provide insight into the material choices Lowell’s Irish community made—choices that suggest the Lowell experience differed from that of other urban American centers of the Irish diaspora.
More than 100 graves at East End and Evergreen cemeteries, adjacent historical Black burial grounds in Richmond, Virginia, are marked by unusually thin headstones with physical features indicating prior use as the top surfaces of wooden furnishings. Using biographical sources for the deceased (with known death years ranging from 1899 to 1958) and the family members who likely provided the headstones, as well as records of a local stone-carving company, selected examples from cemeteries elsewhere in the American Southeast, and archaeological theories of reuse, this study explores possible economic, social, and symbolic motivations for repurposed furniture-top grave markers. While resourcefulness and thrift probably played some role, much of the evidence collected here challenges the assumption that furniture-top gravestones were merely quick or affordable solutions. Provided by women more often than by men, these markers carried a symbolic connection to household and family that made them particularly apt for reuse at African American cemeteries, where gravesites often held offerings of personal property and household objects.
This study investigates the intriguing phenomenon of the overlooked status of Gamla Älvsborg, a fortification situated on Sweden’s west coast. Although the fortress figured significantly in Swedish history, it has mostly faded from collective memory. This analysis explores the numerous factors contributing to the neglect of the fortification, encompassing the reconfiguration of historical accounts, changing social values and cultural perspectives, and insufficient promotion and understanding, as well as economic and technical limitations. The comprehension of the fall of Älvsborg provides insights into wider matters about the protection of heritage and the relationship among history, society, and cultural heritage. It is likewise the ambition of this article to share the story of Älvsborg with the international community. The act of reassessing the historical importance of the site has the potential to provide a revitalized sense of acknowledgment and endorsement for its preservation.
