Archaeology under the Volcano: Six Thousand Years of Human History on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat
October 22 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
AIA Society: Lubbock
Lecturer: Krysta Ryzewski
Montserrat is a small Caribbean island whose landscape has been dramatically changed over the past 30 years by the devastating eruptions of the Soufrière Hills volcano. The Survey and Landscape Archaeology on Montserrat (SLAM) project launched in 2010 with the intent of completing the first comprehensive survey of archaeological sites across the still-accessible areas of the island. A decade’s worth of pedestrian survey, remote sensing, and excavations located 60 sites and hundreds of smaller features, all of which are at risk of damage from the direct and indirect effects of the volcanic crisis. Intensive excavations and analyses of materials from five sites located by the SLAM project generated new insights into the 6000-year human history of the island, spanning from earliest foragers to inhabit the island to the first institutions in the 19th century established by formerly enslaved laborers post-emancipation. This presentation details the archaeological history of the resilient communities who inhabited Montserrat over time and the methods archaeologists used to reassemble their stories.
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