![]() ![]() A second Dutch vessel dating to c.1700 was documented after its discovery during dredging operations in the Benya Lagoon adjacent to Elmina. Survey and diver investigations led to the discovery of several sites, including a shipwreck dating to the mid 17th century, which is characterized by a mass of trade goods, cannon and buried hull remains. Founded in 1482, Elmina Castle was the first and largest European outpost in sub‐Saharan West Africa, and remained a centre of maritime trade for almost four centuries. As an overarching position, it is stated that the aim of this collection is to invite readers to think about the centuries of activity that took place in and around these buildings before, during and after the trans-Atlantic slave trade.Įn This article details recent maritime archaeological research off the town of Elmina in coastal Ghana. In providing the thematic, theoretical and empirical context for the ten essays, details are provided on each chapter and connections are drawn between them. Whilst it is made clear that the story of the trans-Atlantic slave trade must be told through reference to the forts and castles, it is argued that to assign buildings with the power of agency runs the risk of emotively shifting attention away from history’s real human perpetrators. The editors argue that there is a need for new academic and popular understanding of the fortresses to emphasise their changing uses and impact on society and space within West Africa. This introduction to the collection provides a broad context for the presence of European forts and castles on the coast of West Africa and surveys the scholarly works that have been produced with the objective of documenting and interpreting their history. The higher oxygen values from Elmina not only differentiate this group from North American Mid-Atlantic sites, but also make it possible to identify outliers at these sites as potential recent arrivals from West Africa. While carbon and nitrogen isotopes provide insight into foodways, oxygen isotope data, sourced from drinking water, provide better geographical information. Elevated nitrogen isotope values in Elmina individuals support the documented reliance of the local population on marine dietary resources at this coastal port. Similarity in carbon isotope values between Elmina and African Americans suggests commonalities in food availability or food preferences between these groups. Elmina oxygen isotope values are notably higher than those in all Mid-Atlantic North American sites in this study. Elmina nitrogen isotope values are higher than those of North Americans. These values serve as a proxy for West African groups in general which are statistically compared to Euro-Americans and African Americans.Įlmina carbon isotope values are relatively higher than those of North Americans, and African Americans show greater statistical similarity to West Africans. ![]() Values from the cosmopolitan port city of Elmina provide the first available reference data from Africa during this time period and region. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values were measured in skeletal remains. ![]() Stable isotope values for historic period human remains from Elmina, Ghana, are compared to isotope data from 18th- and 19th-century North American sites as a test case for examining African origins and identifying first generation Africans in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. ![]()
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