Artifacts of Exchange: A Multiscalar Approach to Maritime Archaeology at Elmina, Ghana

354 Pages·2015·9.76 MB·English

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Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public
Anthropology - Dissertations
Affairs
2011
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Andrew T. Pietruszka
Syracuse University
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Pietruszka, Andrew T., "Artifacts of Exchange: A Multiscalar Approach to Maritime Archaeology at Elmina,
Ghana" (2011). Anthropology - Dissertations. 87.
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ABSTRACT
This dissertation focuses on the excavation and interpretation of two European
ships discovered at Elmina Ghana, the coastal site of the first and largest European fort in
sub-Saharan Africa. Discovered in 2003, the first vessel, located 1.5 miles offshore of
the castle, is largely comprised of remnants of cargo exposed on the seafloor. European
trade wares recovered from the site suggest a mid-seventeenth century vessel, most likely
of Dutch origin. AMS radiocarbon dates obtained from several fragments of wood
recovered in cores taken at the site support this assumption. The second vessel was
discovered by accident during the 2007 dredging of the Benya River, a small lagoonal
system that empties into the sea at Elmina. Largely destroyed during the operation,
identifiable remains included fifteen timbers and three cannon. Dendrochronology and
ship construction techniques indicate the remains to be those of an early eighteenth
century Dutch vessel. The two ships thus represent different time periods, historical
settings, and archaeological contexts. Yet, the value of both to the reconstruction of the
West African past lies with both their local and global contexts. On one hand, they
represent unique insight into the construction of the European ships that traded on the
coast and their cargoes. On the other, data on their cargoes and associated artifacts
provide information on trade and exchange in a world area that has received little
attention from underwater archaeologists.
Often times the work of underwater archeologists has been criticized for
producing particularistic interpretations lacking wider context and theoretical synthesis.
Shipwrecks were investigated for their intrinsic value, an emphasis was given to
spectacular objects, and the literature resulting from these excavations was primarily
descriptive in nature. In my dissertation I argue that such deficiencies can be countered
by incorporating a theoretical framework which engages both the nomothetic and
particularistic. To a large extent, the questions that confront studies of shipwrecks are
problems of scale: how do we move from the minutia of cargoes and the specificity of an
event to wider social processes? Methodologically, how do we decide what data are to be
collected and evaluated? Conceptually, what is it that we seek to understand from our
studies? Grappling with these questions I draw upon the methodological and conceptual
insights afforded by microhistory, the Annales school, and Braudel’s three scales of
history. I propose a dialectical interpretation of shipwrecks attentive to the intersection of
local patterns and global forces in the shaping of history. Utilizing macro-scale historical
generalizations (i.e. trade patterns, cargoes, ship, and artifact characteristics)
archaeologists can interpret, and identify the micro-scale event (nationality, date, vessel
name, wrecking event). Once done, the particulars of the site in turn afford means of
understanding large-scale social processes.
ARTIFACTS OF EXCHANGE: A MULTISCALAR APPROACH TO MARITIME
ARCHAEOLOGY AT ELMINA, GHANA

By

Andrew T. Pietruszka
B.A. University of Central Florida
M.A. East Carolina University

DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
in the Graduate School of Syracuse University

May 2011
Copyright 2011 Andrew T. Pietruszka
All rights Reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables x
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgements xiv
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
1.1 Scale and its Epistemological Affects 4
1.2 Scale in the Central Region 7
1.3 Organization of the Dissertation 14
Chapter 2. The Particulars of the Event and Cultural Processes: A Multiscalar
Approach to Shipwreck Archaeology 17

2.1 Shipwreck Archaeology: A Theoretical Discipline or Atheoretical
Discipline? 18

2.2 Contextualizing Social Change Through Scale 30
2.3 European Shipwrecks and the Indigene 37
2.4 Conclusion 42
Chapter 3. European Maritime Trade on the Gold Coast (1471-1873): A
Historical Context 44

3.1 Europeans in West Africa: Venturing Southward,
Centra to Elmina 45

3.2 Challenges to the Portuguese Monopoly 48
3.3 Dutch Primacy: The Capture of Elmina and the Rise of the
Slave Trade 53

3.4 Challenges to Dutch Supremacy 55
3.5 “And Then There Was Three,” 1700-1800 59
3.6 Abolition and the Nineteenth Century 63
3.6.1 Americans on the Coast 65
3.6.2 British Abolition and the Rise of the Legitimate Trade 68
vi
3.6.3 Destruction of Elmina 74
3.7 Conclusion 75
Chapter 4. Multiscalar Archaeology and Site Interpretation: The case of the
Elmina Wreck Site 81

4.1 Discovery 82
4.2 The 2007 Project 86
4.2.1 Surface Collection 87
4.2.2 Excavation 88
4.3 Analysis and Interpretation 92
4.3.1 Cannon 95
4.3.2 Pewterware 97
4.3.3 Manillas 100
4.3.4 Brassware 105
4.3.5 Cowries 113
4.3.6 Beads 115
4.3.7 Lead Rolls 117
4.3.8 Historical Context of the Definitive Remains 118
4.4 Artifacts of Equivocation 127
4.4.1 Ceramics 127
4.4.2 Glass 139
4.4.3 Brick 149
4.4.4 Pewter Bottle Tops 153
4.4.5 Lead Seals 154
4.4.6 Pins 157
4.4.7 Wood 160
vii
4.4.8 Fish Hook 162
4.4.9 Tobacco Pipes 164
4.5 The Cargo as a Whole 165
4.6 Conclusion 167
Chapter 5. Multiscalar Archaeology and Site Interpretation: The Case of the
Benya Lagoon Site 171

5.1 Discovery 173
5.1.1 Planking 176
5.1.2 Deadwood 176
5.1.3 Beams 176
5.1.4 Knees 176
5.1.5 Frames 177
5.2 Dendrochronology 191
5.3 Provenience and the Timber Trade 193
5.3.1 English 194
5.3.2 French 197
5.3.3 Dutch 200
5.4 Construction 207
5.4.1 Peculiarities of Late Seventeenth, Early Eighteenth Century
Dutch Ship Construction 207

5.4.2 Timber Shape 211
5.4.3 Fastening Pattern 212
5.4.4 Variability of the Sided Dimension 215
5.4.5 Estimating the Vessel’s Size 216
5.5 Cannon 220
5.6 Conclusion 227
viii
Chapter 6. From Micro to Macro: Shifting the Vantage 180 Degrees 232
6.1 Shipwreck Sites and the Historical Record: A Case for
West Africa 236

6.2 Shipwreck Sites and the Archaeological Record: A Case for
West Africa 241

6.3 Large-Scale Cultural Processes and the Event 244
6.3.1 Copper-Alloy Consumable, Use or Reuse? 245
6.3.2 African Agency in Consumption 251
6.3.3 The Structure of Trade 259
6.3.4 Space and Place of the Benya Lagoon 266
Epilogue 276
Appendix A 283
Appendix B 284
Appendix C 286
References Cited 287
Curriculum Vitae 332

ix