The main aim of this project is to understand how European colonial activity
influenced environmental and cultural transformations in this region of the Indian
Ocean (Seetah 2010) by targeting specific locations (Figure 2), incorporating slave,
indentured and imperial sites, as well as sites with high eco-archaeological potential.
Establishing base-line soil conditions formed the focus of the first season and
centred on a site in the north of the island at Mon Choisy (overall size 800m!). It
forms part of a former plantation and offers a valuable opportunity to record the
transition from virgin soil to agriculture. Core data showed clear indications of
enrichment, with 14C dating providing a timeframe for the agricultural intensification
of sugar agriculture that coincided with the arrival of the British. Subsequent
research has centred on broadening the geographical and thematic scope of the
project to delve deeper into the human and ecological implications of satisfying
Europe's appetite for sugar

Appleby, J.

Balbo, A.

Calaon, D.

Durand, C.

Farr, H.

Lightfoot, E.

Morales, J.

Moreno Escobar, M.

Pluskowski, A.

Seetah, K.

Čaval, S.

Antiquity

Seetah, Krish

Balbo, Andrea

Calaon, Diego

Caval, Sasa

Farr, Helen

Pluskowski, Aleksander

Appleby, Joanna

Durand, Carine

Lightfoot, Emma

Morales, Jacob

Moreno Escobar, Maria

Digital.CSIC

The Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project: exploring the impact of colonialism and colonisation in the Indian Ocean

Modern Mauritius was born in the early eighteenth century when a group of Frenchcolonists named it Île-de-France. The island has seen waves of colonial interventionboth previously and subsequently, resulting in a contemporary population that isdiverse and a past that is highly turbulent and infinitely interesting.The archaeological potential that Mauritius offers, as a colonial enclave with Dutch,French and British influence, and as a multicultural melting pot derived from forced(Allen 1999; Vaughan 2005) and 'free' labour (Teelock 2009), has barely beenexplored (Figure 1). Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Aapravasi Ghat and LeMorne Cultural Landscape) commemorate the transition from and resistance toslavery. Mauritius was the seat of Britain's 'Great Experiment' to replace slaves withindentured labour following abolition. This experiment in human exploitation provedhighly successful and caused the largest diaspora to take place in the Indian Ocean.The volcanic island presents an exceptional opportunity to establish baseline datadetailing specific environmental and landscape transitions as they relate to humanagency. In addition, despite the fact that Mauritius is noted for having no indigenouspopulation, this should not rule out the possibility that humans interacted with theisland prior to the later medieval period. Its strategic position in the Indian Oceanshould stimulate interest at least in the potential for early exploration and visitation, if not outright colonisation. Since May 2008, in collaboration with local partners, theMauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project presented here has studiedaspects of the island's past through the systematic archaeological investigation of aseries of sites on Mauritius.<br/

Southampton (e-Prints Soton)

The Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project: exploring the impact of colonialism and colonisation in the Indian Ocean.

K. Seetah

A. Balbo

D. Calaon

S. Čaval

H. Farr

A. Pluskowski

J. Appleby

C. Durand

E. Lightfoot

J. Morales

M. Moreno Escobar

Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università degli Studi di Venezia Ca' Foscari

10/25/11 9:20 PMAntiquity: Project GalleryPage 1 of 3http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/seetah330/Terms & ConditionsSearch:  GoAdvanced SearchHOME JOURNAL ARCHIVE BULLETIN CONTRIBUTE SUBSCRIBE CONTACT US<< Previous Page Explore the Project Gallery Antiquity Volume 085 Issue 330 December 2011Figure 1. Imperial (yellow), slave (red) and indentured (green) arrivals inMauritius from the later medieval to the early modern period. Routes areindicative only; the situation was more complex as slaves were also broughtfrom Asia before abolition, and indentured workers were brought from Africaafter emancipation.Click to enlarge.Figure 2. Map of locations studied between 2008 and 2011. Click to enlarge.The Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project: exploring the impactof colonialism and colonisation in the Indian OceanKrish Seetah, Andrea Balbo, Diego Calaon, Sa!a "aval, Helen Farr, Aleksander Pluskowski, JoannaAppleby, Carine Durand, Emma Lightfoot, Jacob Morales, & Maria Moreno EscobarIntroductionModern Mauritius was born in the early eighteenth century when a group of Frenchcolonists named it Île-de-France. The island has seen waves of colonial interventionboth previously and subsequently, resulting in a contemporary population that isdiverse and a past that is highly turbulent and infinitely interesting.The archaeological potential that Mauritius offers, as a colonial enclave with Dutch,French and British influence, and as a multicultural melting pot derived from forced(Allen 1999; Vaughan 2005) and 'free' labour (Teelock 2009), has barely beenexplored (Figure 1). Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Aapravasi Ghat and LeMorne Cultural Landscape) commemorate the transition from and resistance toslavery. Mauritius was the seat of Britain's 'Great Experiment' to replace slaves withindentured labour following abolition. This experiment in human exploitation provedhighly successful and caused the largest diaspora to take place in the Indian Ocean.The volcanic island presents an exceptional opportunity to establish baseline datadetailing specific environmental and landscape transitions as they relate to humanagency. In addition, despite the fact that Mauritius is noted for having no indigenouspopulation, this should not rule out the possibility that humans interacted with theisland prior to the later medieval period. Its strategic position in the Indian Oceanshould stimulate interest at least in the potential for early exploration and visitation, ifnot outright colonisation. Since May 2008, in collaboration with local partners, theMauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project presented here has studiedaspects of the island's past through the systematic archaeological investigation of aseries of sites on Mauritius.ObjectivesThe main aim of this project is to understand how European colonial activityinfluenced environmental and cultural transformations in this region of the IndianOcean (Seetah 2010) by targeting specific locations (Figure 2), incorporating slave,indentured and imperial sites, as well as sites with high eco-archaeological potential.Establishing base-line soil conditions formed the focus of the first season andcentred on a site in the north of the island at Mon Choisy (overall size 800m!). Itforms part of a former plantation and offers a valuable opportunity to record thetransition from virgin soil to agriculture. Core data showed clear indications ofenrichment, with 14C dating providing a timeframe for the agricultural intensificationof sugar agriculture that coincided with the arrival of the British. Subsequentresearch has centred on broadening the geographical and thematic scope of theproject to delve deeper into the human and ecological implications of satisfyingEurope's appetite for sugar.10/25/11 9:20 PMAntiquity: Project GalleryPage 2 of 3http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/seetah330/Figure 3. Photogrammetric representation of the building fabric from thequarantine hospital on Flat Island.Click to enlarge.Figure 4. Trianon Barracks. Top: the sequence of barracks. Bottom: detail ofa barrack used to house single families.Click to enlarge.Figure 5. Views from excavations at Le Morne 'Old' Cemetery. Top: thecleared cemetery. Bottom left: child skeleton with coffin outline. Bottom right:double adult inhumation.Click to enlarge.Figure 6. Views of Bois Marchand. Top: the cemetery with Chinese andChristian memorials (Muslim and Hindu sections not shown). Bottom left: sixopen graves from which eight individuals were recovered. Bottom right: adultskeleton.Click to enlarge.Sugar, slavery, indenture and ecologyProbing the many facets of colonisation and colonialism in Mauritius requires anarchaeological approach that is scientific, integrative and multidisciplinary, with, at itscore, a conceptual appreciation of the nature of islands, which demands a carefulappraisal of both maritime and terrestrial viewpoints. Aside from the nautical,strategic and economic significance of Mauritius during the post-medieval period,maritime research also offers insight into the relationship that local people had withthe ocean. Following abolition, freed slaves concentrated in coastal regions, derivinga living from fishing. The extent of European influence is evident even in this sphere: a survey of boat construction methods undertaken in 2010 found little evidenceof 'traditional' boat building (as might have been retained in social memory), the typical pirogue of the island being a melding of French technology and locallyavailable raw materials. Further aspects of material culture, particularly architecture, are being investigated through comparisons between French (i.e. Flat Island,Figure 3) and British administrative buildings. These studies have revealed key details relating to the fabric of the structures, modes of construction as well as themaritime implications of island defence. Perhaps most rewarding is the reading of slave and labourer lifeways through the study of food culture and osteology(Appleby et al. submitted). Investigations of the island's two World Heritage Sites, as well as an indentured labourer barrack (Figure 4) have provided the most noveloutcomes, with recent work uncovering the first post-emancipation cemetery on Mauritius at Le Morne (Figure 5). Excavations of the Bois Marchand cemetery (Figure6) will add to these osteological investigations. At one time the largest cemetery in the Indian Ocean, it served as the final resting place for the huge numbers ofpeople who died following the cyclical malaria epidemics that plagued the island in the mid-nineteenth century.Through careful integration of historical and archaeological datasets, this project hasestablished a firm basis for understanding the island's rich past. Future work willinclude a programme of coring of inland (including a dormant volcano, Figure 7) andcoastal sites as well as an ambitious plan to scan the island by LiDAR. Theseinterventions will enable us to study how land use and biogeography changed fromthe post-medieval to the early modern period. They will also allow us to evaluatesocial transformations, for example through religion, which has served to segregateas well as unite different groups and is a critical marker of identity. On an islandwhere everyone is a coloniser, ecology and archaeology, when combined withhistory, can provide a fine-grained narrative of the past.AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank the University of Central Lancashire, the British Academy, the British Council, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the McDonald10/25/11 9:20 PMAntiquity: Project GalleryPage 3 of 3http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/seetah330/Figure 7. Trou Aux Cerf volcano showing water-filled crater basin.Click to enlarge.Institute for Archaeological Research, the Truth and Justice Commission, theAapravasi Ghat Trust Fund, the Le Morne Heritage Trust Fund, SOS Patrimoine, theUS State Office in Mauritius, the University of Mauritius and the Australian NationalUniversity for providing financial support. We would also like to thank Rose Ferraby,Branko Mu"i#, Matja$ Mori and Igor Medari% for their geophysical expertise andVijaya Teelock, Anwar Janoo, Richard Allen, Atholl Anderson and Keith Dobney fortheir academic and intellectual support.ReferencesAPPLEBY, A., K. SEETAH, D. CALAON, S. &AVAL, A. PLUSKOWSKI, J.-F.LAFLEUR, A. JANOO & V. TEELOCK. Submitted. The juvenile cohort fromLe Morne cemetery, Mauritius: a snapshot of early life and death afterabolition. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.ALLEN, R. 1999. Slaves, freedmen, and indentured laborers in colonialMauritius. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.SEETAH, K. 2010. 'Our struggle'. Mauritius: an exploration of coloniallegacies on an island paradise. Shima, the International Journal for IslandCultures 4: 99–112.TEELOCK, V. 2009. Mauritian history. Moka: Mahatma Gandhi Institute.VAUGHAN, M. 2005. Creating the Creole island. Durham (NC): DukeUniversity Press.Authors*Author for correspondenceKrish Seetah*Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of Central Lancashire,University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK (Email: kseetah@uclan.ac.uk)Andrea BalboIMF-CISC, Egipciaques 15, Barcelona, SpainDiego CalaonUniversità Ca' Foscari, Dorsoduro 3246–30123, Venezia, ItalySa!a "avalInstitute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, Ljubljana, SloveniaHelen FarrDepartment of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Avenue campus, Highfield, Southampton SO 17 1 BF, UKAleksander PluskowskiDepartment of Archaeology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Box 226, Reading RG 6 6AB, UKJoanna ApplebyMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, university of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UKCarine DurandKultura: Ideas y Estrategias para el Patrimonio, c/ Rossend Nobas 33 baixos, Barcelona, SpainEmma LightfootMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UKJacob MoralesDepartamento de Ciencias Históricas, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pérez del Toro 1, Las Palmas, SpainMaria Moreno EscobarGeografia, Historia y Filosofia, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. Utrera km 1, Seville, SpainBack to TopEmail WebmasterWebsite by  Heritage TechnologyCopyright © 2009 Antiquity | ISSN 0003 598XHome  |  Journal  |  Archive  |  Bulletin  |  Contribute  |  Subscribe  |  Contact Us

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The Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Project: exploring the impact of colonialism and colonisation in the Indian Ocean

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