Date of Award
12-1-2012
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Corruccini, Robert
Abstract
This study examined the amount of European genetic admixture in the enslaved African population from Newton Plantation, Barbados. Newton Plantation was a British sugar plantation from the 17th to 19th centuries. Approximately 150 individuals were recovered from an unmarked slave cemetery during archaeological investigations in the 1970s and 1990s. Using maximum mesiodistal and buccolingual tooth measurements of the available teeth from the individuals in the cemetery, Newton was compared to nineteen comparative samples of African, European, African American and European American populations that date from the time of British colonization to the 20th century. Previous European admixture estimations in the Newton Plantation cemetery sample were 5-10% (Corruccini et al., 1982; Ritter, 1991); this study found similar rates of admixture in the population (5.38-10.25%). Because of social practices in the Caribbean during the time of slavery, European admixture could have resulted in preferential treatment of slaves with such genetic background.
Access
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