African Diaspora Archaeology

This article presents some of the archaeological finds made at the Valongo Wharf in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans arrived at Valongo, in the first half of the nineteenth century, to be sold in Brazil’s largest slave market next to the wharf. We analyze artifacts that were intended to protect their bodies against all kinds of misfortunes. Combined with scarifications and tattoos, these objects produced a second skin, highly social in nature, as shown by the abundant iconography depicting Rio’s urban slaves during this period. We argue that such artifacts configured both resistance to domination and negotiation of less-disadvantageous positions in the slaves’ harsh daily lives. Through the materiality of these objects—lost, forgotten, discarded, or hidden—we can glimpse the beliefs and strategies of Valongo slaves to cope with oppression, as well as their despair and their hopes.

This forum builds on the discussion stimulated during an online salon in which the authors participated on June 25, 2020, entitled “Archaeology in the Time of Black Lives Matter,” and which was cosponsored by the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA), the North American Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG), and the Columbia Center for Archaeology. The online salon reflected on the social unrest that gripped the United States in the spring of 2020, gauged the history and conditions leading up to it, and considered its rippling throughout the disciplines of archaeology and heritage preservation. Within the forum, the authors go beyond reporting the generative conversation that took place in June by presenting a road map for an antiracist archaeology in which antiblackness is dismantled.

Abstract
The year 2019 marked the quadricentenary of two communities in the Ingenio Valley of Nasca, Peru, founded as vineyard haciendas by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). For a decade, the Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project (PAHN) has carried out archaeological and ethnohistorical research in collaboration and consultation with valley communities descended from the haciendas’ enslaved populations. PAHN was envisioned as a project aimed at engaging Peruvian publics at multiple scales. PAHN engages local descendant communities in an exploration of their history through historical archaeology, as well as a broader public—entering national conversations about the visibility of African descendants and their histories in Peru. Through our varied approaches to the archaeology of slavery and hacienda as cultural heritage through in-person engagement and our Web initiatives during the international pandemic of 2020, we consider the importance of maintaining engagement with multiple publics when normal activities are disrupted.

Resumen
El año 2019 marcó el cuadricentenario de dos comunidades en el Valle del Ingenio de Nasca, Perú, fundadas como haciendas de viñedos por la Compañía de Jesús (Jesuitas). Durante una década, el Proyecto Arqueológico Haciendas de Nasca (PAHN) ha realizado investigaciones arqueológicas y etnohistóricas en colaboración y consulta con las comunidades del valle descendientes de las poblaciones esclavizadas de las haciendas. El PAHN se concibió como un proyecto destinado a involucrar al público peruano en múltiples escalas. El PAHN involucra a las comunidades de descendientes locales en una exploración de su historia a través de la arqueología histórica, así como a un público más amplio, entrando en conversaciones nacionales sobre la visibilidad de los descendientes de africanos y sus historias en el Perú. A través de nuestros variados enfoques de la arqueología de la esclavitud y la hacienda como patrimonio cultural a través del compromiso presencial y nuestras iniciativas web durante la pandemia internacional de 2020, consideramos la importancia de mantener el compromiso con múltiples públicos cuando se interrumpen las actividades normales.

The discovery of two smoking pipes from Seventeenth-century contexts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is used to suggest the presence in colonial times of a new set of stylistic norms derived from African traditions that are expressed at a regional scale not only in smoking pipes, but in a variety of ítems of material culture. These terracotta pipes, recovered at Bolívar 373 and the Liniers House sites, are characterized by their paricular geometric decorative pattern, achieved by engravings and incisions. Similar specimens were found elsewhere in Buenos Aires, as well as in Cayastá (province of Santa Fe, Argentina) and Brazil.

RESUMEN En este artículo discutimos las formas en que los hábitos alimentarios se relacionaron con el proceso de construcción social de la diferencia en el interior de la comunidad esclavizada del Colegio de los Jesuitas de Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ). Para esto, analizamos los restos faunísticos provenientes de dos sectores de la referida barraca de esclavos ocupados durante el siglo XIX. Palabras Clave: Arqueología histórica, esclavitud, zooarqueología, alimentación en plantation, arqueología de la diáspora africana. RESUMO Neste artigo pretendemos discutir as formas como os hábitos alimentares relacionaram-se ao processo de construção social da diferença no interior da comunidade de senzala do Colégio dos Jesuítas de Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ). Para tanto, analisamos os restos faunísticos provenientes de dois setores da referida barraca de esclavos ocupados durante o século XIX. Palavras chave: Arqueologia histórica, escravidão, zooarqueologia, alimentação em plantation, arqueologia da diáspora africana ABSTRACT In this article we discuss the ways in which foodways can be related to the process of social construction of difference through the case study of the slave quarters of the Colégio dos Jesuitas, located in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro. To do so we analyze the faunal remains from two distinct sectors occupied by enslaved families in the nineteenth century.

This article approaches the cultural formation processes that acted upon the archaeological record in the area of a slave quarter from the Colégio dos Jesuítas, a sugar plantation located in Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ). This space has been recently impacted by plowing for agricultural purposes. In this study, we evaluate the differential impact of plow over three material categories – bones, pottery and ceramics (refined earthenware and majólica). This evaluation considered three occupational levels and two distinct contexts, the first one characterized by primary discard and the second by secondary discard. In the first case, the material suffered a considerable
impact still during the formation of the archaeological record, as the result of the constant use of the space for daily activities. The second context, in turn, consisted in a concavity used for refuse disposal. In this case the material presented a higher integrity level in the deeper levels, whereas in the upper levels the fragmentation patterns corresponded to those ones verified on the former context. The differences in the
integrity patterns indicate that the archaeological record was differentially impacted by cultural formation processes.