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Childhood in Captivity: Bioarchaeological Evidence from a Late Colonial Sugar Plantation in Central Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

Claire Maass Open the ORCID record for Claire Maass [Opens in a new window]
Claire Maass*
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI, USA
*
(claire.maass@sna-intl.com, corresponding author)
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Abstract

Children and childhood have emerged as important topics for understanding the history of African slavery in the Americas. In historical archaeology, analyses of subadult skeletal remains have provided valuable information about the biological and social conditions of captivity, yet children are infrequently the primary subjects of study in African diaspora bioarchaeology. Recent bioarchaeological research at Hacienda La Quebrada, a late colonial sugar plantation in central Peru, brings new data to bear on these subjects. Excavations at the cemetery for the plantation's enslaved African and Afro-descendant population recovered 158 subadults ranging from newborns to 20 years old, who represented 64% of the burial sample. Paleodemographic data and skeletal indicators of stress indicate that enslaved children were disproportionately affected by the conditions of life at Hacienda La Quebrada, particularly because of insufficient diets and susceptibility to infection and disease. Although these results are specific to the context of plantation slavery in Peru's coastal sugar economy, they contribute new information about the history of African slavery in Peru and about the study of childhood in conditions of captivity and colonialism in the Spanish Americas more broadly.

La infancia y la niñez han surgido como temáticas importantes para comprender la historia de la esclavitud Africana en las américas. En la arqueología histórica, los análisis de restos óseos humanos han proporcionado información valiosa sobre las condiciones biológicas y sociales de la esclavitud. Sin embargo, a pesar de estas contribuciones, existe poca investigación osteológica focalizada en los niños como sujetos principales en el estudio de la esclavitud y la diáspora Africana. Investigaciones recientes en la Hacienda La Quebrada, una finca azucarera de la época colonial tardía en el centro de Perú, aportan nuevos datos sobre estas problemáticas. Las excavaciones arqueológicas realizadas en el cementerio de Africanos y afrodescendientes esclavizados asociados a la hacienda tuvieron como resultado la recuperación de 158 individuos subadultos, incluyendo desde recién nacidos hasta adolescentes de 20 años, los que representan el 64 por ciento de la muestra total. Los datos paleodemográficos y las evidencias de estrés indican que los niños esclavizados fueron desproporcionadamente impactados por las condiciones de esclavitud en la Hacienda La Quebrada, particularmente como efecto de dietas insuficientes y susceptibilidad a infecciones y enfermedades. Aunque estos resultados son específicos al contexto de la esclavitud en fincas azucareras en la costa central del Perú, aportan nueva información sobre la historia de la esclavitud Africana en el Perú y el estudio de la infancia en condiciones de cautiverio y colonialismo en la América Española en general.

Keywords

historical archaeologybioarchaeologychildren and childhoodAfrican slaveryPeruarqueología históricaosteología humanala infancia y la niñezla esclavitud AfricanaPerú
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2023 , pp. 194 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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