Archaeology and Slave Resistance and Rebellion

 Charles E. Orser, Jr. and Pedro P. A. Funari

 Abstract

The archaeology of New World slavery has exponentially expanded during the past two decades to become perhaps the most influential area within today’s historical archaeology. As part of this research endeavor, archaeologists have examined many kinds of sites and have made diverse and important contributions to the literature. Sites associated with fugitive slaves have been studied, but not as frequently. We argue that the archaeology of slave resistance and rebellion should be a key element of New World slave archaeology, and we promote the excavation of runaway polities, or maroons, as excellent arenas for such a study. We present an example from Palmares in Brazil to suggest some of the lines of inquiry that could be pursued in the archaeology of slave resistance and rebellion.