An Archaeology of Black Markets

“An excellent example of applying petrographic and chemical analysis to coarse earthenwares of the African Diaspora in order to examine the social networks created by enslaved laborers on Jamaica within the larger colonial and capitalist systems. . . . A wonderful contribution to Caribbean historical archaeology.”—H-Net Reviews

“Uses pottery fragments and other data to examine an informal, underground economy that existed among slaves, island-wide.”—Chronicle Review

“This is a convincing study, and the findings serve as a strong basis for the consideration of the role of the Sunday markets in African Jamaican life of the eighteenth century. . . . Hauser is a master in his field, and he writes extremely well.”—Journal of Caribbean Archaeology

“Eloquently weaves together historical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence to illustrate the complexities of the internal markets, which suggest that the enslaved may have been able to use the social and economic networks they created in order to gain some relief or protection from the power of the colonial regime.”—Winterthur Portfolio

“In the best historical archaeology tradition, this is a corrective history that refutes Caribbean stereotypes and maps the histories of ignored peoples by examining the most seemingly mundane everyday material culture.” —Paul Mullins, Indiana University–Purdue University