Islands of salt : historical archaeology of seafarers and things in the Venezuelan Caribbean 1624-1880 / Konrad A. Antczak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Antczak, Konrad A., author.

Series:

Taboui Series

Taboui Series ; v.6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Salt industry and trade.

Salt industry and trade--Venezuela--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (426 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Sidestone Press, [2019]

Summary:

The early-modern Venezuelan Caribbean did not lure seafarers with the saccharine delights of cane sugar but with the preserving qualities of solar sea salt. In this book, the historical archaeological study of this salty commodity offers a unique entryway into the hitherto unknown maritime mobilities and daily lives of the seafarers who camped at the saltpans of Venezuelan islands from the seventeenth to the late nineteenth centuries, cultivating and harvesting the white crystal of the sea. For the first time, this study offers a comprehensive documentary history of the saltpans of La Tortuga Island and Cayo Sal in the Los Roques Archipelago, uncovering the surprising importance of their salt. Long-term archaeological excavations at the campsites by these saltpans have brought to light the plethora of material remains left behind by seafarers during their seasonal and temporary salt forays. The exhaustive analysis of the thousands of recovered things - pipes, punch bowls, plates, teapots, buttons, bones - contrasted with documentary evidence, not only enables us to understand where these things came from but also by whom they were used. By engaging the evidence through my theoretical framework of assemblages of practice, I demonstrate how seafarers and things were vibrantly entangled in the everyday assemblages of practice of salt cultivation, dining and drinking. This multisited approach spanning 256 years, reveals that seafarers were fervent buyers of fashionable products, drinking hot tea from porcelain tea bowls, using colorful ceramic chamber pots for their hygienic needs and imbibing exotic rum punch by the scorching saltpans of the uninhabited Venezuelan islands. Intended for scholars, students and the interested public alike, this historical archaeological study positions humble seafarers in the limelight, not as the anonymous movers of

international trade and facilitators of imperial interests, but as avid trans-imperial and extra-imperial consumers of the fruits of those very empires.

Contents:

Intro

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Islands of Salt

Layout of the book

Situating the study within disciplinary currents

Venezuelan historical archaeology

Latin American maritime historical archaeology

Caribbean maritime historical archaeology

Spatiotemporal Framework

Space

Time

Assemblages of Practice

A New Conceptual Framework

Entanglements as the Point of Departure

Things, not objects

Fleshing Out Entanglements

Itineraries of things

Assemblages of practice

Discussion

Entanglement

Scales of entanglement

Itineraries of Sea Salt

La Tortuga within the Atlantic World

La Tortuga Island

Anglo-American Thirst for Salt

Early ventures (1634-c. 1700)

The golden decades (c. 1700‑1781)

The Dutch Quest for Salt

Dutch herring and Venezuelan salt (1595‑1623)

The La Tortuga enterprise (1624‑1638)

Cayo Sal within the Venezuelan Caribbean

The Los Roques Archipelago and Cayo Sal

Cayo Sal: Island at the Crossroads

Salt and contraband (c. 1700‑1800)

Neglected archipelago (c. 1800‑1880)

Crusty Salts

The Seafarers at the Venezuelan Saltpans

Inhabiting the Seascape

The Seafarers at Cayo Sal, Los Escombros (c. 1800‑1880)

"Free coloreds" and a US American

The Seafarers at Cayo Sal, Uespen de La Salina (c. 1700‑1800)

A miscellany of anonymous seafarers

The Seafarers at Punta Salinas (1638‑1781)

Rank, social status and small personal possessions

Enslaved seafarers

The Dutch Zoutvaerders at Punta Salinas (1624‑1638)

Saltculture

Socio-Natural Assemblages of practice on the Saltpans

Introducing Socio-Natural Assemblages of Practice

The Assemblages of Practice on the Venezuelan Saltpans

La Tortuga: the Dutch enterprise (1624‑1638).

La Tortuga: the Anglo-American fleets (1638‑1781)

Cayo Sal, Los Roques Archipelago: Uespen de la Salina (c. 1700‑1800)

Cayo Sal, Los Roques Archipelago: Los Escombros (c. 1800‑1880)

Socio-Natural Assemblages of Salt Cultivation

The Process of Solar Salt Cultivation

The Physical Environment of the Venezuelan Islands

The Lived Saltpan

Assemblages of Practice at the Campsites of La Tortuga

The Dutch at Punta Salinas (1624‑1638)

Excavations and features

Anglo-American Everyday Life at Punta Salinas (1634‑1781)

Excavations

Seafarer campsites

Shipboard victuals

Local resource procurement

Food preparation

Tableware for the serving and consumption of food

Dining at Punta Salinas

Beverages and beverage containers

Vessels for alcohol serving and consumption

Drinking at the tavern by the saltpan

Punch for the laboring crews

Genteel seafarers: tea, coffee and chocolate drinking

Resource procurement and food preparation

Food consumption, drinking and leisure activities

Assemblages of Practice at the Campsites of Cayo Sal

Daily Life at Uespen de La Salina (c. 1700‑1800)

Daily Life at Los Escombros (c. 1800‑1880)

Provisioning and local resource procurement

Dining at Los Escombros

Drinking at Los Escombros

Provisioning

Dining at Uespen de la Salina

Drinking at Uespen de la Salina

Entanglements at the Salty Margins of Modernity

The Sea as Domain of Entanglement

Confluence of Local and Global Entanglements: Cayo Sal

Seafaring Consumers: Anglo-American Captains

Consumerism

Interpreting ceramic absence at Punta Salinas

Captains as consumers

Bibliography

Archives.

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Blank Page.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

90-8890-817-6

OCLC:

1202466071