The remains of skeletons found at one of the largest
cemeteries for enslaved people in the Caribbean are being studied at
Northumbria University.
Dr Noemi Procopio, a Senior Research Fellow in
Forensic Science, was asked to join archaeologists on the Dutch Caribbean
Island of St. Eustatius, after a graveyard dating back to the 18th and
19th centuries was unearthed in April of this year.
The site was discovered while archaeologists
checked an area needed for expansion of an airport. The excavations are led by
Dr Ruud Stelten and Alex Hinton from the St. Eustatius Center for
Archaeological Research (SECAR) and have been conducted by a team of 14 people
arrived from all over the world.
According to SECAR, 69 skeletons – mostly males – have
been found to date, although a small number have been identified as women and
children. Given the location, archaeologists believe the burial site
contains the remains of more than 150 enslaved people.
Alongside scientists from several universities,
including Harvard University in the United States, Dr Procopio will analyze
these remains and do protein studies - known as proteomics – to discover what
diseases these people might have suffered.
Proteomics enables the extraction of many proteins
simultaneously from very small amounts of materials, such as a tiny fragment of
bone. Through classification and verification of these proteins, proteomics can
be used to understand the level of decay and survival of the organic matter in
these bones, but also to potentially identify invaluable disease-specific
biomarkers.
Dr Procopio said: “The discovery of this mass burial
site on an island in the Caribbean is a hugely significant find – not only for
archaeologists, but for scientists and historians alike. It is a project I’m very excited to be working on
because it is so unique. It’s one of the biggest cemeteries for enslaved people to ever
be discovered in the Caribbean.
“The bones are not that old, dating
back to the 18th and 19th centuries, but they are very damaged, and it will be
interesting to find out if proteins are surviving in fragments of bone in that
environment. If we discover the presence of any diseases, then we can better
understand how these people lived, and crucially, how they died.”
Initial analysis indicates that the remains are people
of African descent, having found at least six individuals with dental
modification that is a West African custom. Typically, plantation owners did
not allow enslaved persons to do this. These individuals are thus most likely
first-generation enslaved people who were shipped to St. Eustatius.
Several universities around the world, including
Northumbria, have so far sent experts to analyze the
remains and learn more about the lives of the buried individuals.
Leiden University in the Netherlands will conduct stable isotope analysis to
determine the peoples’ diets and whether or not they were born on the island,
while Harvard will do DNA analysis to find out the origin of
the people.
An important outcome of the research is scientists and
historians will gain first-hand knowledge and understanding of the lives
of slaves in the Caribbean. Most of what we know to date has been from the
writings of colonial administrators and plantation owners, which can be
biased or incomplete.
Dr Procopio was awarded £1.2 million in 2019 as part
of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship to
develop her career and to tackle challenging research in the field of
forensic science. With the support of this Fellowship, she became actively
involved in this project and now she will look for additional funding sources
to finance the upcoming laboratory analyses.
One of UKRI’s flagship schemes, the Future
Leaders Fellowships is a £900 million government investment fund that is
helping to establish the careers of world-leading researchers and innovators
across UK academia and business. The initiative provides Fellows with the
support, flexibility, and time they require to work on ambitious programmes of
research.
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