Browsing by Author "Briggs, Lisa"
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Item Open Access 6 Shipwreck archaeology in the past 10 years(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2023-12-08) Briggs, Lisa; Campbell, Peter B.This paper reviews the trends, topics, and research directions in shipwreck archaeology over the past decade. As archaeology increasingly embraces advances in technological methods that can aid our research, the so-called ‘digital turn’, it behoves maritime archaeologists, and archaeologists more broadly, to consider how collaborative utilization of specialized fields including biomolecular archaeology, geophysics, and contemporary philosophy have spurred on a rapid modernization of our field in recent times. Archaeological research, both terrestrial and underwater, has long been a collaborative discipline. However, we argue here that difficulties in working underwater have encouraged maritime and underwater archaeologists to embrace technological developments at a rapid pace. An explicit theoretical framework and the incorporation of contemporary philosophy in the field of underwater archaeology was, until recently, largely lacking in the discipline’s discourse. The incorporation and advancement of adjacent disciplines within the field of underwater archaeology mark the most relevant changes within the shifting tides of shipwreck research.Item Open Access Molecular evidence for new foodways in the early colonial Caribbean: organic residue analysis at Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico(Springer, 2023-05-03) Briggs, Lisa; Cooper, Jago; Craig, Oliver E.; Heron, Carl; Lucquin, Alexandre; Milantchi, María Mercedes Martínez; Samson, AliceCeramic objects account for over 90% of the cultural material recovered from archaeological sites in the Caribbean. However, little research has been conducted on molecular evidence for past food production from these same vessels. Forty ceramic sherds from Isla de Mona have been analysed by GC–MS and GC-C-IRMS in order to address questions surrounding foodways in the Greater Antilles prior to and post European arrival. We evaluate evidence for dietary changes to illuminate aspects of cultural exchange between Indigenous populations and the first generations of Spanish colonists. Here, we show that plant residues are found in a variety of pottery forms, with some evidence for non-ruminant and ruminant fats. The dearth of marine biomarkers is curious given the volume of fish bones found in archaeological contexts on Isla de Mona and may offer evidence for spit-roasting, pit-roasting, or the use of a ‘barbacoa’ to cook fish on the island. The ubiquity of plant residues in a variety of pottery forms may relate to the large-scale cultivation and export of cassava (Manihot esculenta) from the island. A Spanish olive jar revealed evidence of wine residues, which may constitute the earliest detection of wine residues in pottery found in the Americas.