Archaeologists digging into the past

April 08, 2009

Archaeological excavations at Seville Heritage Park in St Ann have unearthed important new insights into Jamaica's first Spanish settlement, Sevilla la Nueva. Sheep and pig bone, majolica tableware ceramics, olive jar fragments, Taino Indian pottery and loads of brick and limestone construction materials provide clues to the life and activities of the inhabitants of the fledgling colony.

Founded in 1509 by Diego Colon, Governor of the Indies and son of Christopher Columbus, Sevilla la Nueva served as capital for Spanish Jamaica until 1534 when it was removed to Spanish Town. In the intervening years the colonists built an elaborate castle and fort for the governor, an Abbey to spread the word of God, an industrial complex with sugar mill and sculptors workshop, and a town for its 80 settlers. Spanish colonists at Sevilla la Nueva were farmers and ranchers who provided critical supplies to the Spanish conquistadores in their conquest of the Americas. The archaeological remains for all of this now lay buried in the lower fields of the Seville Heritage Park.

A team of archaeologists under the direction of Drs. David Burley and Robyn Woodward of Simon Fraser University (Canada) and Dr. Kathleen Deagan, University of Florida worked on the site from late January through February. The project was funded by the National Geographic Society Scientific and Research Committee and was carried out in collaboration with the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT). Also on the team were staff members from the JNHT, student interns from the University of West Indies (UWI) who are stationed at the JNHT, six archaeological field assistants from the Seville Heritage Park and additional personnel from University of Florida and Simon Fraser University.

Previous studies at Sevilla la Nueva beginning in the 1950s excavated the castle, Abbey and industrial remains the whereabouts of the town remained elusive. In a 2004 project in the field south of the Island Highway, Burley and Woodward believed they had finally found evidence for the residential area of the colony. Beneath a thick and compact gravel layer, their excavations partially exposed the remains of what appeared to be a Spanish house with a stone and brick lookout tower. Archaeological evidence for early 16th century Spanish residences in the New World are rare and the gravel had protected the one at Sevilla la Nueva from later disturbances. A well-preserved collection of animal bones from food refuse, combined with a wide range of other materials relating to the Spanish and local Taino Indian workers provided a unique opportunity to gain insight into the town site and the people who lived there. Historian Morales Padron understated the importance of archaeology in this type of study at Sevilla la Nueva when, in his book Spanish Jamaica, he notes that its history will be recovered only through its archaeological record; historical documents describing the town in the Spanish archives are extremely few.

After the Spanish left for Spanish Town in 1534, the countryside on which Sevilla la Nueva had been built was heavily altered, first by natural processes of flooding and erosion and then, in 1660, by the establishment and activities of a British sugar plantation. Of utmost concern to Burley, Woodward, Deagan and the team was the documentation of geological evidence for the early 16th century landscape, evidence vital to the finding of additional houses. Geoarchaeologist, Dr. Paul Goldberg of Simon Fraser University joined the team to address this problem in February. Deep excavations and field tests illustrate the first Spanish colonists did indeed encounter a landscape quite different from today. Rather than rolling grassed fields adjacent to the Church River, it was a sparse delta plain with braided streams running to the bay. Along the banks of one of these now in-filled streams were the remains found in 2004. Another of the streams fed the Spanish sugar mill far to the northwest while a third appears to run between these two. Annual freshets pushed gravel over the banks of these streams, and soil eroding from the hillside to the south flowed along their course gradually building the delta front seaward.

Another of the team's primary goals this year was to complete excavation of the house and tower begun in 2004. The recent excavation in February 2009 produced enormous quantities of animal bones and fewer numbers of household goods, neither being characteristic of the archaeological remains for a Spanish residence. The 2004 excavations were halted when a layer of toppled brick from the tower had been laid bare. After the brick was removed in this past February, presumed house foundations proved to be two wide cobble platforms in the lee of a lookout tower along the creek bank. These platforms were butchering stations where the carcasses of sheep, pig and at least a few cattle were stripped of meat for export to the conquistadores. These animal bones, and the way they were butchered, provide confirmation and direct evidence that the Spanish role for Sevilla la Nueva in the conquest of the Americas was met.

Massive dog print
In removing the brick from the platforms, the team was vividly reminded of how this conquest was accomplished, at least in part. Impressed in the surface of one of the bricks was the paw print of a very large dog, one of the great mastiffs that accompanied the Spanish conquistadores. These were fierce hunters whose prey were animals and Indians alike. This brick is now on display at the Seville Great House.

In its search for other Spanish houses, the team found at least one and evidence for possibly two other structures close to the in-filled stream. One had foundation trenches dug in the earth on which wooden sills had been placed. It also had a barrel-lined well, a feature common to Spanish-colonial sites in Florida but not the Caribbean. Early 16th century tableware ceramics excavated from the house attest to the finer side of Spanish life. And food remains predominantly of sheep and pig bone emphasize diet and cuisine that showed little difference from the Spanish homeland. Ancient DNA study of the sheep and the few cow bones recovered in 2004, combined with additional samples from this year’s project will provide insight into the breeds and origins of these transplanted stocks.

The excavations at Seville Heritage Park are ongoing and further archaeological studies are being planned for the future. The site is located just outside the parish capital of St. Ann's Bay, and 11kms from Ocho Rios. Seville is known for its historical authenticity with evidence of Jamaica’s rich past revealed in artifacts from the island's Taino, Spanish, British and African ancestry. The property is maintained and operated by the Jamaica National Heritage, which also regulates all archaeological excavations at the site.
(Submitted by Robyn Woodward and David Burley)

For further info contact
Andrea Braham
Public Relations Officer 922-1287-8/922-3990/885-8105
jnht@cwjamaica.com