Little is known about the thousands of freed Africans who were buried on the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena in the 19th century. But now, a new chemical and dental analysis reveals where in Africa more than 150 of these individuals spent their childhood.
After the British Empire outlawed the slave trade in 1807, approximately 27,000 freed slaves arrived on St. Helena after the Royal Navy enforced the ban. St. Helena was used to disembark enslaved people who were freed by the Navy. However, about 8,000 of these newly freed people, who were malnourished and in poor health, died on the South Atlantic island shortly after landing there.
These burials were forgotten until they were discovered centuries later prior to an airport construction project. Excavations in 2007 and 2008 uncovered the buried skeletons of freed slaves, according to a new study published Thursday (July 16) in the journal Nature. Science.
To determine the origins of freed slaves, scientists studied the teeth of 152 individuals, measuring the ratio of strontium isotopes, which are atoms of the element strontium that have a different number of neutrons in their nuclei. When a person’s teeth grow in childhood The food they eat and the water they drink contain strontium isotopes Get incorporated into the enamel of their teeth. By studying the unique strontium ratio in an individual’s enamel, researchers can determine where the individual lived during childhood.
The study found that many freed slaves lived near the coast of West Africa, although some lived farther inland.
“Most individuals probably came from coastal or near-coastal areas of western central Africa, [and] Others appear to have originated much farther inland, implying forced displacement of hundreds to thousands of kilometers before ascent,” the team wrote in the study.
In one case, a man who died between the ages of 19 and 25 was taken from inland Angola to the coast as a child between the ages of 7 and 9. Scientists traced this movement by comparing the isotope signatures of his teeth that grew in when he was about 7 years old and those that grew in when he was about 9 years old. The team has written in their paper that when he was between this age, he was trafficked as a slave.
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“It is possible that their displacement during childhood is linked to their enslavement,” said the study’s co-author. hannes schroederAn associate professor of molecular ecology and evolution at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen told Live Science in an email. Schroeder said, unfortunately, we don’t know much else about this person.
In addition to this man, the study found evidence that at least 10 of the freed slaves were taken as children or early teenagers.
Schroeder said it is unclear whether any of the people included in the study have living descendants on St. Helena, but it is unlikely because these people would have died shortly after landing on the island.
The team also used historical records DNA analysis of 20 individuals To help determine where they were from. DNA analysis “revealed similarities with extant populations from Gabon and northern Angola, as well as considerable diversity,” the team wrote.
“These results are consistent with eyewitness accounts from Royal Navy personnel on the island, who reported multiple languages, including Congolese and Benguela dialects, among the captives,” the team wrote, noting that the findings also coincide with historical records from Angola, Cuba, and Brazil.
Reburial ceremony for freed slaves on the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic.
(Image credit: Photo courtesy of St. Helena Museum)
“The Tragedy of the Slave Children”
The new study sheds much-needed light on the lives of enslaved people, researchers told Live Science.
“This study is particularly impressive because it examines examples of slavery, where knowledge of individuals’ ancestors and descendants has been erased from history.” steven michelettiA geneticist who has studied the trans-Atlantic slave trade but was not involved in the new research told Live Science in an email. However, he said the study would benefit from analyzing the DNA of more people.
david headA historian at the University of Central Florida, who was not involved in the study, praised the study. “We know a lot about where enslaved people boarded/disembarked ships, thanks to slave traders who kept records of their business, but know less about where people came from and how they got to ports,” he said in an email. “It is not surprising that the study found that most people came from relatively close to the coast, but there were also cases of people who came from much further inland.”
“What I find most interesting is the promise of learning about individuals, which is often very difficult to do because slave traders kept records,” Head said, “and the records kept by slave traders don’t include a lot of information about the lives of their slaves.”
He was also surprised by the study’s findings that many enslaved people were moved at a young age. “It is understandable that slave traders wanted younger people who had the ability to work as laborers for many years, but it was necessary to [this] strengthened through them [teeth] “Highlights the tragedy of enslaved children.”
alex bentleyProfessor of anthropology at the University of Tennessee who wrote Article Discussing the study in the journal, praised the research, noting how it combined isotope data with historical records and some DNA analysis.
This is important because “although strontium isotope ratios in human tooth enamel ultimately reflect local geology, they also record the biologically available mix of foods and water consumed during childhood when teeth are forming,” Bentley told Live Science in an email. “So it’s hardly a unique geographic fingerprint.” It’s possible, Bentley said, that a similar approach could be used to study the origins of enslaved people in the United States.
The remains were reburied in 2022. Scientists and members of the Saint Helena community considered the possibility of returning the remains to the countries in Africa from which the people came, but no agreement was reached. In some cases, it will be difficult to determine to which country they should be returned, the team noted in their paper.