AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE BURIAL GROUND WAIST BEADS

New York African Burial Ground Archeaology Final Report." The African Burial Ground. Feb. 2006. African Burial Ground National Monument.

Artifacts analysis:
A woman's remains of about 25-30 years old with altered teeth,

a practice of the West African population. There are a total of 111 beads (largest amount found in the excavation) made of cowrie shells, glass, and one bead of amber. Some were worn around the waist .

About Beads in African culture:
Powerful symbols denoting important passages of life such as marriages. birth and death. They were believed to keep wearer from harm and at some point use as "money". As for the their final resting place, they are for the dead as they made their

journeys to the afterlife. Inferences from the woman in Burial #340

She was probably important with all the precious beads laid at rest with her. In life, she might have been a respectable figure who could cure people of sickness or even a princess of a tribe who was kidnapped

and sold as a slave. Her people knew of her identity and they treated her with respect even when they were far away from their homeland. Inferences about her life as a slave:

She was born in Africa and probably taken from Barbados circa 1715-1764. She could have been on

"The Eagle", a ship that smuggled 40 slaves from Guinea, West African into Long Island or New York ships from Africa She could have transported by "The Catherine" which brought slaves from Africa to NY and NJ in 1730's. One thing is for certain, she brought her culture and

continues to keep them even hidden from the eyes of these foreigners

https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~arihuang/academic/abg/artifacts/culturalartifacts.html