Origins of Jade Artefacts

These objects are valuable documents that can help to reconstruct the history of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean in Pre-Columbian times. In January 2017, NEXUS1492 researchers Gareth Davies, Alice Knaf, Catarina Falci, and Mariana Françozo visited the museum, its storage areas, and its archives to find out more about the collection and to start analyses on a selection of lithic materials and beads. Generously hosted by Mille Gabriel, Casper Toftgaard, Anja Blok Jespersen , and Suzan Mefail, we set out to try and answer some of our research questions.

Alice and Gareth are trying to establish where the jade (jadeitite) artefacts found throughout the Caribbean originated from to understand how materials and ideas were exchanged before the arrival of Columbus. Sampling is performed using a portable laser ablation system that leaves holes that are invisible to the naked eye. Enough material is sampled to allow the chemical composition of the artefacts to be determined. Comparison of compositions to the known sources of jadeite on Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Guatemala will allow determination of the source of the artefacts and improve our understanding of social interaction before 1492.

Body Ornamentation

Catarina studied a collection of beads and pendants from the island of St. Croix, formerly part of the Danish Virgin Islands. With microscopes brought from Leiden University’s Laboratory for Artefact Studies, she is researching body ornamentation in the Early Ceramic Age. Ornaments in different stages of production were exchanged between the different islands over long distances. Catarina’s aim is to understand how the indigenous peoples were making beads of hard semi-precious rocks and minerals, as well as elaborately-carved pendants in animal shapes. Later on, the data for St. Croix will be compared to other centres of bead production in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico. The collaboration with the team from Amsterdam will help us to understand further these networks of exchange, in which ornaments had an important role as social valuables.

Collection History

Mariana is looking into the history of this collection. Why does Denmark hold one of the largest collections of Caribbean artifacts in Europe? Part of the reason is the Hatt-de Jong scientific expedition of 1923, when archaeologists Gudmund Hatt, Emilie Hatt, and Josselin de Jong excavated numerous sites in St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and the Dominican Republic and collected about 4.500 objects. Their work and their collection are a highlight of Caribbean archaeology for many reasons. First, because Hatt carefully and thoroughly documented the excavations by taking photographs of sites and objects, by drawing numerous maps and sketches, and by registering all of the finds from each site in hand-written notebooks – a rare record for an excavation carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Second, because of the role of Hatt’s wife, Emilie Hatt, in participating in the excavation. In fact, the Copenhagen collection includes donations from a number of women archaeologists the impact of whose work deserves to be further researched. All of these histories (and much more!) are documented in the archives of the National Museum in Copenhagen. They help us to understand the trajectory of these 7.000 objects from find sites to their new home in Brede.

The Copenhagen collection has something to offer to everyone interested in any aspect of Caribbean archaeology – it certainly kept us busy! So much so that we decided to turn down the offer to dine at the famous restaurant Noma and happily survived on smorgasbord!

By Mariana Françozo, Catarina Guzzo Falci, Alice Knaf, and Gareth Davies