The biological ancestry of contemporary African Americans lies in slaves transported from Africa. Among the largest, earliest and historically best described burial grounds of African slaves is that at Newton Plantation, Barbados. About 100 individuals of African ancestry buried between 1660 and 1820 have been excavated here, but originally only the cranial parts were retained for analysis. This project, with the full support of Barbadian people and government through the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, aims to recover the postcranial skeletal elements for the 80 or so relatively complete adult individuals. Analysis incorporating modern techniques can yield better information on the gender and age at death of individuals for demographic analyses, and indicate pathologies such as anemia, activity related arthrosis of the joints, disease and nutrition stress, cortical bone maintenance, and bony reaction to infectious diseases (some of which, such as malaria and treponematoses, can be specifically diagnosed). This will add greatly to the inadequate historical accounts of slave lives and adaptations.
