Le Morne: The Material History of the First Creole Construction

Located along the mangrove, 100 m of a football field, this archaeological site has revealed sufficient data on the past life of the inhabitants, so that it installs a set design and a harmonious and attractive explicit valuation of places.

Krish Seetah in charge of Mauritian archeology and cultural heritage (MACH), stated without hesitation and called these initiatives vows.By exploring the material history of the people, landscape transformation, management of living spaces, the traces of everyday life into his innermost springs, archeology is the only discipline that can make an objective introspection in the past life of the people, they belong to the poorest or the most exclusive society.

The archives and documents that we leave time already biased and even censored by the look and the opinion of those who decided to leave to posterity.For the archaeologist, the treasure is not gold object but the stratigraphy of the soil, an imprint of tissues, bones sedimented, a well-preserved skeleton or an everyday object as seemingly mundane as a pipe Celtic .

The cemetery cove, where the last excavation season ended two weeks ago under the direction of Krish Seetah, is one of those special places where literally can be brought to light the lives of people from Morne 1830s, whether free blacks, slaves or chestnuts. African ritual practices reflected in these tombs buried with objects placed near the body as well as traces of graves and orientation remains, suggest that the people buried here were able to practice their own rituals, which was not necessarily If slaves generally Christianized force and buried a few steps from their masters.

Objects and dates

A pickaxe found with bones of a woman has certainly shown the trade in which she dedicated her life, or a lot of English pipes with a man means a sufficiently constant for smoking pipes have owned several, including through The bill allows a fairly accurate dating.

A small bag wrapping a lot of pieces, placed at the base of the skull, and the oldest of which dated back to 1830, has to understand that this person was able to make money through the power of his work. If traces of funerary rituals connect us to Africa and not Madagascar for this cemetery that oral tradition restores us as Simitier Malgas, DNA studies have already identified the origin of six Mozambicans and two Malagasy.

A first osteological study resulted in a publication of J. Appleby, Krish Seetah and al entitled "The non-adult cohort from Le Morne Cemetery, Mauritius: a snap shot of early life and death Effective abolition." This article is available at www. stanford. edu / group / mauritianarchlgy / with some other reports and field studies in a general presentation of the research program, Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (MACH) directed by Krish Seetah and funded by the Universities of Stanford and Cambridge.

If the 2012 campaign has, as we said Krish Seetah to find many artifacts, it has not been the case in July 2013. But the new sections explored by students and researchers in American archeology and Italian universities and the Spanish osteologist Jonathan Santana has confirmed the idea already issued last year that this cemetery is much larger than imagined at the start and it is probably composed of several periods and generations that began well before its first mention on a card that only goes back 1880.

Two hundred fifty lives

Magnetometry allowed to guess the presence of about forty-five structures in total, but the perimeter is drawn with the latest excavations raises a smile Krish Seetah: "We can be sure now that our original estimates were much lower when we imagine a small family cemetery.

Of course, it has nothing to do with the cemetery of Bois Marchand was the largest of the Indian Ocean and perhaps the world when the terrible epidemics become endemic malaria decimated the population (1864 to 1867 ). But we think that the cemetery Morne hosted up to two hundred and fifty people, making it a large cemetery! "And now a place to visit and research the most valuable for the history of Mauritius and humanity.

Researchers have been puzzled at the previous three excavation campaigns by the abundant presence of bones of children and infants, than the number of adult skeletons found, which certainly reflects the traditionally high infant mortality in the time, but also exacerbated by conditions of life particularly difficult with particular malnourished lactating mothers.

Archaeologists have unearthed in the same scope remains of a baby probably buried after birth, and a child. The hypothesis that this part of the cemetery has been specifically designed for children burials and newborns is considered.Following the 2010 campaign and as shown in the article in the International Journal of Osteoarcheology (2012), the presence of two stillborn twins buried near an adult body has puzzled researchers, especially highly it is known that in southern Madagascar birth of twins is considered evil, which usually brings their sacrifice by drowning or by entrusting them to witches.

However, the care with which they seem to have been buried, and then study the bones for supposing a natural death.

Achieved in their bones!

Jonathan Santana was the one trip this year to study bone samples stored at Le Morne Heritage Trust Fund, as well as those uncovered this time, six children including a baby to term and three adults.

When we met, he watched the skeleton of a child in relatively poor condition located close to the mangroves, especially in an area so wet, where the crabs dig numerous galleries, sometimes favoring the movement of bones.Our interlocutor noted in particular that the bones had been suffering from osteomyelitis, a type of bone inflammation that develops in favor of certain diseases such as tuberculosis, syphilis and leprosy and certain epidemics.

If he needs a precise date as to whether they are related to epidemics, Jonathan Santana think these inflammations may find their origin in poor living conditions, lack of access to drinking water at a quality food and adequate care in case of illness.When the preservation of bones is very bad, osteo-archaeologist them away for analysis.

Particularly resistant, teeth are however a valuable source of non-degraded DNA samples, and a good indication to determine the age of children and adolescents. However, if the skeleton is in good condition as often in the sandy cemetery, samples are taken and the body is covered again when researchers decamp.

The fine sand meets the bones and the surface, but its texture particularly furniture promotes the sinking of tombstones then likely to break bones or move, thereby complicating the work of osteologist and colleagues. But Jonathan is broken to exercise and when he sees the smallest bones, the smallest of its features is a source of information for him.