An Archaeological Study of the Red House, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Originally built in 1844 and rebuilt in 1907 after being gutted by fire during the 1903 water riots, the Red House has been the seat of Trinidad and Tobago’s parliament for over one hundred years. As a result of archaeological discoveries made in the basement of the Red House in March–April 2013, the Office of the Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago hired Basil A. Reid and his archaeological crew of local and international scholars to undertake a detailed study of the site from July 2013 to January 2015.

The archaeological data suggest that centuries before the Red House building was originally constructed, a relatively large native community (comprised of the Saladoid and their descendants) lived continuously at the site for over one thousand years. Featured in the volume are significant findings relating to the biological profiles, DNA, diet and subsistence, mobility, and ceramic technology of these precolonial natives.

This work showcases a diverse collection of both precolonial and colonial-period artefacts; the role of the site’s precolonial inhabitants as dynamic, self-reflexive history makers; and the colonial history of the Red House from earliest times to 1907.Finally, the volume explores the GIS Archaeological Information System that was developed for the project coupled with the specific heritage-management approaches that were utilized.

The chapters in this collection are based on ground-breaking archaeological scholarship with a multidisciplinary approach, and as such the book will be of considerable interest to Caribbean archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, anthropologists, historians and heritage professionals. The book will also be of interest to general readers in the Caribbean and beyond, especially the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

BASIL A. REID is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Department of History, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. His publications include Archaeology and Geoinformatics: Case Studies from the Caribbean; Myths and Realities of Caribbean History; Caribbean Heritage; and Encyclopedia of Caribbean Archaeology.