ABSTRACT

The “curious neglect of architecture by academic anthropology” has been attributed to the fact that houses are taken for granted or treated as ethnographic “case” studies in symbolism or cosmology, rather than studied in their own right, or considered in relationship to the landscape on which they are situated (Carsten & Hugh-Jones, 1994: 3, 4). A similar neglect may be observed in Caribbean archaeology which, until recently, has focused on excavation of midden deposits, ceramic typology and development of a cultural chronology for the Caribbean (Bartone & Versteeg, 1997). As noted by Siegel almost a decade ago, the study of architectural remains is one undeveloped archaeological domain which might help to balance archaeological research perspectives (Siegel, 1996: 2).