Heather Hatch. ?. (Under the direction of ?) Department of History, ? 2006.

This thesis examines the underdeveloped potential of archaeology to examine piracy in the terrestrial archaeological record. It presents a historical context for the Golden Age of piracy of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and also examines historical material to highlight some terrestrial pirate activities. This historical approach is used as the basis for presenting a model for investigating piracy in the archaeological record.

This thesis analyzes the material culture from one archaeological site with known pirate associations, the Barcadares logwood cutting camp in Belize, by assigning artifacts to functional groups in order to highlight behavioral patterns. Other methods for directly and indirectly investigating piracy in the archaeological record are also examined. Finally, the analytical model presented along with the Barcadares material is tested by comparing the pirate assemblage to materials recovered from two contemporaneous sites from colonial Nevis.

Finally, this thesis presents several potential markers of pirate behavior visible in the archaeological record, including low diversity of ceramic types and wares, relatively high percentages of tobacco pipe fragments in the material assemblage, high percentages of imports, and the presence of high status wares in areas where they might not be expected.