Not Just Another Brick in the Wall: An XRF Study of the Port Royal Bricks

Abstract

This thesis describes the research undertaken to determine the origins of bricks recovered during the underwater excavations of Port Royal, Jamaica, conducted from 1981-1990. To evaluate where these bricks were made, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was employed to determine their elemental compositions and compare these with artifacts known to have been made in Jamaica. Studying the bricks in this manner allowed the author to determine that seven of those being analyzed were probably made in Jamaica, while another four at least could have been although the data for these bricks could not support a confident conclusion. In determining the Jamaican origins of bricks from at least one Port Royal building at the intersection of Queen and Lime Streets, it would seem that it was acceptable to build an English-style building in non-English bricks.