In the past few years, sophisticated chemical studies of the skeletons, especially their teeth, have begun to yield new insights into the lives and origins of Columbus's crew. The studies hint that, among other things, crew members may have included free black Africans who arrived in the New World about a decade before the slave trade began.West African remains have also been found in mid-16th century colonial sites on the Yucatan Peninsula.
The researchers note that bones, teeth and DNA yield no clues as to whether someone was a slave or not. Columbus was known to travel with a slave, but it is also possible that the crews included free Africans picked up in the Canary Islands or African migrants to Spain.
"The people on that expedition were reasonably well known by Spanish historians; there were [African] servants of households, but they didn't bring African slaves," said Kathleen A. Deagan, a University of Florida historical archaeologist and author of two books on La Isabela. "There were African sailors on those early expeditions, foot soldiers -- that kind of thing."
