JAM / Stone & substance
Jamaica
Submerged streets & archaeological layers
Develop a system from this study
Image note
Three original interpretations of submerged streets & archaeological layers, informed by The Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal. These images explore material and spatial ideas; they are not documentary views or measured reconstructions of the reference. The palette is drawn from the material portrait.
Publication credit: The Chromologium.
Image credits and reuseThe colour strip is the entry’s study palette. Artwork sources and image credits and reuse terms are recorded in the archive.
Artwork recordThree views of one material idea.
Port Royal’s surviving terrestrial and underwater remains record a port transformed by the 1692 earthquake. Its urban history includes transatlantic commerce and the trade in enslaved people.
Read the material study01 / Reading the material
A street beneath another surface
Port Royal’s terrestrial and underwater remains make the relationship between urban order and later covering especially visible. A street plan can remain readable while sediment and water change how it is encountered. Preservation is part of the spatial story, not a neutral backdrop.
02 / From surface to space
Read the whole.
Then the edge.
Compare a horizontal plan with a section through the covering layers. One explains the route; the other explains why its present appearance differs from its occupied state. Keep the port’s commercial history, including enslavement, present alongside the archaeological reading.
Compare the readable plan of a street with the sediment and water that now cover parts of it. Treat preservation and historical context as part of the spatial study.
03 / Colour in context
A palette you can work with.
Five tones drawn from the material portrait. Select a colour, compare it on paper and ink, or copy its value into your own study.
Surface
#645338
Colour values & paper / ink comparison
oklch(0.452 0.046 78.721) · primary
The colour stays fixed as its surroundings change.
Try the bench exercise
04 / At the bench
Make the observation tangible.
Create a layered model in which part of a simple grid remains visible beneath a translucent plane. Show the distinction between record and interpretation. Avoid turning the submerged city into a purely romantic image of lost architecture.
Keep a view of the whole beside a close detail. Note the material, lighting and the one variable you changed.
Source & orientation
Keep the reference close.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (n.d.). The Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal. Retrieved October 10, 2026.
The material readings and bench exercise are editorial studies of this particular reference. The artwork explores its material ideas; the linked source documents the place.
Artwork & cartographic records
Artwork record · Geographic plate record. Map geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. The archive follows its map’s place names, including territories and disputed areas.
A closer look
Questions about this study
What does this study of Jamaica focus on?
Port Royal’s surviving terrestrial and underwater remains record a port transformed by the 1692 earthquake. Its urban history includes transatlantic commerce and the trade in enslaved people.
Where can I find the original reference?
The Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal, published by UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The artwork explores the reference’s material ideas; the linked source documents the place.
What could I try at the bench?
Create a layered model in which part of a simple grid remains visible beneath a translucent plane. Show the distinction between record and interpretation. Avoid turning the submerged city into a purely romantic image of lost architecture.
Continue by material
