Fall 2000 Gems & Gemology - Gemfrance

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(Nicholson, 1993). The sites are located approximately 12 km (7 miles) apart (figure 2), amid grassland and scrub vegetation. Their names are derived from nearby historical sugar plantations (on some maps or in other publications, these localities are spelled “Elliots” and “Royal’s” or “Royals”). Within two weeks of the discovery of each site, members of the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda began surface reconnaissance. It was immediately evident that the sites contained a diverse selection of the material culture of the early inhabitants, including lapidary and ceramic items, as well as stone artifacts such as axes. Surface sampling conducted in July 1998 by the University of Calgary Archeology Field School Antigua confirmed the temporal and cultural affiliation of these ancient settlements. Figure 1. These beads and pendants are representative of the many different lapidary objects that were recovered from the Elliot’s site on the Caribbean island of Antigua. From the top left: Column 1= tuff, nephrite; column 2 = barite, serpentine, diorite; column 3 = nephrite (frog carving), amethyst, chalcedony; carnelian (fragment); column 4 = amethyst, quartz, carnelian. All of these objects are finished except for the barite and chalcedony, which lack drilled holes. Note, for scale, that the nephrite carving in column 1 is 6.5 cm long and 0.7 cm wide. BACKGROUND Archeology. The human history of Antigua is intimately associated with that of the other islands in the Lesser and Greater Antilles (again, see figure 2), and derives from the migration of ancient Amerindians from mainland regions (Wilson, 1997a, b). The earliest substantiated settlement in Antigua is dated at about 1775 BC (Nicholson, 1993). In approximately 450 BC, Saladoids began to settle in the Antigua region (Rouse, 1976; Murphy, 1999). Saladoid is a generic name given to an Arawak-speaking, pre-Columbian, ceramic- and agriculture-oriented people from the lower Orinoco River valley; the type archeological site is at Saladero, Venezuela (Rouse, 1992; Allaire, 1997). Over time, the Saladoids traveled from Trinidad Pre-Columbian Gems from Antigua GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 2000 235
northward to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The lapidary items described here are associated with the Saladoid culture, specifically during the period 250–500 AD. This is based on carbon-14 age dates of 435 and 440 AD on charcoal at the Royall’s site, and on diagnostic pottery at both the Royall’s and Elliot’s sites (figure 3). These sites are representative of the peak of Saladoid culture and artistry (Murphy, 1999). Over time, certainly from 800 AD onward, the Saladoid culture evolved into various regional island cultures throughout the Antilles. The Historic Age of the Leeward Islands (the northern half of the Lesser Antilles, which includes Antigua) began in 1493 with their discovery by the Spanish. It appears, however, that the complex artistry and lapidary Figure 2. The Lesser Antilles is a chain of predominantly volcanic islands that stretches about 700 km (435 miles) along the eastern part of the Caribbean Sea, from the Virgin Islands and Sombrero in the north to Trinidad in the south. The Greater Antilles is another group of mainly larger islands to the north and west that includes Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. The West Indies includes the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the Bahamas. The Elliot’s and Royall’s archeological sites are located in eastern and northern Antigua, respectively, only about 12 km from each other. skills of the Saladoid culture had been lost by that time (Nicholson, 1993; Murphy, 1999). It is also evident that there was no trade in nonindigenous gem materials, because no such materials have been found in post-Saladoid archeological sites (Rouse, 1992; Crock and Bartone, 1998). The earliest European settlement of Antigua was British colonization in 1632 (Nicholson, 1991). Geology. A brief review of the geology of Antigua is useful for inferring the local or nonlocal origin of the gems and ornamental materials recovered. Of the several studies that have been made on the geology of the Lesser Antilles in general, and of Antigua in particular, those by Martin-Kaye (1969), Multer et al. (1986), and Weiss (1994) are particularly 236 Pre-Columbian Gems from Antigua GEMS & GEMOLOGY Fall 2000
Page 2 and 3: pg. 237 pg. 217 pg. 247 REGULAR FEA
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Fall 2000 Gems & Gemology - Gemfrance

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