The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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Shoreline On the north coast, there are mainly white sand beaches derived from coral reefs close to the shore. Towards the east there are some rugged, pebbly beaches, derived partly from stones and sand washed down by rivers. Much of the south coast has black sand beaches, with particles of metallic oxides carried from the interior and deposited by south-flowing rivers. Many south coast coral reefs are far from shore (several kilometres in some areas) and contribute proportionally less to beach sands than on the north coast. Climate Jamaica has a maritime tropical climate. Trade winds blow from the northeast, especially in the summer. Hurricane season is July through November. Jamaica has frequent storms but few direct hits. There are two rainy seasons, in May and October/November. Kingston, Hellshire and southern St Elizabeth, in the rain shadow of the Blue Mountains and central ranges, receive the least rain. Portland, in the northeast, receives the highest rainfall in the island. Average temperatures: Mean annual rainfall: Range of rainfall: 28E C (78E F) at sea level 15E C (56E F) at 2,000 m above sea level Approximately 200 cm 75–500 cm Ecosystems An ecosystem is a community of living creatures (plants and animals) and their non-living environment (soil, water, air, and so on) in a particular area, which together form a self-sustaining natural system. Ecosystems found in Jamaica are • Forests • Caves • Rivers, streams and ponds • Wetlands • Coral reefs • Banks and cays • Seagrass beds N OTES ON THE N ATURAL H ISTORY OF J AMAICA 93
Biodiversity Biodiversity refers to the variety and abundance of life forms in a particular place or ecosystem. Biodiversity comprises flora (plants) and fauna (animals). Indigenous species are plants and animals that naturally occur in a particular country but may also be found elsewhere in the world. An endemic species is any kind of plant or animal that is found only in a particular area (usually refers to a country). For a small island, Jamaica has a relatively large number of endemic species of flora and fauna – species that are found nowhere else in the world. Examples of biodiversity include flowering plants such as grasses and palms, orchids, cacti and ferns, and fauna including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. Flora Jamaica is well known for its many species of flowering plants and ferns, more than four hundred of which are considered threatened or endangered due to clearing of land and other changes in habitat or over-harvesting. Flowering plants include numerous species of orchids, bromeliads, cacti, palms, trees, vines, shrubs and grasses. Approximately 30 per cent of the island’s flowering plants are endemics. Indigenous plants include the national flower, the lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale), pimento (Pimenta dioica), pawpaw or papaya (Carica papaya), sweet potato (Ipomea batatas), pineapple (Ananas comosus), cassava (Manihot esculenta) and guava (Psidium guajava). Many of the island’s most familiar and useful plants have been introduced since European colonization in the sixteenth century. Introduced plants include ackee (Blighia sapida), breadfruit (Atrocarpus altilis), coconuts (Cocos nucifera), mangoes (Mangifera indica), bananas and plantain (Musa spp.) and a great many ornamental plants used in horticulture. The latter include hibiscus, bougainvillaea, oleander, anthuriums, and poinsettia. Many introduced plants have become so Table 6.3 Total Number of Species Total Species Endemic Species Per cent Endemic Flowering plants (all) 3,003 830 28 Orchids and bromeliads 267 82 31 Ferns 579 82 14 Source: Adams 1971, 1972; Bretting 1983a, 1983b; Johnson 1988. 94 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS
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The Earliest Inhabitants
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University of the West Indies Press
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Contents List of Illustrations / ix
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Illustrations A.1 Map of the sites
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13.2 Petroglyphs from Coventry and
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Preface I HAVE ALWAYS been fascinat
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Acknowledgements I WOULD FIRST like
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Introduction IN JAMAICA, THE indige
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encounter the term Arawaks used to
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90. Long Acre Point 91. Long Mounta
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ical publication in Jamaica. Geolog
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collections. Knowledge of the prove
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Section 1 Assessment and Excavation
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objective by using a frame of refer
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16 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS two
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18 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS fact
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20 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS the
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22 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS deco
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Howard (1965) recognized that Redwa
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people making Ostionan (Redware) po
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was the recovery of the Aboukir zem
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Appendix Table 1.1 Midden Sites Rep
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Table 1.2 Cave Sites Reported by Ro
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2 The Taíno Settlement of the King
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Henderson Hill lies to the south, o
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ivalves. Single gastropod valves we
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40 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS Taí
Page 59 and 60: Table 2.2 Neutron Activation Analys
Page 61 and 62: Plain may have played a role in the
Page 63 and 64: Table 2.3. Taíno Sites in the King
Page 65 and 66: contractors to drill and blast for
Page 67 and 68: chipped away. It is believed that t
Page 69 and 70: Figure 3.4 JNHT excavations at Chan
Page 71 and 72: Test Pit 6 Depth 40 cm. This is a s
Page 73 and 74: 19.375 19.275 1 CHANCERY HALL, JAMA
Page 75 and 76: Appendix A Laboratory Study of the
Page 77 and 78: Table 3.1 All Recovered Organic Mat
Page 79 and 80: of slim, more or less parallel shap
Page 81 and 82: Table 3.5 Fish Bone Anatomical Part
Page 83 and 84: 66 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS Surv
Page 85 and 86: Acknowledgements Thanks are due to
Page 87 and 88: SOUTH NEGRIL POINT Savannala-Mar Mo
Page 89 and 90: sudden event. Occupation 3 can be c
Page 91 and 92: dle, a ground stone artefact that m
Page 93 and 94: - infrastructural development throu
Page 95 and 96: emoval. Sometimes what is required
Page 97 and 98: Figure 5.1 Road cutting through the
Page 99 and 100: Later on the Spanish settled in the
Page 101 and 102: Figure 5.4 Long Mountain prior to d
Page 103 and 104: 86 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS amon
Page 106 and 107: 6 Notes on the Natural History of J
Page 108 and 109: Soils Several different soil types
Page 112 and 113: well established, especially in dis
Page 114 and 115: 7 The Exploitation and Transformati
Page 116 and 117: Art Art can be religious, functiona
Page 118 and 119: of Long Mountain”, Andreas Oberli
Page 120 and 121: Figure 7.3 William Keegan explainin
Page 122 and 123: cedar (Cedrela odorata), santa mari
Page 124 and 125: According to Rouse, the density of
Page 126 and 127: 17), grows abundantly on the island
Page 128 and 129: Incidental Dispersal The plant comp
Page 130 and 131: 8 Early Arawak Subsistence Strategi
Page 132 and 133: and bagged by level. In April of 19
Page 134 and 135: Table 8.1 Significant Vertebrate an
Page 136 and 137: tory and habitat preferences. Follo
Page 138 and 139: Changing Subsistence Strategies The
Page 140 and 141: Table 8.2 Faunal Comparisons: Per c
Page 142 and 143: Appendix Table 8.3 Rodney’s House
Page 144 and 145: Table 8.3 Rodney’s House Faunal L
Page 146 and 147: Section 3 Analysis of Taíno Archae
Page 148 and 149: 9 Petrography and Source of Some Ar
Page 150 and 151: The results discussed here were obt
Page 152 and 153: Petaloid Axes of Arawak Origin from
Page 154 and 155: Blue Schist The story of Jamaican b
Page 156 and 157: Coleraine) but also from other majo
Page 158 and 159: from which several Jamaican artefac
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in a lack of suitable rocks, so tha
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A surprising conclusion of the pres
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Figure 10.1 Redware, White Marl and
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triangular ridges. It is thought th
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(also see Figure 10.6), loop handle
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11 Jamaican Redware J AMES W. LEE A
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only if planted at exactly the corr
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Handles Handles may be classified i
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Two more or less spheroidal pottery
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12 Taíno Ceramics from Post-Contac
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and distribution of native labour w
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Figure 12.2 Distribution of New Sev
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hatching (Figure 12.5c), and closel
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were fired at a low temperature, th
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Figure 12.11 New Seville ware: jug
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ters of the caciques. These politic
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Section 4 Taíno Art Forms ART IS A
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13 The Petroglyphs of Jamaica J AME
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previously described petroglyphs ex
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glyphs in that belt, as the geologi
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Another carving that is unique is t
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Appendix Table 13.2 Jamaican Petrog
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14 Zemís, Trees and Symbolic Lands
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According to Arrom and Rouse (1992)
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The Context of Sacredness Taíno wo
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Kept in niches or on tables within
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Another important correspondence be
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eliefs in the spiritual and life-gi
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References Aarons, G.A. 1983a. Arch
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Smithsonian Biological Survey of Do
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———. 1988. Ulysses’ Sail: A
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———. 1983b. Adornos, Jamaica
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Porro, A. 1994. Social organization
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Scudder, S. 1992. Early Arawak subs
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Wing, E.S., and A.B. Brown. 1979. P
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Rouse, I. 1982. Ceramic and religio
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M. John Roobol, is a consultant geo
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The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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