The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

Figure 7.4 Two-notched net sinkers.
(Illustration by James W. Lee,
Archaeological Society of Jamaica.)
Figure 7.5 Four-notched net sinkers.
(Illustration by James W. Lee,
Archaeological Society of Jamaica.)
Dyes
According to Irving Rouse, Taíno married women wore short skirts called
naguas (1992, 11). These skirts or aprons were made from cotton. Fernández
de Oviedo adds that the Taínos used seeds, berries, leaves and bark to colour
their cotton cloth: “They colour it black, tan, green, blue, yellow, and red, the
colours being as vivid or as subdued as the Indians desire. After boiling the
bark and leaves in a pot without changing the dye, they can produce all the
distinct colours” (1959, 103).
Jamaica has various plants which can be used to make
dyes. According to Rouse (1992, 11), red was a favoured
colour. Three indigenous species that produce red dyes are
the annatto (Bixa orellana) or, as the Taínos called it, bija,
whose seeds/berries produce a reddish-orange dye (Figure 7.6);
brazilwood or brasiletto wood (Caesalpinia brasiliensis); and red
mangrove (Rhizophora mangle). Guava (Psidium guajava) is said
to produce a black pigment.
Religious Paraphernalia
Figure 7.6 The
annatto plant.
(National Library
of Jamaica; Pollard
1983, 16.)
Select woods were used for the construction of wooden religious furniture
and paraphernalia (Saunders and Gray 1996). The lignum vitae (Guaiacum
officinale) or guyacan is referred to as “holy wood”, “wood of life” or “holy Tree”
(Fernández de Oviedo 1959; Adams 1972). Zemís and duhos were created from
this wood. A small lignum vitae duho was recovered from the Cambridge Hill
Burial Cave, St Thomas. Lignum vitae was also used for axe handles (Duerden
1897). West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni) or caoba, West Indian
104 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS