The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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Incidental Dispersal The plant component of the Taíno diet included wild fruits and vegetables, such as sweetsop (Annona muricata), macca fat (Acrocomia spinosa) and papaya (Carica papaya). So far we have focused on deliberate means of transforming the natural vegetation; however, in some cases the Taínos accidentally encouraged the growth of flora not common to the specific terrain. Wild plants are incidentally dispersed in the settlement environment by humans and other animals and by wind, water and abiotic means. Human incidental dispersal results from three basic processes: harvesting, adhesion, and mediation (Rashford 1991, 18). There are four ways in which incidental dispersal by harvesting can occur: rejection, loss, discard and defecation (ibid., 18–19). Rejection refers to the spreading of seeds as a result of humans spitting them out. The sweetsop (Annona squamosa) and soursop (Annona sapota) could have been spread this way. Incidental dispersal by loss occurs when collected fruits are dropped while being taken from one place to another. Discard is the intentional throwing away of seeds. Rashford suggests that the papaya and mammee (Mammea americana) were spread via discarded seeds. In the fourth method of incidental dispersal, the seeds are ingested with the rest of the fruit and later dispersed through defecation. Guava (Psidium guajava) may have been dispersed this way. Rashford (ibid.) points out the complexity of incidental dispersal, as there are some plants – for instance, guava – which could have been spread by any or all of the methods. In any case, we know that incidental dispersal did take place: for example, in Jamaica there exists an endemic mountain guava (Psidium montanum) which is generally found in the Lower Montane Mist Forest between 375 m and 1,200 m above sea level (Adams 1972). The location of mountain guava at Taíno sites at lower elevations suggests human incidental dispersal. The other methods of incidental dispersal are adhesion and mediation. Adhesion occurs when plants or seeds become attached to people, their equipment or their animals and are thus spread in the human environment. Mediation occurs as a result of human settlement, when a built environment, together with the activities associated with it, affects animals and other natural agents that in turn have an impact on plant dispersal (Rashford 1991, 19). Generally, it is difficult to prove human incidental dispersal on an archaeological site. Knowledge of the processes of incidental dispersal, however, can provide clues to recognizing a Taíno site. For instance, at the Meillacan site at Paradise Park, Westmoreland, there is a very large silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra), 26 m tall. In Jamaica, the silk cotton tree is naturally found at ele- T HE E XPLOITATION AND T RANSFORMATION OF J AMAICA’ S N ATURAL V EGETATION 111
vations above 300 m (Adams 1972); yet the Paradise Park site was a coastal settlement. The majority of known Taíno sites are located in the interior valleys and coastal plains (Atkinson 2002), which were the first places for human settlement. Many former Taíno sites were settled upon by the Spanish and subsequently by the British, and are now in built-up areas, as illustrated by Seville, St Ann, and Spanish Town, St Catherine. It is only in remote areas away from human disturbance that one could begin to search for evidence of incidental dispersal. Conclusion Traditionally, faunal analysis has predominated in archaeological investigation, and floral analysis has been sidelined. However, the development of the discipline of palaeoethnobotany is bringing about a change in attitude towards the importance of floral evidence. In Jamaica, a great deal of useful information can be obtained through the analysis of macro- and microbotanical remains. It has become obvious that we have barely scratched the surface of the evidence regarding the importance of flora to the Taíno, as plants had medicinal, subsistence and religious roles as well as food value. There is also the issue of the Taínos’ impact on the natural environment, which was briefly discussed in this chapter. The Taínos’ role in the introduction of new flora has been considered minimal in comparison with that of the Europeans; however, it is now recognized that the presence of cassava, maize and other nonindigenous plants indicate that they did contribute, directly or indirectly, to the present vegetation of Jamaica. Figure 7.7 Members of the Paradise Park 2001 excavations measuring the Ceiba tree at the Meillacan site. From left: Bill Rogers, Dan Keegan, Bill Keegan, Ralph Pax, Mary Lou Pax, Bob Gezon, Nadia Manning and Lesley-Gail Atkinson. (Courtesy of William F. Keegan.) 112 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
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Table 2.2 Neutron Activation Analys
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Plain may have played a role in the
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Table 2.3. Taíno Sites in the King
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contractors to drill and blast for
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chipped away. It is believed that t
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Figure 3.4 JNHT excavations at Chan
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Test Pit 6 Depth 40 cm. This is a s
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19.375 19.275 1 CHANCERY HALL, JAMA
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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 110 and 111: Shoreline On the north coast, there
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 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
Page 160 and 161: in a lack of suitable rocks, so tha
Page 162 and 163: A surprising conclusion of the pres
Page 164 and 165: Figure 10.1 Redware, White Marl and
Page 166 and 167: triangular ridges. It is thought th
Page 168 and 169: (also see Figure 10.6), loop handle
Page 170 and 171: 11 Jamaican Redware J AMES W. LEE A
Page 172 and 173: only if planted at exactly the corr
Page 174 and 175: Handles Handles may be classified i
Page 176 and 177: 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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