The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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tory and habitat preferences. Following are summaries of such information pertinent to the most significant species identified in the Rodney’s House faunal material. Geocapromys is a large (up to 2 kg) herbivorous rodent, once abundant in Jamaica and now nearly extinct. It is nocturnal and social, preferring areas that include exposed limestone outcrops, the crevices of which are used as refuges. Conies may breed throughout the year, usually producing one young per litter. They feed on leaves, bark and twigs of small shrubs, sometimes climbing up into the plants to reach forage (Walker 1975). Oryzomys antillarum, the Jamaican rice rat, was a small diurnal seedeater, also eating grass, fruit and invertebrates. It has not been seen in Jamaica since 1877, just five years after the mongoose was introduced to the island to help control the rat population in sugar-cane fields (Hall 1981). The land iguana, or guana, is a large (approximately 4 to 5 kg) herbivorous lizard. It is diurnal, like the coney preferring limestone karst areas for protection among the natural crevices and tree roots. One clutch of eggs is laid per year, and data on the Turks and Caicos iguana (data not available on the Jamaican species) suggest that they are very long-lived, not reaching sexual maturity until the seventh year (Iverson 1979). The Jamaican iguana has been considered extinct on the island since the early 1940s, although a small population has maintained itself in the Hellshire Hills on the south coast (Carey 1975). The green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, is most easily caught as the females lay eggs on sandy beaches. Once nest digging commences, the females are completely vulnerable, being single-mindedly focused on the task at hand. Nest excavation and egg laying may take most of the night, providing ample opportunity for predation by hunters. The nesting season for the West Indies, according to Carr (1952), is May through October. Crocodylus acutus, the saltwater crocodile, occurs in mangrove swamps and marshes. It has been documented in archaeological sites on the south coast only (Wing 1972) and may never have occurred on the north coast. Two of the most common families of bony fish, Sparidae and Gerreidae, are bottom-dwelling invertebrate feeders, preferring shallow, quiet waters with or without reefs. Diapterus may be found over muddy bottoms in brackishwater areas (Randall 1968). Haemulidae, the grunt family, forms dense aggregations on small patch reefs during the day, whereas at night individuals disperse to feed over sand and grass flats (Randall 1968). Some species of Haemulon exploit mud bottoms in brackish areas. The fish genus most closely tied to the reef environment is Balistes, the triggerfish. The arrangement of interlocking dorsal spines on this fish is specifically adapted to offer protection from predators: when threatened, the E ARLY A RAWAK S UBSISTENCE S TRATEGIES:THE R ODNEY’ S H OUSE S ITE OF J AMAICA 119
120 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS fish swims into reef crevices, and its spines enable it to wedge itself in. Triggerfish occasionally venture out into clear sand areas. Centropomus, the snook, is most often encountered in freshwater or brackish areas of river mouths, or in mangrove swamps or salt marshes (Hoese and Moore 1977). They are occasionally found on inshore reefs near mangrove areas. Lutjanidae (snappers) and Carangidae (jacks) are carnivorous predators. Snappers are usually nocturnal, feeding primarily over offshore reefs and banks (Randall 1968). The genus Lutjanus prefers the shallowest water of the group, and L. griseus actually spends most of its time inshore. Unfortunately, the faunal material was not well enough preserved to allow identification to the species level, so this zoogeographic information could not be accessed. Carangids are schooling predators that may use the reef as a foraging area but do not reside there. Caranx hippos are sometimes scavengers in areas of human use (Hoese and Moore 1977). Cardisoma and Gecarcinus of the family Gecarcinidae are large terrestrial scavengers sometimes called soldier crabs. Cardisoma may reach maximum carapace length (posterior to anterior margins, at midline) of 90 mm, and Gecarcinus attains a maximum of 70 mm. Cardisoma inhabits the lower floodplains of rivers and other low-lying areas. Individuals construct burrows that penetrate the water table, and under threat, will plunge beneath the water to avoid danger. During daylight hours they rarely wander more than a metre from their burrows, though at night they roam considerable distances (Chace and Hobbs 1969). Gecarcinus occurs at higher elevations than Cardisoma, though the young of both species sympatrically inhabit the talus slopes at the bases of cliffs. Adults prefer cliffs and hills inland from the coastal lowlands. They emerge from their shallow burrows at night, especially after rain. Callinectes, the blue crab, is found in freshwater stream mouths, estuaries and shallow ocean settings. It is a diurnal scavenger that tolerates great extremes of salinity (ibid.). Some species are more tolerant than others of muddy or polluted conditions. Both Arca and Ostrea can be found attached to hard substrates or mangrove roots in quiet-water areas (Emerson and Jacobson 1976). Donax, the coquina clam, inhabits wave-wash areas of sandy beaches, actively burrowing and being carried about the midtide line by wave action. They can be easily gathered in great quantities at certain localities. Chama may be found attached by the left valve to hard substrates below the tideline in warm, shallow waters. The right valve is often thrown onto shore during storm tides (Emerson and Jacobson 1976). Cittarium and the nerites cling to wave-washed rocks and may be found in dense groups. Melongena is an active predator and scavenger, usually frequenting sandy, shallow areas.
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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
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Table 3.1 All Recovered Organic Mat
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of slim, more or less parallel shap
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Table 3.5 Fish Bone Anatomical Part
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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 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 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
Page 178 and 179: 12 Taíno Ceramics from Post-Contac
Page 180 and 181: and distribution of native labour w
Page 182 and 183: Figure 12.2 Distribution of New Sev
Page 184 and 185: 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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