The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

Changing Subsistence Strategies
The overall faunal assemblage depicts a localized exploitation of typical
West Indian dry-coastal and shallow-water animal communities. S-5 is
within a short distance of areas inhabited by the primary terrestrial and
aquatic target species identified in the analysis. Limestone karst areas
favoured by Geocapromys and Cyclura dominate the south-coast landscape.
Marine edge, shallow bay and brackish water areas, inshore reefs and sandbottomed
shallow seas are all easily available and heavily exploited. The
absence of the distant montane and pelagic species indicates a restricted
catchment area, suggesting a highly supportive local environment and relative
self-sufficiency.
The shift toward greater use of fish and marine molluscs and the concomitant
decrease in abundance of crabs in later levels reveal an increased
reliance on marine organisms over terrestrial ones. An interesting exception
is Callinectes, the blue crab, whose representation in the sample decreases in
concert with the terrestrial Cardisoma and Gecarcinus. Since these crabs are
ubiquitous in stream mouths, estuaries and shallow embayments, their capture
may be viewed as a simple extension of terrestrial gathering, explaining their
disappearance along with that of the soldier crabs.
The dramatic shift in emphasis at Rodney’s House from land to marine
food species may indicate an over-exploitation of terrestrial habitats of low
intrinsic productivity. Modern crab populations can be easily over-harvested
and are jealously guarded in the Cayman Islands (R. Franz, Florida Museum
of Natural History, personal communication). However, a brief examination
of the occurrence of unfused long-bone epiphyses in the Geocapromys sample
did not indicate a shift in age classes captured. In support of this, the fish
vertebrate did not show a decrease in size through time, which would have
suggested over-harvesting of the resource base.
Another explanation of the faunal shift may be cultural. A review of the
ceramic chronology outlined by Wilman (1978) reveals that filleted rims on
clay vessels begin appearing at the site in level 3, indicating a change in complexion
of the human population and suggesting the possibility of disruption
or alteration of subsistence activity. The seeming return to an earlier (or more
terrestrial) pattern of faunal use may point to an influx of people unfamiliar
with the local marine resources, or to a more general use of all habitats as a
result of increased human population pressure. A third explanation may be
that terrestrial animal population levels recovered in response to decreased
hunting pressure as marine environments were increasingly utilized, and subsequently
were re-exploited.
E ARLY A RAWAK S UBSISTENCE S TRATEGIES:THE R ODNEY’ S H OUSE S ITE OF J AMAICA
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