The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

Figure 11.1 Map of Jamaican Redware sites (prior to 1980)
(Figure 11.1). Midden material in sites usually commences at the high-water
mark and extends at most only a few hundred metres inland. Other features
common to most Redware sites are that they are on or very near a sandy
beach; that midden deposits are shallow, generally less than 10 cm; that middens
are surrounded by a wide “halo” of small potsherds; and that the sites are
close to a supply of fresh water.
The choice of village locations at or near sea level contrasts with the later
White Marl people’s preference for hilltops. Although many White
Marl–type middens are also shallow, the major sites contain deposits 2 m or
more thick, indicative of either long or repeated periods of occupation. The
shallow depth of midden accumulation points to a relatively short term of
activity at every Redware site.
The maximum midden thickness personally observed is about 25 cm. In
the majority of cases, modern cultivation by small farmers has disturbed practically
the entire stratum of original midden material. The hot, dry climate of
the Alligator Pond–Black River area (St Elizabeth) obviously appealed to the
Redware people, for along this 40-km belt are eight of eleven occupation sites.
Rainfall of 35 to 50 cm annually is poorly distributed seasonally and, consequently,
the area does not produce food crops readily – cassava being the one
exception able to withstand the long droughts. A few vegetables will mature
154 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS