The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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Two more or less spheroidal pottery beads have been found in Redware sites – 1 cm and 2 cm in size – each pierced by a hole 2 mm in diameter. The larger one may possibly be a spindle whorl. Other Artefacts Polished petaloid greenstone celts or broken pieces of them have been found in several sites. Brother Michael excavated one 23 cm long in 1966 at Long Acre Point (E-6). A perfect specimen 5.5 cm long was collected at Alligator Pond (E-5) by the author, and three fragments were found by his daughter at the E-4 and M-4 sites. Two off-white chalcedony beads from the E-5 site are cylindrical, about 1 cm in each dimension, and pierced longitudinally by holes 2.5 mm in diameter. An elliptical bead of milky agate found at M-4 is also pierced longitudinally. Two small pendants, or perhaps beads, from Calabash Bay (E-11) were made from a distinctive coarsely crystalline white metamorphic rock with occasional speckles of a jet-black mineral strongly resembling a rock used in the extreme southeastern Caribbean for the manufacture of similar small ornamental trinkets. Such rock is unknown in Jamaica, so there must have been trade or travel to transport these two pieces to our island. Likewise, a small figurine or zemí of white quartzite found at Great Pedro (E-4) is made from a type of rock that does not occur in Jamaica. Pieces of white and greyflaked flint abound but only rarely do any show evidence of wear. Some may have been scrapers, knives or awls,while others are obviously cores from which useful flakes were struck. All have a heavy whitish patina. Three specimens of Oliva reticularis with spire truncated and outer lip pierced were probably once part of either an anklet or wristlet to be shaken during dances. Other possible shell artefacts include cores of various Strombus, which may have been used as crude gouges, and portions of outer lips that resemble spoons or ladles. Thick conch lip fragments may have been intended as clubs. No conch celts, ceramic zemís or large polished stone pendants have been found yet on Redware sites. Food The presence of griddle fragments indicates that cassava was cultivated. Based only on casual examination of midden material, it appears that about a dozen varieties of shellfish provided the bulk of the protein consumed. These are Strombus pugilis, S. raninus, S. gigas, Melongena melongena, Arcopagia fausta, Anadara brasiliana, A. chemmitzi, A. ovalis, Arca imbricate, A. zebra and Donax denticulatus. J AMAICAN R EDWARE 159
Burials No midden burials have been found yet, but two caves are known to have had human bones in close association with Redware potsherds, suggesting that secondary burial in caves was practised at least to a limited degree. There is no evidence that Redware people were responsible for any of the Jamaican petroglyphs or pictographs. Conclusion Having recognized that this early Arawak culture is so different from the later White Marl period, we should identify topics for future study that will enable us to clarify parts of the overall picture that are today still hazy. We should, for instance, obtain more radiocarbon dates to reinforce the single date we now have and to determine the span of occupation by checking ages for several sites. There is no published report of a systematic excavation of a Jamaican Redware site. Limestone areas surrounding the south-coast Redware sites could be explored for burial caves to see whether the practice of secondary burial was rare or common. Most important, there should be exchange of information among the researchers of the Greater Antilles to establish migration routes and comparisons of this culture in its several locations. 160 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
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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
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Acknowledgements Thanks are due to
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SOUTH NEGRIL POINT Savannala-Mar Mo
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sudden event. Occupation 3 can be c
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dle, a ground stone artefact that m
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- infrastructural development throu
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emoval. Sometimes what is required
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Figure 5.1 Road cutting through the
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Later on the Spanish settled in the
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Figure 5.4 Long Mountain prior to d
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86 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS amon
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6 Notes on the Natural History of J
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Soils Several different soil types
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Shoreline On the north coast, there
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well established, especially in dis
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7 The Exploitation and Transformati
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Art Art can be religious, functiona
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of Long Mountain”, Andreas Oberli
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Figure 7.3 William Keegan explainin
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cedar (Cedrela odorata), santa mari
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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 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 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
Page 186 and 187: were fired at a low temperature, th
Page 188 and 189: Figure 12.11 New Seville ware: jug
Page 190 and 191: ters of the caciques. These politic
Page 192 and 193: Section 4 Taíno Art Forms ART IS A
Page 194 and 195: 13 The Petroglyphs of Jamaica J AME
Page 196 and 197: previously described petroglyphs ex
Page 198 and 199: glyphs in that belt, as the geologi
Page 200 and 201: Another carving that is unique is t
Page 202 and 203: Appendix Table 13.2 Jamaican Petrog
Page 204 and 205: 14 Zemís, Trees and Symbolic Lands
Page 206 and 207: According to Arrom and Rouse (1992)
Page 208 and 209: The Context of Sacredness Taíno wo
Page 210 and 211: Kept in niches or on tables within
Page 212 and 213: Another important correspondence be
Page 214 and 215: eliefs in the spiritual and life-gi
Page 216 and 217: References Aarons, G.A. 1983a. Arch
Page 218 and 219: Smithsonian Biological Survey of Do
Page 220 and 221: ———. 1988. Ulysses’ Sail: A
Page 222 and 223: ———. 1983b. Adornos, Jamaica
Page 224 and 225: 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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