The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

13
The Petroglyphs
of Jamaica
J AMES
W. LEE
TWENTY-FOUR PETROGLYPH and pictograph sites have been
mapped in Jamaica, and reports of several others remain to be verified. All
occur in limestone terrain and have been worked in soft dripstone of rock
shelters or cave entrances. By far the most common motif is a simple oval face,
incised by a continuous line and three circular depressions to represent eyes
and mouth. Three-dimensional figures on stalagmites or pillars are rare.
Distribution of sites suggests a spatial relationship to the White Marl
(later) phase of Arawak settlement, and this is corroborated by ceramics associated
with cave burials at or near several of the petroglyphs. All sites are particularly
susceptible to vandalism, and only Mountain River Cave has so far
been provided with permanent protection and placed in the care of the
Jamaica National Trust Commission.
History of Site Reports
Early Period
Four petroglyph sites were known in Jamaica before the beginning of the
twentieth century (Duerden 1897). By 1952, three of these locations had been
“lost” to the scientific community as a result of inadequate descriptions in the
early reports and subsequent lack of public interest. The lone exception was
Pantrepant, Trelawny, owned until recently by Mr Frank Roxburgh, whose
wife was the sister of the well-known amateur archaeologist Captain Charles
Cotter. Cotter’s frequent visits to his sister and brother-in-law allowed him
Originally published in 1990, in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress for
Caribbean Archaeology, Puerto Rico, 1985: 153–61.
177