The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

encounter the term Arawaks used to describe the Jamaican Taíno culture.
These references are presented in their original context, as most of the literature
assumed that the indigenous population of Jamaica was Arawak.
The Jamaican Taínos
It is believed that Jamaica was colonized after AD 600 by ancestors of the
Taíno, the Ostionoid culture (Rouse 1992). At present, two of the earliest
known sites on the island are Little River, St Ann, and Alligator Pond
(Bottom Bay), Manchester, dated AD 650 ± 120 (Vanderwal 1968a) (see
Figure A.1, nos. 89 and 4). These sites have been characterized as belonging
to the Ostionan Ostionoid subseries (Rouse 1992) or, as it is called locally,
Redware – a name reflecting its bright red ceramics. James W. Lee has published
articles on the Redware culture in Archaeology Jamaica (see Lee 1980c,
reprinted in this volume).
James Lee noticed that the Redware culture preferred coastal settlements
and illustrated that all but two of the eleven Redware sites highlighted in 1980
were directly on the seashore (ibid.). The two exceptions were located about
1 km inland. Preliminary observations indicate that most of the present
Redware sites are located at elevations of 0 to 15 m above sea level. These sites
are also near the sea or a river source such as Alligator Pond, St Elizabeth, and
Alloa, St Ann, suggesting a dependence on marine resources (Atkinson 2003,
8) (see Figure A.1, nos. 3 and 5). This reliance on the marine environment was
highlighted at the Ostionan site at Paradise Park, Westmoreland (Keegan
2002). According to William Keegan (personal communication, 2001), the
Ostionan deposit contains mostly sea turtles, freshwater turtles, large fish
and shellfish (notably conch) from the seagrass environment. However, in
Jamaica, traditional research on this cultural period has concentrated mainly
on its ceramics and on comparisons with the Meillacan culture.
About three hundred years later another culture, categorized by Rouse
(1992) as the Meillacan Ostionoid, settled on the island. The Meillacan culture,
which is also referred to as the White Marl style after the largest Meillac
site on the island, dated from AD 877 ± 95 to AD 1490 ± 120 (Silverberg,
Vanderwal and Wing 1972). Traditionally, it was felt that the Ostionans were
colonized by the Meillacans and absorbed into the latter cultural group, and
the Ostionan period was believed to have ended around AD 900. However,
recent archaeological investigations at the Sweetwater and Paradise sites at
Paradise Park, Westmoreland (see Figure A.1, no. 119), and other sites across
the island have indicated that the two groups possibly co-inhabited the island.
The settlement patterns of the Meillacans were more diverse than those
of the Ostionans; they settled on the coast but also penetrated the interior as
I NTRODUCTION
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