The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

far inland as Ipswich, St Elizabeth, the Worthy Park sites and Mount Rosser
in St Catherine (see Figure A.1, nos. 76, 180, 181 and 101). They did not,
however, settle in the interior mountain range. It is the general consensus
among Jamaican archaeologists that Taíno sites have the best views. As their
sites are generally panoramic – located overlooking the landscape – it is not
known whether the purpose was defensive or aesthetic. The present research
has illustrated that the Meillacans or White Marl culture were not as dependent
on marine resources as the Ostionans. Although there is evidence that
the Jamaican Redware culture cultivated cassava, it seems that the White Marl
group was more dependent on agrarian resources.
The prehistoric culture that we call the Taíno developed about AD 1200.
Samuel Wilson states that it is difficult to mark the “beginning” of the Taíno
(1997b). Their society emerged as a continuation of the cultural development
that had characterized Caribbean history for several thousand years. Wilson
explains that the Taínos
played the same ball game as their predecessors; their settlements were similar,
although larger and more numerous; and their religious beliefs and rituals were
related to those of their Saladoid and Archaic predecessors. In some cases, their
pottery was different from Ostionoid ceramics in form, style, and decoration,
but in other instances not. (ibid.)
In the past, the Jamaican Taíno were described as having sub-Taíno cultural
traits (Lovén 1935); however, this terminology is no longer used. The term
Western Taínos is now used by Rouse and other scholars to describe the Taíno
culture of Jamaica, central Cuba, and the Bahamas (Rouse 1992, 17). The
term is indicative of a culture less developed than that of the Classic Taínos
of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Despite being characterized as less advanced,
the Jamaican Taínos displayed certain similarities to the Classic Taínos, in
terms of population density, agriculture and class system (Rouse 1948, 1992).
Regardless of whether it is classified as Western or Classic Taíno, Jamaican
cultural development was autonomous with respect to the other islands. This
could be a result of its isolated southward location within the Greater Antilles
(Walker 1992).
Jamaican prehistory is regarded as one of the least studied Caribbean disciplines.
That is not necessarily the case; the fact is that published Jamaican
archaeological research has not had sufficient international circulation. This
has resulted in misconceptions about lack of scope, research activities and
information on the Jamaican Taínos. These misconceptions are discussed and
countered in Keegan and Atkinson’s chapter in this volume. As early as 1897,
J.E. Duerden published an excellent compilation on Jamaican prehistory,
which included various sites and research on the island’s Taíno artefacts.
The mid-1960s saw the creation of two important forums for archaeolog-
6 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS