The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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are typical of the unique Jamaican canteen. As De Booy noted, despite the similar use of incision and appliqué decorations, the pottery in Jamaica is considerably different from that found on neighbouring islands. Land snails (Pleurodonte acuta) were the dominant molluscs in the deposits, but marine taxa (Arca, Strombus and Fasciolaria) were also observed. A year later, G.C. Longley (1914) provided supplementary information to De Booy’s Jamaican investigations. The initial phase of archaeological investigation consisted of simple descriptions of site locations and artefacts from pre-Columbian sites. For example, Sven Lovén (1932) reported the discovery of projectile points (“stone dart points”) from Old Harbour, St Catherine. Projectile points are not common in West Indian sites, and there is some question as to what these mean in terms of Jamaican archaeology (Harris 1991). Some effort was made to interpret how the native peoples of Jamaica might have lived by using the reports from the early Spanish chroniclers (Sherlock 1939); however, there was little attempt to determine the accuracy of the Spanish characterization of the Taíno. Moreover, because the Spanish tended to report that all of the peoples on these islands were the same, there has been a tendency among ethnohistorians to generalize as well. For example, religious beliefs recorded among the Macorix of central Hispaniola have been used to characterize Taíno religious beliefs on all of the islands (see Bourne 1906). This phase of investigation had run out of steam by the 1930s. Lovén (1935) published an encyclopaedic summary of ethnohistoric reports and archaeological investigations, The Origins of the Taínan Culture, West Indies.By the time this synthesis was published, there seemed to be nothing new that could be learned from collecting the artefacts of Jamaica’s prehistoric peoples. Thus, the 1930s saw a shift in interest toward Jamaica’s Hispanic heritage (Aarons 1983b, 1984), epitomized by the work of Charles S. Cotter. After the 1940s, archaeological interest was focused on the historic sites, primarily Port Royal, Kingston and Sevilla la Nueva (New Seville), St Ann. Chronological Order Initial efforts to arrange the events of the past in historical order were based on the development of “relative” chronologies. One of the basic principles of archaeology is the law of superposition, which states that the deepest artefacts in a deposit generally are the oldest. In a midden (garbage heap), for instance, later deposits bury the first objects discarded. There is always the possibility that later activities can disturb the sequence (for example, when a burial pit is dug into existing deposits), but with careful attention to the integrity of strata, the observer can identify such disturbances. By developing sequences of arte- T HE D EVELOPMENT OF J AMAICAN P REHISTORY 17
18 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS facts, from the most deeply buried to those closest to the surface, it is possible to develop a “relative” chronology, with the oldest materials at the bottom and the youngest at the surface. By 1950, Willard Libby had developed a technique for “absolute” dating, which enabled the calendar year in which an organic material died to be established, within an error range based on the accuracy of the technique. Yet radiocarbon dating of archaeological deposits in Jamaica has never been a priority. As a result, there are very few absolute dates for any of the sites. Instead, the tendency has been to cross-date material remains on the basis of similarities to previously dated artefact styles. Cross-dating is accomplished by matching artefacts from one site with those from other sites that have been radiocarbon-dated. Over the past decade, scientists have recognized potential sources of error in radiocarbon dates. The method measures concentrations of carbon-14, an isotope of carbon-12 whose abundance in the atmosphere has varied through time. In addition, different living tissues contain different concentrations of C 14 . Various correction factors are now applied to give corrected and calibrated radiocarbon dates, which are given as a mean date ± an error range (for example, one of the dates for the Sweetwater site at Paradise Park is calibrated AD 1430 ± 70). The calibration of radiocarbon dates indicates that the age ranges given for Jamaican cultures may need revision. It should be remembered that radiocarbon dates are not really “absolute”; they come with an error range and are based on statistical probabilities. When atmospheric fluctuations in C 14 are considered, the dates for Jamaican cultures are about a century younger than previous estimates, so some of the dates may need to be adjusted. For example, the AD 650 date, which is used for the beginning of the Little River style, should be revised to around AD 750. In addition, the early dates for the White Marl site (Silverberg, Vanderwal and Wing 1972) – AD 877 ± 95 and AD 934 ± 95 – would calibrate to around AD 1000–1020. These calibrated dates are more consistent with other dates from the site, which range from AD 1150 to AD 1350. We mention these modifications because it is often assumed that radiocarbon dating provides absolute dates for material, and such is not the case: radiocarbon dates indicate only a range of possibilities for the timing of past events (see Davis 1988). Research in Jamaica is more characteristic of the culture-historical approach, in which the sequence of Redware to White Marl is viewed as an adequate rendering of the cultural sequence. Marion De Wolf in 1933 conducted excavations at three sites in the parish of St Ann: Little River, Little Nigger Ground Hill (Retreat) and Windsor. Twenty years later she highlighted her findings in a report on these excavations entitled “Excavations in
Page 2: The Earliest Inhabitants
Page 5 and 6: University of the West Indies Press
Page 8 and 9: Contents List of Illustrations / ix
Page 10 and 11: Illustrations A.1 Map of the sites
Page 12 and 13: 13.2 Petroglyphs from Coventry and
Page 14 and 15: Preface I HAVE ALWAYS been fascinat
Page 16 and 17: Acknowledgements I WOULD FIRST like
Page 18 and 19: Introduction IN JAMAICA, THE indige
Page 20 and 21: encounter the term Arawaks used to
Page 22 and 23: 90. Long Acre Point 91. Long Mounta
Page 24 and 25: ical publication in Jamaica. Geolog
Page 26 and 27: collections. Knowledge of the prove
Page 28: Section 1 Assessment and Excavation
Page 31 and 32: objective by using a frame of refer
Page 33: 16 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS two
Page 37 and 38: 20 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS the
Page 39 and 40: 22 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS deco
Page 41 and 42: Howard (1965) recognized that Redwa
Page 43 and 44: people making Ostionan (Redware) po
Page 45 and 46: was the recovery of the Aboukir zem
Page 47 and 48: Appendix Table 1.1 Midden Sites Rep
Page 49 and 50: Table 1.2 Cave Sites Reported by Ro
Page 51 and 52: 2 The Taíno Settlement of the King
Page 53 and 54: Henderson Hill lies to the south, o
Page 55 and 56: ivalves. Single gastropod valves we
Page 57 and 58: 40 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS Taí
Page 59 and 60: Table 2.2 Neutron Activation Analys
Page 61 and 62: Plain may have played a role in the
Page 63 and 64: Table 2.3. Taíno Sites in the King
Page 65 and 66: contractors to drill and blast for
Page 67 and 68: chipped away. It is believed that t
Page 69 and 70: Figure 3.4 JNHT excavations at Chan
Page 71 and 72: Test Pit 6 Depth 40 cm. This is a s
Page 73 and 74: 19.375 19.275 1 CHANCERY HALL, JAMA
Page 75 and 76: Appendix A Laboratory Study of the
Page 77 and 78: Table 3.1 All Recovered Organic Mat
Page 79 and 80: of slim, more or less parallel shap
Page 81 and 82: Table 3.5 Fish Bone Anatomical Part
Page 83 and 84: 66 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS Surv
Page 85 and 86:
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
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17), grows abundantly on the island
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Incidental Dispersal The plant comp
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8 Early Arawak Subsistence Strategi
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and bagged by level. In April of 19
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Table 8.1 Significant Vertebrate an
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tory and habitat preferences. Follo
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Changing Subsistence Strategies The
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Table 8.2 Faunal Comparisons: Per c
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Appendix Table 8.3 Rodney’s House
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Table 8.3 Rodney’s House Faunal L
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Section 3 Analysis of Taíno Archae
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9 Petrography and Source of Some Ar
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The results discussed here were obt
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Petaloid Axes of Arawak Origin from
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Blue Schist The story of Jamaican b
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Coleraine) but also from other majo
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from which several Jamaican artefac
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in a lack of suitable rocks, so tha
Page 162 and 163:
A surprising conclusion of the pres
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Figure 10.1 Redware, White Marl and
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triangular ridges. It is thought th
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(also see Figure 10.6), loop handle
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11 Jamaican Redware J AMES W. LEE A
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only if planted at exactly the corr
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Handles Handles may be classified i
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Two more or less spheroidal pottery
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12 Taíno Ceramics from Post-Contac
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and distribution of native labour w
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Figure 12.2 Distribution of New Sev
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hatching (Figure 12.5c), and closel
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were fired at a low temperature, th
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Figure 12.11 New Seville ware: jug
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ters of the caciques. These politic
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Section 4 Taíno Art Forms ART IS A
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13 The Petroglyphs of Jamaica J AME
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previously described petroglyphs ex
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glyphs in that belt, as the geologi
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Another carving that is unique is t
Page 202 and 203:
Appendix Table 13.2 Jamaican Petrog
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14 Zemís, Trees and Symbolic Lands
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According to Arrom and Rouse (1992)
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The Context of Sacredness Taíno wo
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Kept in niches or on tables within
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Another important correspondence be
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eliefs in the spiritual and life-gi
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References Aarons, G.A. 1983a. Arch
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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
Page 226 and 227:
Scudder, S. 1992. Early Arawak subs
Page 228 and 229:
Wing, E.S., and A.B. Brown. 1979. P
Page 230 and 231:
Rouse, I. 1982. Ceramic and religio
Page 232:
M. John Roobol, is a consultant geo
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The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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