The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

20 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS
the West Indies. In fact, his methods are highly idiosyncratic, and there are no
other regions on the planet where archaeologists today use his technique. For
this reason, it is imperative that one understand his methods for classifying
archaeological materials. It is essential to understand this system in Jamaica,
as Robert Howard was strongly influenced by Rouse’s methods, and Howard’s
framework for Jamaican culture history continues in use to the present.
Rouse’s method starts with the artefacts and works up. The basic organization
of the chart has space on the horizontal axis and time on the vertical axis
(see Figure 1.1). Temporal positions are determined by stratigraphic relations
(that is, superposition) with calendar years obtained by radiometric dating.
Until recently, relatively few radiocarbon dates were available, so the tendency
has been to cross-date assemblages. However, a number of problems
have been observed, including the selective reporting of dates, the potential
for misdating burials because older potsherds were mixed in the fill, the dating
of potentially contaminated samples, and an over-reliance on mean dates
to the exclusion of standard deviations (Davis 1988).
Space in the chart is organized by island, island group and water passage.
The emphasis on water passages reflects the observation that archaeological
complexes that face each other across passages are more similar than those on
opposite ends of the same island (Watters and Rouse 1989). Names within
the body of the chart distinguish pottery styles that are observed in different
geographical areas. In the absence of pottery, other elements of material culture
are substituted. Styles are defined on the basis of shared “modes”, which
are the basic elements of manufacture and decoration. These styles are then
classified into hierarchical groupings based on shared modes. The highest
order of grouping is series (ending in -oid), which Rouse equates with “peoples
and cultures”. They are distinguished “by comparing their ceramic styles and
associated traits and grouping together peoples that resemble each other most
closely in their styles and in other diagnostic traits” (Rouse 1992, 33). In the
past two decades Rouse recognized the need for a mid-level classification to
characterize smaller geographical units that share similar modes. Thus the
concept of subseries (ending in -an), created by dividing series into smaller
units, was introduced.
Robert Howard’s research in Jamaica in 1947–48 initiated a new period of
interest in Jamaican prehistory. He acknowledged the important contributions
of C.B. Lewis, curator of the Science Museum of the Institute of Jamaica.
Howard introduced Rouse’s taxonomy and, in the process, established a new
mindset for archaeological research on the island. Previous investigations had
emphasized the description of artefacts that were unique and exotic. In contrast,
the culture-historical approach focused on the mundane, everyday artefacts
of life; this approach asked when and where particular forms of pottery