The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

22 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS
decoration and other artefacts were found. In essence, the change in emphasis
reflected a shift from quality to quantity. On the one hand, the discovery of
exotic artefacts is a rare occurrence akin to winning the lottery; on the other,
archaeological sites are common in Jamaica, and new ones can be found with
relatively little effort.
Howard’s dissertation (1950) describes in detail archaeological investigations
that had been conducted before 1950. In this regard it provides an
important starting point for an inventory of archaeological sites and descriptions
for material remains. He recorded seventy-five midden sites, twentyseven
cave sites, and nine rock art sites. His inventory and references to the
original publications on these sites are reported in Tables 1.1–1.3 (see appendix).
We include these tables to provide present and future researchers with
the sources for research up to that date.
In his later publications Howard (1956, 1965) fitted Jamaican archaeology
into the dominant classification scheme of the time. It is worth reiterating
that his scheme was based on Rouse’s taxonomy, which identified a single
line of development for the islands. Other archaeologists identified every different
pottery series as representing the migration of a new group of people
into the West Indies (see Keegan 2000). In contrast, Rouse has always maintained
that there was a single line of development, that each new pottery series
developed from the previous series and that new immigrants were not responsible
for the observed changes (Siegel 1996).
According to Rouse’s scheme at the time, the first Ceramic Age peoples in
the islands were the Saladoid (named for the Saladero site on the Orinoco
River in Venezuela). They reached Puerto Rico about 400 BC but did not
expand into Hispaniola, and there was no further movement to the west, until
after AD 600. Rouse (1986) described the failure of pottery-making to expand
westward at this time as evidence for a “frontier” at the Mona Passage. By AD
600 a new pottery series had developed, which Rouse called Ostionoid
(named for the Punta Ostiones site in Puerto Rico). The Ostionoid peoples
began a new phase of population movement, expanding into Hispaniola,
Cuba, the Bahamas and Jamaica after AD 600. The Ostionoid series is distinguished
by simple hemispherical and boat-shaped vessels, frequently decorated
with red paint (see Figure 1.2). For this reason the pottery is often called
Redware.
Rouse (1986) at one time concluded that the Ostionoid series then developed
into the Meillacoid series (named for the Meillac site in Haiti), through
the abandonment of red paint and the adoption of fine-line incised and
appliqué decorations. The change occurred in central Hispaniola, and the new
form of decoration spread to Cuba and Jamaica. Rouse views this transition as
the spread of new ideas about decoration rather than the actual movement of