The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Descriptions of Jamaican Redware were based on pottery recovered during excavations at the Little River site in 1933 (De Wolf 1953). The Little River site was the first at which Redware pottery was identified, although since then a number of Redware sites have been discovered, primarily along the south coast. The Alligator Pond site is a good example (Silverberg, Vanderwal and Wing 1972). Howard (1950) reported the Little River style as being part of the Ostionoid series, and the White Marl and Montego Bay styles as part of the Meillacoid series. Rouse has since modified his classification system to include subseries, apparently based on his belief that all of the late-period styles were derived from the Ostionoid series. According to the new scheme, there were Ostionan, Meillacan, and Chican subseries of the Ostionoid series (Figure 1.6). In accord with this revised scheme, Jamaican Redware fits in the Ostionan Ostionoid, and White Marl and Montego Bay styles are part of the Meillacan Ostionoid. The main problem with this classification is that new evidence from Haiti indicates that the Ostionan, Meillacan, and Chican subseries are probably separate traditions. Meillacan and Chican apparently developed from an early migration of people or the diffusion of pottery making to archaic groups in the eastern Dominican Republic around 350 BC. The Ostionan subseries did not reach Hispaniola until after AD 600 (Keegan 2003; Veloz Maggiolo and Ortega 1996). The classification system has not, as yet, been modified to account for these new developments. These new data on the origins of the Ostionan and Meillacan subseries are especially important for Jamaican archaeology. It has been assumed, following Rouse, that the Redware peoples changed their style of decorating pottery and transformed themselves into the White Marl people. The new data suggest that there were two separate migrations to Jamaica. The first was by Central Cuba Jamaica Haiti (southwest) Eastern Cuba Haiti AD 1500 AD 1200 Pueblo Carrier Bani White Finca Viejo Marl ? Mellac AD 500 Little River ? Arroyo del Palo Macady Figure 1.6 Local styles in the Ostionan (in black), Meillacan (in dark grey) and Chican (in light grey) subseries, Ostionoid series, for Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica. (Rouse 1992, fig. 14.) T HE D EVELOPMENT OF J AMAICAN P REHISTORY 25
people making Ostionan (Redware) pottery, who arrived on the island after AD 700. The second was by people making Meillacan (White Marl) pottery, and they arrived around AD 1000. The questions that face us concern the interactions between these distinct cultures and the way in which the Meillacan peoples were able to displace the Ostionan peoples who arrived before them. Finally, we need to address why the people near Montego Bay developed a distinct style of pottery decoration. These and other questions concerning the lifeways of the first people on Jamaica are the subject of the next phase of research that began in the 1970s. Sociocultural Research The papers collected in this book reflect sociocultural research, the most recent phase of archaeological investigation as defined by Rouse. This research initially was sponsored by the Archaeological Society of Jamaica, and was published in the society’s newsletter, Archaeology Jamaica (for example, see Wallace 1992). The ASJ began as an Archaeology Club, established by James Lee in 1965. Five years later, with outside support, Lee transformed the organization into the Archaeological Society of Jamaica. James Lee is a remarkable man. Not only did he devote substantial energy to identifying the prehistoric cultural resources of Jamaica, he also published reports on his investigations that provided a foundation for the future (see Lee 1991). During the 1960s and 1970s the main excavation projects were conducted at White Marl (S-1) (Perrins 1981; Silverberg, Vanderwal and Wing 1972), Rodney’s House (S-5) and Port Henderson (S-29) (Wilman 1978, 1979), all in St Catherine. Others were carried on at Bellevue (K-13), St Andrew (Medhurst 1976a, 1976b, 1977a, 1977b; Wing 1977); Cinnamon Hill ( J- 10), St James (Osborne and Lee 1976, 1977; Johnson 1976); and Upton (A- 43), St Ann (Wilman 1983, 1984, 1992). Although most of the members of the ASJ have been avocational archaeologists, their investigations have always been of the highest quality. In addition to visiting newly discovered prehistoric sites and conducting an active programme of prospecting for new sites, a number of the members conducted excavations. During the Lee administration the society focused primarily on the island’s prehistory, which is evident in issues of Archaeology Jamaica from the period. Between 1965 and 1985, James Lee and the ASJ conducted intensive investigations, and subsequently published several articles, on Jamaican prehistoric artefacts, such as Taíno stone celts, pendants, grinding stones and net-sinkers (Lee 1978a; Roobol and Lee 1976, reprinted in this volume). Lee also published research on Taíno buréns or cassava griddles (Lee 1980a) and Jamaican adornos, which are clay heads that adorn the rims of pottery vessels 26 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS
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 and 34: 16 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS two
Page 35 and 36: 18 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS fact
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: Howard (1965) recognized that Redwa
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
Page 87 and 88: SOUTH NEGRIL POINT Savannala-Mar Mo
Page 89 and 90: sudden event. Occupation 3 can be c
Page 91 and 92: dle, a ground stone artefact that m
Page 93 and 94:
- infrastructural development throu
Page 95 and 96:
emoval. Sometimes what is required
Page 97 and 98:
Figure 5.1 Road cutting through the
Page 99 and 100:
Later on the Spanish settled in the
Page 101 and 102:
Figure 5.4 Long Mountain prior to d
Page 103 and 104:
86 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS amon
Page 106 and 107:
6 Notes on the Natural History of J
Page 108 and 109:
Soils Several different soil types
Page 110 and 111:
Shoreline On the north coast, there
Page 112 and 113:
well established, especially in dis
Page 114 and 115:
7 The Exploitation and Transformati
Page 116 and 117:
Art Art can be religious, functiona
Page 118 and 119:
of Long Mountain”, Andreas Oberli
Page 120 and 121:
Figure 7.3 William Keegan explainin
Page 122 and 123:
cedar (Cedrela odorata), santa mari
Page 124 and 125:
According to Rouse, the density of
Page 126 and 127:
17), grows abundantly on the island
Page 128 and 129:
Incidental Dispersal The plant comp
Page 130 and 131:
8 Early Arawak Subsistence Strategi
Page 132 and 133:
and bagged by level. In April of 19
Page 134 and 135:
Table 8.1 Significant Vertebrate an
Page 136 and 137:
tory and habitat preferences. Follo
Page 138 and 139:
Changing Subsistence Strategies The
Page 140 and 141:
Table 8.2 Faunal Comparisons: Per c
Page 142 and 143:
Appendix Table 8.3 Rodney’s House
Page 144 and 145:
Table 8.3 Rodney’s House Faunal L
Page 146 and 147:
Section 3 Analysis of Taíno Archae
Page 148 and 149:
9 Petrography and Source of Some Ar
Page 150 and 151:
The results discussed here were obt
Page 152 and 153:
Petaloid Axes of Arawak Origin from
Page 154 and 155:
Blue Schist The story of Jamaican b
Page 156 and 157:
Coleraine) but also from other majo
Page 158 and 159:
from which several Jamaican artefac
Page 160 and 161:
in a lack of suitable rocks, so tha
Page 162 and 163:
A surprising conclusion of the pres
Page 164 and 165:
Figure 10.1 Redware, White Marl and
Page 166 and 167:
triangular ridges. It is thought th
Page 168 and 169:
(also see Figure 10.6), loop handle
Page 170 and 171:
11 Jamaican Redware J AMES W. LEE A
Page 172 and 173:
only if planted at exactly the corr
Page 174 and 175:
Handles Handles may be classified i
Page 176 and 177:
Two more or less spheroidal pottery
Page 178 and 179:
12 Taíno Ceramics from Post-Contac
Page 180 and 181:
and distribution of native labour w
Page 182 and 183:
Figure 12.2 Distribution of New Sev
Page 184 and 185:
hatching (Figure 12.5c), and closel
Page 186 and 187:
were fired at a low temperature, th
Page 188 and 189:
Figure 12.11 New Seville ware: jug
Page 190 and 191:
ters of the caciques. These politic
Page 192 and 193:
Section 4 Taíno Art Forms ART IS A
Page 194 and 195:
13 The Petroglyphs of Jamaica J AME
Page 196 and 197:
previously described petroglyphs ex
Page 198 and 199:
glyphs in that belt, as the geologi
Page 200 and 201:
Another carving that is unique is t
Page 202 and 203:
Appendix Table 13.2 Jamaican Petrog
Page 204 and 205:
14 Zemís, Trees and Symbolic Lands
Page 206 and 207:
According to Arrom and Rouse (1992)
Page 208 and 209:
The Context of Sacredness Taíno wo
Page 210 and 211:
Kept in niches or on tables within
Page 212 and 213:
Another important correspondence be
Page 214 and 215:
eliefs in the spiritual and life-gi
Page 216 and 217:
References Aarons, G.A. 1983a. Arch
Page 218 and 219:
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
show all

The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?