The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

was the recovery of the Aboukir zemís – the most significant Taíno find in two
hundred years (discussed by Saunders and Gray in this volume). Subsequently
there has been renewed interest in Jamaican prehistory, as seen by Elizabeth
Rega at Sommerville Cave, Clarendon, William “Bill” Keegan at Paradise
Park, Westmoreland, and, recently, Betty “Jo” Stokes at Rio Nuevo, St Mary.
Conclusions
Archaeologists throughout the West Indies have begun to move beyond the
simple classification of pottery decorations to ask questions about where
ancient people lived, what they ate, what types of trade they engaged in, how
their economy might be characterized, what types of social relations they had
and how their polities were organized. In this regard, it should be noted that
Jamaican researchers were at the forefront in technical studies. They were
among the first to seek the specific identification of animal bones found in
sites in order to determine what people ate and where the foods were captured
( Johnson 1976; Wing 1977). They used petrographic analysis to identify the
sources of stone artefacts in the sites (Robool and Lee 1976, reprinted in this
volume); and they used X-ray diffraction to characterize the clays from which
pottery vessels were made at the Bellevue site (Medhurst 1976a, 1976b,
1977a, 1977b). In addition, the study of wooden artefacts and of the petroglyphs
and pictographs that decorated cave walls provided information about
the makers’ belief systems and world view (Aarons 1994; Watson 1988;
Saunders and Gray, this volume).
Jamaican archaeology has a long and rich heritage. In fact, its early practitioners
equalled and in some cases surpassed their peers in the United States.
Yet for many years Jamaica was isolated. Caribbean archaeologists tended to
emphasize the earliest Ceramic Age culture, known as Saladoid, and the contact
period “Classic Taíno” cultures of eastern Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto
Rico. Because these cultures did not occur in Jamaica, Jamaican archaeology
was viewed as peripheral to the main archaeological interests in the region.
This lack of interest was initially expressed by calling the peoples of central
Cuba, the Bahamas, the northern Lesser Antilles and Jamaica “sub-Taínos”
(Lovén 1935). Although the term Western Taínos has now been adopted for
the contact period peoples of central Cuba and Jamaica, the legacy of past
research orientations has maintained their peripheral position.
Despite a general lack of interest on the part of foreign archaeologists,
Jamaica developed a model programme of national archaeology through the
combined efforts of the Institute of Jamaica, ASJ, the University of the West
Indies and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. During the past decade,
archaeologists working throughout the West Indies have begun to recognize
28 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS