The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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Figure 2.1 Taíno sites in the Kingston area small trial excavation at Chancery Hall in 1998, the molluscs from that excavation were examined, and the results are compared with the material already published from Rodney’s House and Bellevue. Second, an initial study of pottery from six of the sites has been carried out using neutron activation analysis (NAA), and preliminary results from that study are also presented here. It is hoped that the pattern of interdisciplinary investigation employed in this study, using geographical units larger than the individual site, can be extended to throw light on the pre-Columbian occupation of Jamaica in general. The Kingston Area: Geographical Background The area with which this study is concerned is illustrated in Figure 2.1. In the centre is the Liguanea Plain, crossed by a number of gullies, and now occupied by the sprawling mass of the city of Kingston itself. To the north and east it is bounded by an arc of hills, notably the Red Hills, Jacks Hill, Dallas Mountain and Long Mountain. The Hope River runs to the sea in a gorge between the last two. To the west, where once there was a morass, the Salt and Fresh rivers and the Rio Cobre enter the sea at Hunts Bay. The Rio Cobre, canalized in the mid-nineteenth century, once joined the Fresh River in its course to the sea (Edward Robinson, personal communication, 1999). Port T HE TAÍNO S ETTLEMENT OF THE K INGSTON A REA 35
Henderson Hill lies to the south, opposite the present Port Royal. Geologically, Port Henderson Hill, the Red Hills, Dallas Mountain and Long Mountain are all formed of Tertiary limestone, whereas Jacks Hill and the mountains rising to the northeast are of Cretaceous-Tertiary granodiorites, andesites and volcaniclastic and clastic sediments (Matley 1951; Green 1977; Gupta and Ahmad 2000). The Liguanea Plain represents an alluvial fan that was produced by sediments carried by the Hope River before it was diverted into its present channel (Wood 1976). It is possible that Sandy Gully marks its former course. It is not known exactly when the drainage took on its present form, but presumably it was essentially as it is now during the time of the Taíno occupation. According to Claypole (1973), the Liguanea Plain was largely unsettled and uncultivated immediately prior to the English occupation in 1655: “No springs or rivers flowed in or across the centre portion which was composed mainly of a dry savanna area”. One result of the Hope River capture was the formation of the Palisadoes tombolo, made up of increased sediment entering the sea southeast of Long Mountain and transported west by longshore drift. According to Hendry (1978), Port Royal has at times been joined to the rest of the Palisadoes and at times been separated from them. Taíno Sites in the Kingston Area The sites are arranged in an arc around Kingston, and are listed in Table 2.3 in their approximate order from west to east (Figure 2.1). The code names (where applicable) are those assigned to them by Dr J.W. Lee. If Molynes Mountain and Long Mountain are both considered as two sites, then there are eighteen major open-air locations characterized as shell middens, two burial caves, one stray find of a petaloid celt, one known raw-material source and one site where a canoe considered to be of Taíno origin was found. Some of the open-air sites were already known by the end of the nineteenth century and were commented on by Duerden (1897). Now they either are difficult to access because they are in socially volatile areas (Wareika and Rennock Lodge) or have been partially or totally built over (Norbrook and Hope Tavern). Of the sites discovered later, Harbour View is also largely inaccessible, Naggo Head has been totally destroyed by quarrying, and the few finds from Stony Hill were found only after the house on the site “Fort George” had been demolished. Other sites (Caymanas Bay, Molynes Mountain, Jacks Hill, Ivor, Long Mountain) are apparently still largely intact but have not been systematically investigated and are known only thanks to the work of interested amateurs. The major excavated open-air sites are Rodney’s House, Chancery Hall, Bellevue and Tower Hill, and these have produced both artefactual and 36 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 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: 2 The Taíno Settlement of the King
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
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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
Page 126 and 127:
17), grows abundantly on the island
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Incidental Dispersal The plant comp
Page 130 and 131:
8 Early Arawak Subsistence Strategi
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and bagged by level. In April of 19
Page 134 and 135:
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
Page 148 and 149:
9 Petrography and Source of Some Ar
Page 150 and 151:
The results discussed here were obt
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Petaloid Axes of Arawak Origin from
Page 154 and 155:
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
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
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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
Page 174 and 175:
Handles Handles may be classified i
Page 176 and 177:
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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