The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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Figure 3.3 Beads associated with the skull. (Archaeological Society of Jamaica.) The bones were sent to Dr Elizabeth Wing (University of Florida), who identified them as belonging to a human infant. They included the distal end of a femur and the proximal ends of an ulna and radius. There were several ribs. Also present were bones belonging to a hutia (Geocapromys brownii, right acetabulum) and molluscs, including two large land snails (E.S. Wing, letter to author, 10 December 1991). Also unearthed was a single skeleton – the skull of which was rescued by Mr Errol Rhone, one of the workers on the site. His fellow workers, thinking that he was going to work obeah with the skull, crushed it into pieces, but the shattered remains were brought to George Lechler. On later examination, Lechler found four small beads associated with these remains (Figure 3.3), which convinced us that this was indeed a Taíno burial. Faunal Remains There were thousands of shells on the site, as is the case on many Taíno middens. But in addition, this site contained some unusual remains. In mid-1993, Lechler was given a fragmented animal skull, which was badly broken and clearly not complete. Lechler was puzzled by what appeared to be a double row of molars in the lower jaw. A portion of the skull was sent to Dr Wing, who identified it as a young manatee, measuring 1.5 to 1.8 m in length (Wing 1994). As far as Lechler is aware, this is the first time the remains of a manatee have been discovered on a Jamaican Taíno site. A triton shell about 11 cm in diameter at its widest part and 19 cm long was also discovered (Reid and Lechler 1993). The apex, or narrow end, was T HE P RE-COLUMBIAN S ITE OF C HANCERY H ALL,ST A NDREW 49
chipped away. It is believed that this was a musical instrument, a horn that could have been used for signalling over long distances. A second shell, similar to the first but smaller, was also found. Conch-shell horns are, of course, still known in both Jamaica and Haiti, and Lechler has used them as a means of informing people that blasting is about to take place. Artefacts Many petaloid celts of various sizes, grinding stones, pottery sherds and griddles, amulets, pendants, beads and other objects have been found. A piece of bone carved to represent a dog’s head was recovered, as was a round, grooved sandstone object of unknown significance. In addition, three clay zemís and a sandstone zemí were found, as well as bits and pieces of several more zemís of the same type. The sandstone zemí is 9 cm high, 6.8 cm wide, and 5.3 cm thick from front to back. It has round inlet eyes, which Lee suggested might have been designed to hold gold leaf, and an elaborate crosshatched hair design. One of the clay zemís is particularly striking. It is 8.6 cm high, with a typical Taíno “skull face” encircled by a dotted headdress. The body has no arms or legs, and is rounded at the bottom. A piece of galena (lead-zinc ore), probably originating from the Papine area, was recovered. This ore is also known to be found elsewhere in the St Andrew area – for instance, at Smokey Vale, Belvedere. Dating In 1992, a charcoal sample was collected from the deposits just north of Horatio Drive near the boundary between lots 340 and 339 and sent to Miami for carbon-14 dating. Dr Jerry J. Stipp of Beta Analytic Inc., where the tests were carried out, reported a date of 690 ± 50 BP or AD 1260 ± 50. Dr Stipp’s report revealed that some intrusive rootlet contamination was present in the initial sample. After washing away all associated and adhering mineral matter, the charcoal pieces were lightly crushed for increased surface exposure; all remaining rootlets were removed by combination of flotation and handpicking. The charcoal was then chemically treated by repeat-soakings in dilute hot acid and alkali solutions to remove any carbonate or humic acid contaminants. After final thorough rinsing to neutrality in hot distilled water, the clean charcoal was gently dried, synthesized to benzene, and counted for radiocarbon content. The sample was of good quality and quantity, and all analytical steps proceeded normally. 50 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS
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The Earliest Inhabitants
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University of the West Indies Press
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Contents List of Illustrations / ix
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Illustrations A.1 Map of the sites
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13.2 Petroglyphs from Coventry and
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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 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: contractors to drill and blast for
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
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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
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17), grows abundantly on the island
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Incidental Dispersal The plant comp
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8 Early Arawak Subsistence Strategi
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and bagged by level. In April of 19
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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
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9 Petrography and Source of Some Ar
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The results discussed here were obt
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Petaloid Axes of Arawak Origin from
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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
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in a lack of suitable rocks, so tha
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A surprising conclusion of the pres
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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
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Handles Handles may be classified i
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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
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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
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———. 1988. Ulysses’ Sail: A
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———. 1983b. Adornos, Jamaica
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Porro, A. 1994. Social organization
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Scudder, S. 1992. Early Arawak subs
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Wing, E.S., and A.B. Brown. 1979. P
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Rouse, I. 1982. Ceramic and religio
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M. John Roobol, is a consultant geo
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