The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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Summary and Conclusion Following development of the Chancery Hall area, Mr George Lechler and his associates rescued some finds from the site. These included the remains of seven human burials, as well as a number of artefacts. In 1992, a charcoal sample from the deposits just north of Horatio Drive, near the boundary between lots 340 and 339, was dated by Beta Analytic to 690 ± 50 BP, equivalent to AD 1260 ± 50. Six test pits in four of the lots were excavated by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust in 1996 (Figure 3.4). The remains of another human burial were discovered in lot 338, as were additional artefacts including a large portion of a griddle. The great majority of the finds were pre-Columbian, but there were also a few historic pieces at the top of the sequence. The depth of deposits in the test pits varied between 40 and 110 cm. In 1998, a team from the University of the West Indies and the University of Leicester undertook a small excavation. A 1 m 2 quadrant was excavated to a shallow depth in lot 340, and a section was drawn at the boundary between lots 386 and 340. The material recovered is mainly of environmental interest, showing how the Taínos exploited the resources in their immediate surroundings. A 7.5-kg sample from layer 3 in the section was analysed in the laboratory at Leicester, confirming that this was a midden largely composed of food waste. While a certain amount of information has been recovered from the site, undoubtedly much more has been destroyed or is no longer available for study as a result of the development that has taken place. It is hoped that in future, when a proposed development will have an impact on an archaeological site, a concerted effort will be made to recover data in advance of construction. Acknowledgements Thanks go to Dr Silvia Kouwenberg and Ms Susan Chung for their assistance with the excavation at Chancery Hall in 1998. T HE P RE-COLUMBIAN S ITE OF C HANCERY H ALL,ST A NDREW 57
Appendix A Laboratory Study of the Remains from Layer 3, Lot 386, Chancery Hall A.J. GOULDWELL Introduction A pre-Columbian shell midden at Chancery Hall was sectioned and excavated to a very limited extent in 1998 by a team from the University of the West Indies and the School of Archaeological Studies at the University of Leicester. A sample of the layer, context CH 98 lot 386: 3, was brought to Leicester for analysis and evaluation of macrofossil content. It was already apparent that the material contained substantial quantities of bone of small mammals and fish, and terrestrial and marine shell. The site is not situated on the coast, hence the marine shell, and very probably the fish, was transported to the site by the inhabitants of the time. Some large land snails were present, and small pieces of charcoal were also observed. Examination of the contents should suggest what resources were being exploited, and this in turn can be expected to raise questions about the relationship between the human inhabitants, their economy and the environment. The macrofossils were divided into classes suitable for analysis. Particular categories of material looked for included wood and other charcoal; crop residues; seeds representing the background vegetation; insects and other arthropods; molluscan shells; and bones of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Materials and Methods The sample was reddish-brown, loamy, with gritty inclusions of charcoal, shell, bones, stone and pot. The total mass was 7.50 kg. The consistency and colour of the sediment, together with the obvious presence of roots, suggested well-oxygenated conditions. This means that the primary mode of archaeological preservation of seeds would be charring rather than waterlogging or desiccation. 58 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
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Acknowledgements I WOULD FIRST like
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Introduction IN JAMAICA, THE indige
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encounter the term Arawaks used to
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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 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: 19.375 19.275 1 CHANCERY HALL, JAMA
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
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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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The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

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