The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

sudden event. Occupation 3 can be considered to have lasted from about AD
1440 to 1550, assuming that the latter is the practical upper limit for Taíno
settlement of the site. There are no indications of Spanish contact, even in the
uppermost deposits.
The dates in the middle trench are as follows.
Level 2: 70 ± 50 BP modern
Level 3: 750 ± 60 BP (cal AD 1223–1294)
Level 7: 480 ± 80 BP (cal AD 1403–1469)
Burial 1: 670 ± 40 BP (cal AD 1286–1385)
The date for burial 1 is a date determined by accelerator mass spectrometry
(AMS). As can be seen, the dates for the burial and level 3 are similar, and
are broadly comparable to those for occupation 2 in the south trench. The date
for level 7 corresponds with that for occupation 3 in the south trench, and,
on the face of it, there is a stratigraphic inconsistency here. As mentioned
above, however, there is a cut-and-fill situation in this part of the trench, and
we also observed possible signs of disturbance by roots and rodents. These factors
may explain the apparent discrepancy.
In addition to these dates, a number of oxidizable carbon ratio (OCR) age
determinations were obtained for the site, according to the method described
by D.S. Frink (1994). In his work at the Wickliffe site in Kentucky, Kit Wesler
found these determinations reliable and consonant with the radiocarbon dates
(Wesler 2001). At Green Castle there are evident discrepancies between the
two methods, which may be due to the fact that the model used for OCR dating
tends to assume a steady build-up of deposits, and the mode of formation
at Green Castle may have been quite different.
Apart from burial 1 in the middle trench, a burial of a child was discovered
in the south trench, and a small extension on its western side was excavated
so that the inhumation could be uncovered and, eventually, removed.
Burial 2 occurs at a depth of about 35 cm. The date of 430 ± 80 BP (cal AD
1420–1616) was obtained on material in immediate proximity to it; hence evidently
it belonged to occupation 3.
The two burials were analysed and partly excavated by Dr Ana Luisa
Santos, of the Department of Anthropology, Coimbra University (Santos
2001). They are shown in Figures 4.3 and 4.4. Burial 1 is that of an adult,
probably a male, who was interred in a flexed position, with an associated
ceramic vessel at his feet. The individual was lying on his left side, with the
right hand gripping the left forearm. The individual recovered in burial 2 is a
child, with an estimated age at death of about seven years. The inhumation
was in a flexed position, with all the bones from the lower limbs so contracted
as to suggest that he or she may have been bound before burial. The child
72 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS