Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

108 / van Gijn, Lammers- Keijsers, and Briels
animal, indicate that these shells did not form an important part of the diet. More
likely they were foremost considered as a raw material for tools.
Celts made of Strombus sp. were probably produced on the site. We find both
the production waste and the toolkit involved in their production. The hammer
stones were used to break off and roughly shape the lip of the shell (Fig. 8.3a). The
blanks were then brought into shape by grinding and polishing, using stone and
coral grinding tools with the addition of sand and water. One big slab of coral of
Acropora palmata displayed use- wear traces from polishing shell in a longitudinal
direction, thus serving as a “grinding stone” (Figure 8.3b, c). The “angle abraded
artifacts” of coral may have served to resharpen the edges of the celts during use.
Experiments have shown them to be very effective for this task. Another task at
Gourde seems to have been the manufacture of shell beads from Chama sarda, as
waste products from all stages of production are present (Figure 8.4a). The first
stage of production is breaking up the shell into fragments, probably with a hammer
stone. The flattening was probably done on coral, whereas the perforation was
made with a flint drill (Figure 8.4b). Experiments have shown small drills to be effective
for this task (Figure 8.4c). A few flint flakes display traces of cutting and
drilling shell (Figure 8.4d). These traces were also found on experimental pieces
used to make bell- shaped tinklers.
Wood- and plant working was done with a variety of tools: shell celts for the
rougher tasks, flint flakes and bivalves like Codakia for activities requiring less tool
mass like cutting and scraping, and coral scrapers for polishing and rasping the
wood (Figure 8.5). The use- wear traces demonstrate that the celts were used intensively.
Many (30 percent) display traces of woodworking, both burned and fresh
(Figure 8.5a). They were hafted as axes as well as adzes. Battering on the opposite
side of the edge implicates that celts were also used as wedges. The flint flakes were
used both in a cutting and a scraping/ transverse motion, predominantly on plant,
occasionally on wood (Figure 8.5c, d). Bivalves were mainly used in a scraping or
transverse motion on silicious plants (Figure 8.5b). One species (Tellina radiata)
was used exclusively in a longitudinal cutting motion, most probably on plant. The
hard stone tools had a role in plant processing activities as well, but because only
the Low Power approach was used on this material, the information on contact
materials is limited.
Several abraded potsherds display traces of wear that are attributed to scraping
the inside of pottery vessels (Van Gijn and Hofman in press; see also Lopez Varela
et al. 2002 for an example from Maya context). Several bivalves, notably Codakia,
were used for the same purpose (Figure 8.6a). Coral played a role in pottery production
as well, as some of the “angle abraded artifacts” were used for scraping
clay (Kelly 2003; Kelly and Van Gijn this volume).
The composition of the toolkits used for other activities is less clear. The majority
of the celts studied (70 percent) display a mixture of use- wear polishes. It is
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