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

Functional Analysis of Caribbean Tool Assemblages / 113
Figure 8.7. Toolkit for fishing from Morel, Guadeloupe. a: fishhook made of
shell; b: stone pebble with black residue interpreted as a net sinker.
Another advantage of such an integral approach toward functional analysis, incorporating
different categories of material culture for the presence of use- wear
traces and residue, is that we may be able to reconstruct toolkits. This directly relates
to the technological choices made by the people in the past. At Plum Piece we
found that flint implements and shell celts formed part of the woodworking tool
kit. This seems to be the case in Anse à la Gourde and Morel as well, supplemented
by the incidental use of shell bivalves. It is also clear that shell celts were made with
a toolkit composed of hard stone implements for shaping the rough out, coral
grinding slabs for finishing the blanks, and coral scrapers for rejuvenating the
edges. Flint objects served to roughly shape the blank of shell ornaments and objects
and for making perforations. The blanks were subsequently finished on coral
or hard stone grinding slabs. Shell bivalves, coral tools, and rejected pottery sherds
constituted the toolkit for ceramic production. The toolkit for plant processing
also consists of implements made of different materials: shell bivalves and flint
tools for cutting and scraping, hard stone tools for milling and grinding plant material.
For now it is not entirely clear whether the ubiquitous plant working traces
found on a variety of tools are reflective of subsistence or of craft activities. Future
experiments will hopefully clarify this issue, whereas residue analysis of the starch
and phytoliths may provide clues as well (see Nieuwenhuis this volume).
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