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

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ucts, like starch grains, phytoliths, resins, ochre, hairs, feathers, or collagen. For the
present study focus was laid on phytoliths and starch grains.
Phytoliths are silica bodies that form in plants. Soluble silica from the groundwater
is absorbed by the roots and carried up into the plant. This silica precipitates
in and around the cellular walls and copies the morphology of the cell or cell
groups. When the plant decays, phytoliths can be preserved in the soil over long
periods of time. They are subject to mechanical breakage, erosion, and deterioration
in high pH soils, but survive in heavily leached and oxidized tropical soils
(e.g., Piperno 1988). Phytoliths are not species- specific, like pollen, but their morphology
and size can inform us on plant families and genera, on plant parts, and
possible domestication. Phytolith analysis can be used as a supplement to pollen
and macrofossil analysis.
Starch grains can inform us on processed roots, tubers, seeds, or starchy plants
like palm, especially because some of these plants do not leave pollen or phytoliths.
As a general rule, starch grains from roots and tubers have eccentric hila
(which means that their hilum, which often appears as a dark spot under the microscope,
is off- center). Seeds, in contrast, usually produce starch grains with centric
hila (Scott Cummings 2006).
Case Study: Plum Piece
Archaic Age occupation of the Antilles is mainly known from coastal sites. Plum
Piece, in the northwestern part of Saba, one of the northern Lesser Antilles, is an
inland site with evidence of Archaic Age occupation in a tropical forest setting,
400 m above sea level (Hofman and Hoogland 2003; Hofman et al. 2006) (Figure
10.1). The site, which has been excavated from 2001 onward, consisted of dense
midden deposits and dates from approximately 3300 b.p. The variety of exploited
food resources seems to be rather restricted, as the deposits mainly consist of terrestrial
faunal remains (land crab and bird), while fish and shellfish (marine resources)
are nearly absent (Van den Bos 2006). Therefore, it is suggested that single
groups recurrently occupied the site seasonally, alternating with sites in the coastal
area. The inland site may have been used for specific activities, like woodworking
for the building of dugout canoes (Hofman and Hoogland 2003; Hofman et
al. 2006).
The tools found on the site include shell adzes, large quantities of flaked- flint
tools, and hard stones for hammering, pounding, battering, and grinding, all made
of volcanic rock. These rocks were carried up the mountain from the seashore.
There are also coral artifacts and fragments of red ochre.
The sizeable number of hard stone tools suggests that plants were processed
at the site, either for consumption or for the extraction of fibers for the manu-
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