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

62 / Knippenberg and Zijlstra
Table 4.4. Source Assignment for Chert Artifacts Found at Different Habitation
Sites in the Northeastern Antilles.
Site Island Identi¤ed sources
Sorcè Vieques Long Island, Soldier Point, Coconut Hall, St.
Kitts (?), unknown
Anse des Pères St. Martin Long Island, primary Antigua ®int sources, St.
Kitts (?), unknown
Spring Bay 3 Saba Long Island
Kelbey’s Ridge 2 Saba Long Island
Golden Rock St. Eustatius Long Island, unknown
Sugar Factory Pier St. Kitts Long Island, Soldier Point, Coconut Hall
Trants Montserrat Long Island, Blackman’s Point, Dry Hill, Shirley
Heights (?), unknown
Morel Guadeloupe Long Island, unknown
Anse à la Gourde Guadeloupe Long Island, Coconut Hall
of the Antigua Formation on Antigua, and chert from this source has been most
widely used in the northeastern Lesser Antilles. Especially on the islands close to
Antigua, such as Montserrat, Guadeloupe, and St. Kitts, but also on islands farther
away, Long Island flint makes up the majority of the flaked stone rock. Only at
Sorcé on Vieques is Long Island flint rare. Beyond the Saba- Guadeloupe region, the
abundance of Long Island flint significantly declines, suggesting down- the- lineexchange
(Knippenberg 2006).
The results of artifact trace element analysis furthermore suggest that chert
from other Antigua sources, such as Soldier Point, Blackman’s Point, Coconut
Hall, and Corbison Point/ Dry Hill were also used during prehistory, but they form
only a small fraction of the flaked stone found at habitation sites on Antigua and
adjacent islands.
Chert from St. Kitts has only been tentatively identified in the artifact collection,
and interestingly, the majority of the artifacts of the Sugar Factory Pier site
on St. Kitts, initially believed to stem from the St. Kitts chert, are now assigned
to two Antigua sources, Soldier Point and Coconut Hall. This finding casts serious
doubts on the natural origin of secondary flint scatters found on the island
of St. Kitts, which may well be imported during historic times, for instance as ballast
stones.
None of the analyzed artifacts could be assigned to secondary context sources
in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico. These include a number of artifacts from
the Sorcé site on Vieques. Apparently these sources were of no significance to this
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