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

5
A New Material to View the Past
Dental Alginate Molds of Friable Artifacts
Charlene Dixon Hutcheson
Introduction
Palmettan Ostionoid pottery, or Palmetto ware dated to a.d. 850–1500 (see Hoffman
1967, 1970), in the Bahama Archipelago is primarily undecorated (Keegan
1997a:39; Rouse 1992:99), although very limited examples of punctate- incised and
molded appliqué occur (Sears and Sullivan 1978). The primary decorations on Palmetto
ware are negative basketry impressions, which occur to a varying degree
(4 to 14 percent) in the reported assemblages. There is some debate concerning
the purposefulness of the basketry impressions (cf. Berman and Hutcheson 2000;
Hoffman 1970; Hutcheson 2001; Keegan 1997a; Rose 1987; Sears and Sullivan 1978).
Regardless of the reason these negative impressions occur, they are invaluable in
the reconstruction of the basketry and textile industries in the pre- Columbian Bahamas
and elsewhere (Drooker 1992, 2001; Petersen et al. 1997), as actual fiber artifacts
are extremely rare (Conrad et al. 2001). Thus, this class of material culture has
been disproportionately underrepresented in archaeological models.
Negative basketry, cordage, fabric, and netting impressions on ceramics provide
an avenue through which these technologies can be studied in the absence
of the original fiber artifacts (Adovasio et al. 2001; Drooker 1992; Hutcheson 2001;
Petersen et al. 1997), and offer the potential for understanding the cultural and political
expressions associated with them (Berman and Hutcheson 2000; Drooker
1992:xiii–xiv; Petersen 1996:2).
Background
In 1995, under the auspices of the Lucayan Ecological Archaeology Project, directed
by Mary Jane Berman and Perry L. Gnivecki, on San Salvador Island (Fig-
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