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

80 / De Mille, Varney, and Turney
Figure 6.1. Location of the Royall’s and Elliot’s sites
on Antigua.
Background
The small Lesser Antillean island of Antigua is unusually geologically diverse,
which has resulted in the presence of archaeologically significant mineral and rock
resources on the island (Murphy et al. 2000). The wealth of stone resources is demonstrated
throughout the entire precolonial archaeological record of the island.
However, the breadth of raw material use and types of artifacts produced are substantially
greater during the Saladoid (a.d. 71 to 900) (Murphy 1999).
The two Saladoid sites of Royall’s and Elliot’s (Figure 6.1) have provided much
of the information known about beads from this time period on Antigua. Most of
the beads were recovered at these sites during surface reconnaissance and excavation
by the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda and the University of Calgary field
school (1997–2001). In addition, a number of beads were borrowed from a private
collection on the island.
Mineral and rock identification was undertaken as an interdisciplinary effort
with Reg Murphy and two geologists from the University of Calgary, Al Levinson
and David Hozjan (Murphy et al. 2000). Two calcite artifacts, a partially drilled
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