Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory
by Phillip Allsworth-Jones
by Phillip Allsworth-Jones
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Cultural Variants / 97<br />
(Howard 1950:155). But he admitted that without “careful, large scale, stratigraphic<br />
excavations,” the “undoubted regional <strong>and</strong> temporal differences” which<br />
existed in <strong>Jamaica</strong> could not be “established accurately.” That remains true<br />
today.<br />
“ Hispanic- Indian”<br />
The presence of “syncretic Hispanic- Indian” ware indicative of coexistence between<br />
the Spaniards <strong>and</strong> the native inhabitants has been demonstrated at New<br />
Seville, as mentioned in Chapter 2. Following the discovery of carved stones<br />
in a well, Captain Cotter excavated the former Spanish governor’s castle or fort<br />
between 1953 <strong>and</strong> 1968 (Cotter 1948, 1956, 1970). The site <strong>and</strong> the fort are<br />
illustrated at Appendixes 51 <strong>and</strong> 52. Cotter’s collection has been restudied by<br />
Robyn Woodward (1988, 2006). It includes 32 sherds <strong>and</strong> seven vessels that<br />
are regarded as syncretic (Appendix 53). These products “combined Old World<br />
ceramic forms with New World ceramic technology” (Woodward 1988:111),<br />
the assumption being that native artisans were put to work to produce some<br />
vessels that corresponded to Spanish tastes. Illustrations of some of the identified<br />
wares are at Appendixes 54–56. So far, however, this is the unique case of<br />
“ Hispanic- Indian” coexistence recorded archaeologically on the isl<strong>and</strong>, no such<br />
evidence having yet come to light at the second Spanish capital, Villa de la Vega<br />
(Mathewson 1972a, 1972b).<br />
Chronology<br />
At the moment, the chronology of <strong>Pre</strong>- Columbian <strong>Jamaica</strong> is founded upon<br />
radiocarbon dates. Such dates exist for six of the White Marl or Montego Bay<br />
sites reported here: White Marl (S1), Bengal (A8), Cinnamon Hill (J10), Chancery<br />
Hall (K11), Aboukir, <strong>and</strong> Sweetwater (Wes15b). In addition there are two<br />
dates for the Redware sites of Bottom Bay (M4) <strong>and</strong> Paradise (Wes15a). Details<br />
concerning the stratigraphic provenance of the dates are given in the list<br />
(Appendix A) of excavated sites, <strong>and</strong> the uncalibrated dates themselves are<br />
quoted there.<br />
By far the most abundant series of dates comes from White Marl, as listed by<br />
Silverberg <strong>and</strong> colleagues (1972). Three dates were quoted for Howard’s middens<br />
2 <strong>and</strong> 3, <strong>and</strong> four each for his trenches A <strong>and</strong> B (Silverberg et al. 1972:
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