Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Excavated Sites and Fauna / 115
At White Marl, as Wing demonstrated, terrestrial remains were clearly dominant,
with 62 percent of the total MNI. Hutía alone accounted for 50 percent.
The next most important category is inshore species with 25 percent. Principally
these are fish, although manatee and alligators are also included. Bank and
reef fish account for a further 10 percent. Wing comments that the inshore species
mullet and tarpon must have been caught using seine nets, which implies
the use of net sinkers. There is a contrast between this site and Bellevue on the
one hand and the two north coast sites, Bengal and Rio Nuevo, on the other.
At Bellevue, taking layers 2 and 3 together, terrestrial remains account for no
less than 90 percent of the total MNI, practically all of these being hutía. The
remaining 10 percent is made up almost entirely of inshore species. The picture
on the north coast is different. The sample from Bengal is rather small,
but bank and reef fish dominate with 62 percent of the total MNI. Five percent
are inshore species, but, significantly, 8 percent are offshore or pelagic fish,
principally tuna. Terrestrial remains are down to 22 percent. A similar picture
emerges at Rio Nuevo. Here bank and reef fish account for 52 percent of the
total MNI; 16 percent are inshore species, and once again 8 percent are offshore
or pelagic fish. Terrestrial remains amount to 21 percent. As at White
Marl, seine nets must have been used to catch some of the inshore species, and
this is borne out by the large numbers of net sinkers found at the site. Fishing
on the reefs, however, required the use of hooks and lines, and traps, as well as
seine nets.
Analyzing the figures given by Johnson for Cinnamon Hill in the same
way, this site turns out to be very similar to Bengal and Rio Nuevo. Bank and
reef fish account for 65 percent of the total MNI, 8 percent are inshore species,
and as many as 15 percent are offshore or pelagic fish, mainly tuna. Terrestrial
remains amount to 11 percent. The picture is quite different at Upton.
Analyzing the results presented by Fandrich and Scudder, it appears that terrestrial
remains (mainly hutía) are once again predominant, with 74 percent of
the total MNI. Inshore and bank and reef fish are about equally represented,
with 9 and 11 percent respectively. As Scudder and Fandrich say, the inhabitants
of this site pursued a largely land- based subsistence strategy, and insofar
as they exploited marine resources they favored fish that lived in coastal waters
and coral reefs. The parallel with Bellevue and to a lesser extent with White
Marl is quite clear. Finally, the picture at Rodney’s House returns us to a largely
marine environment, but a somewhat different one, with a land- based component
that was not insignificant. Scudder concludes that the overall faunal assemblage
from this site “depicts a localised exploitation of typical West Indian