Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Excavated Sites and Fauna / 121
dae and Arcidae are common in both. The environmental indications are clear.
Keegan also emphasizes the role certain of these shells played in tool production.
But the role they played in the diet of the Pre- Columbian inhabitants is
less sure. In all descriptions of prehistoric sites in Jamaica, shells have loomed
large, because they are so numerous and so visible. Yet, as Keegan says, in most
cases they probably made only a “relatively minor contribution” to the diet. In
the Bahamas, stable isotope analysis has indicated that they provided less than
10 percent of the diet. Thus, they may have served principally as a garnish or
flavoring in stews. Considering the importance that spices of various kinds
have had in human history, this is still not an inconsiderable contribution.
The Lee Collection
In the nature of things, the Lee Collection cannot compare with the faunal
material derived from excavated sites. It consists of surface finds gathered together
over many years. Lisabeth Carlson has studied the collection, and her
complete report is on the CD- ROM. The animal bones total 393, representing
a minimum number of 150 individuals, from 62 sites. Twenty- eight species
and/ or genera are represented. Six are domestic animals that must postdate the
Spanish conquest and clearly indicate admixture. There are three other mammals
(hutía, manatee, dog), three birds (heron, dove, Jamaican brown owl), five
reptiles (freshwater turtle, green turtle, crocodile, iguana, and snake, identified
only as Alsophis sp.), nine fish, and two land crabs (both black and white). The
full list is given in Table 2 of Carlson’s report. As she says, there are various biases
inherent in the collection strategy, which favored large and usually identifiable
bones. Because of this, fish are undoubtedly underrepresented, although
they and hutía are still the most common of the remains. Green turtle and manatee
were probably easily recognized, particularly manatee ribs, which were
often used by the Taíno to make artifacts.
As Carlson points out, for a sample to provide a reasonably complete picture
of the fauna prevalent at any particular site, there must be a minimum of
1,400 bones and an MNI of 200. The largest single sample in the collection
comes from Rowe’s Corner (M3) with 63 identified bones, of which more than
half are hutía. This is nowhere near the amount needed, and from many of the
sites we have only single bones. The report, therefore, is primarily a catalogue or
index of species. A possible exception to this is the material collected from three
undisturbed cave sites that were discovered by Lee and his colleagues, Spot Valley
Cave (JC7), Taylor’s Hut (CC15), and Belle Air (AC4). The small collec-