Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

128 / Chapter 10.
dens, eight caves, and one of uncertain provenance). Full details are provided
in the report by Santos included as part of the CD- ROM. She has identified
18 of the individuals as adults, 14 as immature, and 14 as uncertain. The specimens
recovered from the caves (such as the ones already mentioned) may well
or certainly did form part of deliberate burials, but this is not certain in the
case of the middens. Some of the sites already mentioned (such as White Marl
and Chancery Hall) are represented, but in the majority of cases we have no
record that these open- air locations contained burials as such. The results for
the sites, Table 13, are provided in terms of numbers of identified specimens
(NISP) and MNI.
The collection includes two skulls, from Taylor’s Hut (CC15) and Bull Savannah
#2 (EC12). They are shown at Appendixes 1 and 3 on skull recording
forms that indicate those parts that are present and their state of preservation.
Metrical details are given in Appendix 2. This table also gives details of
three more skulls: two from a location that has not been precisely identified
in Hellshire, and a second specimen from Bull Savannah #2. These skulls are
housed respectively in the Archaeology Laboratory and the Department of
Anatomy at UWI, but they do not form part of the Lee Collection. It is interesting
to compare the results, but as Santos says, the size of the available sample
does not permit either a statistical analysis or a population characterization.
She has commented in particular on the pathological evidence these remains
reveal (Santos et al. 2002). At Black River West (E12) an increase in thickness
in two fragments of tibiae and in one fibula is regarded as a possible indication
of a treponemal disease. Signs of degenerative joint diseases, such as eburnation
in an atlas and a humerus, and osteoarthritis in several bones, were detected at
Hartfield (J10) and Spot Valley Cave (JC7). A case of congenital pathology
has been observed in a juvenile mandible from Rio Nuevo (Y4), which has only
three sockets for what should have been four incisors.
Recent Developments
Further investigations have recently been carried out in regard to the second
skull from Bull Savannah #2, which has been in the care of Michael Gardner
in the Department of Anatomy at UWI. These relate first to the physical condition
of the skull and second to its dating. Ana Luisa Santos has described its
physical condition. She remarks on the fact that there are numerous lytic lesions
in the frontal and in both parietal bones. The margins of these lesions are
rounded at the outer table, with evidence of healing, and slight pitting is evi-