Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Principal Excavated Sites in Jamaica / 137
References: AJ 1967, 2:22; 1968, 5:1; 1973, 3:1; Cundall 1939; Howard
1950:67; Lee, in AJ (n.s.) 1992, 5:15,17; Longley 1914.
Bengal (A8)
First discovered by Captain Cotter in 1961. Excavated by Father Osborne in
1962–1964. Surveyed by Lee in conjunction with Osborne in 1962. It was
concluded from evidence of surface sherds that the settlement covered some
2 acres. As described by Osborne, “the middens range from 400′ to 460′ above
sea level, and overlook the bay at Rio Bueno. The site had the advantage for the
Arawaks of being close to fresh water from Rio Bueno and the sea at the Bay.
The soil is fertile.” According to Vanderwal, the site was “totally undisturbed”
in 1968, apart from the area excavated by Osborne.
During Osborne’s excavations, a 6 in square concrete marker with a floor tile
on the top was placed in what was considered to be the center of the site, and
this acted as a datum point. From it was pegged out a grid of 10-ft squares, 140
x 40 ft in extent. Later, the grid was extended south “to include a rich midden
which had already been opened by Mr Cotter.” Sixteen grid squares numbered
I–XVI were chosen for excavation, though seemingly not all of them were dug.
Square VII was dug in 10-in levels and produced “a large griddle some 3 feet in
diameter,” with associated “evidence of fire in the form of charcoal, and also
much faunal material.” Following J. M. Cruxent’s recommendation, square VI
was excavated in 25-cm levels, all the finds from the levels being bagged separately.
In addition, it seems, “a trench was dug to allow a stratigraphic picture
of a whole midden,” reaching a maximum depth of 4 ft 6 in. This presumably
is the “main excavation” referred to by Vanderwal, who stated that it measured
30 ft long by 3 ft wide “across one of the larger middens.” The analysis of the
pottery from Bengal “provided a control” for the seriation of sites he did for the
north coast (Vanderwal 1968a:Figure 7). Neither a plan of the site nor a detailed
account of the finds was published by Osborne. Charcoal was collected
for radiocarbon dating, and according to Vanderwal such a date was obtained
of a.d. 1180 ± 100 (770 ± 100 b.p.) (IVIC-190), equivalent to a calibrated
range of ca. a.d. 1160–1300. He regarded this as applying to the “Fairfield
Complex.”
E. S. Wing studied the fauna from Father Osborne’s excavations (Appendix
10; reproduced here at Table 23). As she says, the sample from Bengal consists
of 132 individuals and 17 species. “All the species preserved in the site are
clearly not represented in such a small sample.” Taking the figures as they are,
the minimum number of individuals (MNI) can be divided into different habi-