Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

140 / Appendix A.
between No. 6 and No. 7 on de Booy’s chart” (de Booy 1913:Figure 111). A
trench 15 ft long and 2 ft wide was cut through from east to west, widened further
at one point where the “richest finds” were made. The maximum depth of
deposit was about 2 ft 10 in. Seventy- seven sherds were retained from the excavation,
representing “between 5 and 10 percent” of the total. They were said to
match those found by de Booy and were described as “Jamaican Meillac.” The
shells and animal bones found (and cursorily described) seem to have been as
before, with one exception. This was an artifact apparently made from a crocodile
tooth (? Crocodilus acutus). The tooth had been drilled and “was probably
used as an ornament.”
A new map of the site, using digital technology, was produced in 2004 by
a team under the direction of P. Allsworth- Jones and M. Kappers. The results
were reported to the 21st Congress of the International Association for Caribbean
Archaeology, meeting in Trinidad in 2005.
References: AJ 1965, 5:2; 1966, 8:1; 1968, 5:1; 1974, 3:1; 1980, 2:3; de
Booy 1913; de Wolf 1953:234–236; Cundall 1939:19; Duerden 1897:19–20;
Howard 1950:64–66; Lee, in AJ (n.s.) 1992, 5:16; Vanderwal 1968a:18–20.
Little River (A15)
This site was investigated by M. de Wolf in 1933 but only published much
later (1953). According to her description, some middens were situated on the
east bank of the Little River, where it enters the sea. This does not agree with
Lee’s map, where the site appears to the west of the river of that name. De Wolf
stated that “the largest midden, about 2 metres high, was half washed away by
the sea at that time and may well be completely washed away by now.” The precarious
position of the site was confirmed by Lee, who stated in 1976 that when
he last inspected it, it contained “barely half of a single small midden held together
by the roots of a coconut tree.” Nonetheless, the location retains its importance
as the type site of what Lee referred to as the Jamaican Redware culture.
Vanderwal estimated that before its destruction the site may have covered
an area of about three- quarters of an acre.
M. de Wolf did not make a plan of the site or any drawing of the stratigraphy.
From the largest midden “a sample of about 225 sherds was taken, only
31 were saved.” This Little River collection of sherds sufficed for her to identify
a “style” different from the Jamaican Meillac, as known for example from
Retreat (A13). The site also contained a few shells and six flint artifacts. Five
of the 31 sherds belonged to griddles. Salient features of what became a stan-