Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Principal Excavated Sites in Jamaica / 145
References: AJ 1978, 3:10; 1980, 1:1, 4; 1983, 3:20–22; 1984, 2:9–11;
Fandrich 1991; Scudder 1994; Wilman 1992–1993.
Bellevue–White River (A45)
First mentioned by Duerden (1897), who recorded that Dr. Plaxton had discovered
“an accumulation of shells associated with fragments of coarse pottery”
at this site. Originally Lee assumed that Duerden had been referring to
what he called Bellevue–Chalky Hill (A21). In 1982 he recognized his mistake,
and he mapped the site as A45. Lee observed that the site contained “tremendous
amounts of terrestrial snail shells and occasional potsherds of White
Marl type.” “The depth of deposition indicates that this site was occupied over
a lengthy period of time.”
Lee found a small oval disk of gold on the Bellevue Estate in April 1982.
According to him, part of a crescentic midden by the driveway had been bulldozed
away, and the artifact was discovered in a heap about 10 m distant from
its original location. It is 21 x 16 mm in size and weighs .596 g. “The object is
highly polished on one side, which is slightly convex. On the reverse, the surface
has a semi- polished matte texture.” A design made of incised lines and fine
punctation marks was applied to the reverse, but showed through to the obverse
as well (Appendix 16). “Its edges are rough, as though deliberately left
that way to better grip the bitumen or resin which was probably used to set
it into a sculpture to represent an eye or to brighten an ear.” The use of small
oval disks of this kind for such purposes is well attested in Spanish accounts
(Alegría 1985).
Microscopic examination revealed that the metal was cold- hammered from
a natural nugget, a practice that was followed in Taíno times. Its chemical composition
was determined in Madrid by the ICCR (Instituto Central de Conservación
y Restauración de Obras de Arte) and was reported by Salvador Rovira
as follows: gold 92.5, silver 7.2, nickel .24, iron .036 percent. According to
Lee, the unusual occurrence of nickel in the alloy points to the Dominican Republic
as the original source of the gold, because the alluvial gold- bearing gravels
in that country occur in close proximity to nickeliferous laterites. Norman
Russell, chief geologist at the Rosario Mines in the Dominican Republic, disputed
this identification, but it has been generally accepted. The gold disk was
handed over to the Institute of Jamaica in November 1983, and is now on display
at the Bank of Jamaica (Aarons 1985; Lee 1985).
In 1991, J. P. Dering, J. K. Southerland, and J. Fandrich excavated the site.