Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

146 / Appendix A.
The first two authors submitted both a published and an unpublished account
(Dering 1992; Dering and Southerland 1991), the third did not. The faunal
remains discovered were not analyzed. Five hundred test pits 25 x 25 cm were
excavated at 10-m intervals across a 14-acre area on the estate. More extensive
excavations were carried out in three areas.
(1) North of the Great House. Three units of 2 x 1 m and two units of 1 x
1 m were excavated. Both prehistoric and historic artifacts were found.
The unit closest to the Great House was discovered to be a Taíno refuse
midden, with a substantial amount of charred plant remains.
(2) A mound area extending from the graveyard southwestward across the
driveway down the hill. Twenty- four units of 1 x 1 m were excavated to
bedrock. There were indications that here there may have been two periods
of prehistoric occupation. A lower layer occurred directly on red
tropical soil, separated from an upper layer by a horizon of limestone rock
that extended throughout the area excavated.
(3) One isolated test pit located downhill and south of the “main midden
area” (2) in the pasture across the main road to the estate. “This pit revealed
a very deep deposit (over 80 cm) of the same reddish soil layer on
which the Taino village was established.” The suggestion was that “as the
Taino cleared the forested area for cultivation, the ensuing erosion caused
the soils to be washed down to the bottom of the hill.”
The ceramic analysis presented by Dering (1992) is based upon 19 field
samples collected from five units in what he refers to as “area C.” Since there
are no more than five units, presumably this corresponds to (1) the area north
of the Great House (though there is no mention of historic artifacts). From
this area 1,278 sherds were recovered, including one almost complete undecorated
bowl with a maximum diameter of 44 cm at the shoulder. Thirty- nine
were fragments of griddles. One hundred ninety- eight of the remaining pieces
(43 rims, 155 body sherds) were decorated, while 1,040 were plain. That is to
say, in Dering’s view, undecorated bowls would have dominated the assemblage.
Taking rims and body sherds together, decorative patterns recognized
included single and double row punctate dots (14), diagonal incised lines that
might or might not intersect (12), and narrow lines forming a “W” (25). Many
of the vessels were filleted but no figure was given for this. There were 20 lugs,
including one “sigmoid” applied design on the shoulder of a bowl, but no zoomorphic
designs. All the designs were located on the upper portion of the ves-