Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Principal Excavated Sites in Jamaica / 147
sels, between the shoulder and the rim. There were no boat- shaped vessels, water
containers, or figurines. The temper was composed of marine shells, quartz,
ground limestone, and land shells. The quartz was taken to represent marine
sand, hence neither of the first two elements could be regarded as local. In Dering’s
view, this indicated some kind of contact with the coast (14 km distant),
either through trade or travel. The elements could have been derived from the
grog of broken pots made on the coast.
The ceramic assemblage as a whole was characterized as Meillacan, in agreement
with Lee’s assessment. No date was obtained, but in Dering’s view this
was probably a late settlement, when as the population on the island increased
people moved inland, often following major streams. He suggested that the “reduced
complexity and simplified design” of the Bellevue ceramics reflected the
social isolation of a marginal horticultural village located on what for the inhabitants
will have been poorer land.
References: Aarons 1985; AJ 1968, 5:1; 1982, 2:7; 1983, 4:33–40; 1984,
1:6; 1984, 2:9, 12–13; 1984, 4:42–43; Alegría 1985; Dering 1992; Dering and
Sutherland 1991; Duerden 1897:20; Lee 1985.
Clarendon
Braziletto (C2)
Excavated by Howard in 1947. According to him, the site does not correspond
to the one mentioned by MacCormack (1898) as being “on the top of a portion
of the Braziletto Hills” but only “about a mile from the sea.” Vanderwal stated
that the sherds from the excavation were deposited in the Institute of Jamaica,
and he incorporated them into his study of the Jamaican south coast stratigraphic
sequence (Vanderwal 1968a:Figure 6). Mapped by Lee in 1967.
Howard’s excavations were carried out over four days at the invitation of the
West India Sugar Company. Howard referred to the site as Salt River or Hillside
Farm. The excavations took place in three localities separated from one another
by distances of approximately 70 and 46 m. Two 5 x 1 m trenches were
put down in localities 1 and 3 and one of the same size in locality 2. Bedrock
was reached at depths of 35 to 40 cm in locality 1, and 25 cm in locality 3, and
the finds from these areas were relatively few. The “only find of importance” at
locality 3 was a well- weathered fragment of human tibia, unblackened and very
fragile. The trench at locality 2 reached a depth of almost 1 m and produced
the bulk of the material. According to Howard, “the cultural debris was scattered
more or less uniformly throughout the deposits with no evidence of strati-