Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Principal Excavated Sites in Jamaica / 159
Table 15. Bottom Bay Artifacts as Classified by Vanderwal.
cated cone 2 cm high with a circular base 2.3 cm in diameter (Appendix 11).
As he says, “the underside of the base has a pattern of 10 radiating slivers surrounding
a 3 mm circular hub.” He suggested that it was a device for use with
a damp pigment to daub the skin, the first such artifact reported from Jamaica
(though known elsewhere in the eastern Caribbean).
Vanderwal excavated the site in 1966. “Accompanied by a crew of 5 assistants,
I dug ten 5 x 5 foot pits in 4 different but contiguous middens.” Midden
depth was at most only about 10 inches. “In between the sea and the midden
is a creeping sand dune which may have covered some of the midden area and
in future may well obliterate the remainder.” Three hundred forty- three decorated
rim and body sherds were collected. In terms of mutually exclusive attributes,
Vanderwal analyzed them and the data appear in Table 15.
A radiocarbon date of a.d. 650 ± 120 (1300 ± 120 b.p.) was obtained for
the site from the Yale University radiocarbon laboratory (Y-1987). This corresponds
to a calibrated range of ca. a.d. 645–880.
References: AJ 1965, 2:1; 1965, 3:1; 1966, 3:1; 1967, 8:3; 1976, 2:2–4;
1979, 1:2; 1981, 3:4–5; Vanderwal 1968a:96, 99–100, 129–130.
St. Thomas
Belvedere #1 (O1)
Mapped by Lee in 1967. Northwest of Belvedere House. In 1975 the owner,
Mr. Hopwood, dug several exploratory test pits, but these were not described
in detail. Lee characterized the pottery as being “of the White Marl style, especially
noteworthy for the abundance of punctate decoration and the evidence
of legs to support the bowls or dishes.” Captain Cotter collected a pendant
from the site, with finely incised lines at top and bottom, and Hopwood later
found pieces of three petaloid celts.