Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

160 / Appendix A.
In 1965 Vanderwal, with a crew of five assistants, excavated portions of the
site “in an effort to explain the existence of some 35 roughly circular depressions
in an area of about three acres.” “It was found that the depressions were
without question prehistorically dug but not as house sites.” Vanderwal’s suggestion
was that they represented “a moisture catchment system for agriculture
during the dry season.” He came to this conclusion for two reasons. (1) The
detritus forming the edges of the depressions consisted of redeposited old midden
refuse, underlying sterile soil and basal marl, surmounted by accumulated
deposits after the depressions had been dug. (2) The depressions themselves
had been dug to marl, after which a thin mantle of soil had been spread over
the bottom. He suggested the depressions were probably dug in connection
with the cultivation of maize. Vanderwal reported that, with the exception of a
single shell of the genus Cassia, all others recovered were land snails and diminutive
Melongena melongena. “Few other remains were found.”
References: AJ 1965, 5:1; 1967, 2:1; 1967, 3:1; 1975, 4:7–8; 1977, 2:4 and
Figure 1.2; 1986, 1 and 2:3; Vanderwal 1968a:40–43.
Spanish Wood (Duckenfield) (O2)
Reported in the literature under both names. C. S. Cotter informed Howard of
the existence of the site, which according to him consisted of “a large number
of middens over an area of several acres.” Mapped by Lee in 1966. He later
commented that it occupied a large ridgetop and that it was a village of “White
Marl type.” All flat arable land for a considerable distance around has been intensively
cultivated for the past 200 years. Cotter originally suggested that this
might well be the village at “the easternmost cape of the island” ruled by a cacique
named Ameyro, who was visited by Diego Mendez in 1503 during Columbus’s
fourth voyage. Mendez’s first dealings with the cacique were friendly,
but when he returned to “the cape at the tip of the island” before sailing to Hispaniola
he was threatened with death. Following a suggestion by R. E. and
M. P. Alegría, Lee concluded that the second incident might well also have
taken place at this site. According to the version of Diego Mendez’s account
used by him, the Amerindians “wagered a ball game” to decide who would kill
the Spaniard, and on this basis Lee proposed that there might have been a ball
court here. J. M. Cohen’s version, however, merely says that “they drew lots for
my life.” When Vanderwal first visited the site he stated that it was the “second
largest” on the island, covering an area of over 10 acres.
In 1968 Vanderwal dug six test pits at the site and one trench 15 x 5 ft in
size. “Deposits were slightly over 4 feet deep.” Forty- eight “collections” were