Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica by J. E. Duerden / 211
vertebrae, and parts of the upper jaws. Some of the long bones appear artificially
broken. They are found in all the mounds.
The short- tailed Capromys is an animal about the size of a rabbit, and, at
present day, is the only indigenous land mammal of Jamaica, with the exception
of bats. It is now very rare in the island, but is occasionally caught in some
of the mountainous parts of Portland and Trelawny. Its fl esh is considered by
many good eating. There is no doubt that it was much more abundant and
more generally distributed in former times, the honey- combed limestone districts
being especially suited to its retiring habits. Its almost extinction in recent
times is, in large measure, a result of the introduction into the island of
the mongoose (1896). The universal occurrence of its bones in the mounds
demonstrates that it must have been a general article of food for the Indians in
the past.
A single canine tooth of some carnivore was found in the Long Mountain
deposits, at a depth of fourteen inches below the surface. The Indians are
known to have possessed a mute dog- like creature, the Alco. No pure examples
of this however occur at the present day.
Human bones have been discovered in connection with kitchen- middens
at Cranbrook and Caymanas, but not under such circumstances as to allow of
any decision as to whether they are the remains of a cannibal feast or of orderly
burial.
Turtle bones. Fragments of the limb and carapace bones of some turtle were
obtained from several deposits.
Fish bones. Numerous dentary, vomer, and opercular bones of various species
of marine and river fish are to be met with, along with spinous fin- rays and vertebrae.
The multirayed dermal spines of the soursop fish, Diodon, occasionally
occur, and also its enormously thickened crushing vomer and dentary. Many
of the spines appear to be those of the common freshwater mullet, Mugil, and
of the “snook,” Centropomus undecimalis. A tuberculated spine of the “Old
Wench,” Balistes retula, Linn. was found at Stewart Castle.
Crabs’ claws. These consist mainly of the terminal portions of the ambulatory
legs and chelae of the common land soldier- crab, Coenobita diogenes, Latr.,
and of the black land- crab, Gecarcinus ruricola. The large claws of Cardisoma
guanhumi are also abundant. All the species are very common today.
Pieces of Madrepore corals are now and again met with, but have evidently
no important significance.
Ashes
The ashes at Weireka, on the Long Mountain, are arranged somewhat in layers,
and are quite loose. They exactly resemble those still produced from wood fires
by the peasantry near the same spot.