Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica by J. E. Duerden / 223
toria Quarterly” (1890) of the same year. The Committee’s collections were
deposited in the Museum. The following details are abstracted from the paper
referred to: The kitchen- midden occurs about six miles from Kingston, on a
little table- land sloping down to the [14] Liguanea Plain with the Port Royal
Mountains behind and a lovely view of the sea in front. Close at hand rises a
clear and ever running spring of water. “To the east the field is abruptly terminated
by a sudden dip and a bank of some 16 or 18 feet in height. In digging
into this bank layer upon layer of shells are to be found, mingled with pottery
more or less broken, a few small bones, and now and then a stone hatchet. Here
and there some of the shells show traces of fire.
The pottery is of different degrees of thickness, some of it a rather finer texture
than the generality of the fragments, and we found a few bits that bore
traces of a slight attempt at ornamentation.”
Bones. Most of the bones deposited in the Museum are those of the limbs
and pelvic girdle of the coney, together with an occasional upper and lowerjaw.
Some are blackened throughout, having been burnt in a fire. A number of
spines and vertebrae of fish, and a few fragments of turtle bones occur.
Shells. The shells are much like those obtained from the Long Mountain deposits,
and many are perforated. Pyrula melongena, Turbo pica, Murex brevifrons,
and two or three species of Arca constitute the majority; while Ostrea parasitica,
Strombus pugilis, and Chama lazarus are represented by many specimens.
Occasional pieces of coral are met with, as in all the other accumulations.
Pottery. Hundreds of fragments of pottery of various sizes were collected
from the small section of the kitchen- midden examined. The earthenware forms
a large proportion of the accumulations, exhibiting only small differences in
character. Much variation exists however in the numerous handles, along two
or three distinct lines of modification. Some of the examples rudely represent
faces. Most of the pieces are partially blackened by use.
Implements. As mentioned in the account already published, broken stone
implements are met with. Those in the Museum are of similar type to the ordinary
petaloid examples found everywhere in the island. A number of flaked
flints and a chipped core correspond with examples from the other refuse- heaps.
Flaked flints were first discovered here in Jamaica, attention being drawn to
them by Dr. Plaxton, one of the Committee charged with the investigation.
European objects. The phial represented in Fig. V., p. 9, is evidently of European
origin. It was found in the deposit at a depth of 18 inches. It is nearly four
inches in length, green in colour, and partially devitrified with age.
Hope.
The remains at Hope are on a slight elevation in a rather secluded spot in the vicinity
of the old Tavern, with the Hope River running near. They are at a distance
of about five miles from the nearest point in Kingston Harbour.