Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica by J. E. Duerden / 257
Spherical, Discoidal, and Smoothing Stones
Inspector Church’s collection contains four spherical implements, varying from
1 3/4 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and formed of quartzite and trappean rocks.
Other stones are occasionally collected, more or less artificial in shape, and
showing smooth areas, as if they had been used for rubbing or grinding. Some
of them were no doubt the upper parts of mealing- stones.
A few of the petaloid implements in the collection exhibit restricted areas
indicative of having been used in smoothing other objects. Figure IV, 2, resembles
an unequally three- sided pyramid, but all the sides, the base, and the
edges are well rounded and polished as if used in rubbing.
Several smooth, flattened pieces of hardened chalk collected from the inhabitants
of Botany Bay, and one of limestone from a cave at Kalorama, are
more of the character of whetstones, and are similar to those still in use by the
peasantry for this purpose.
Dr. Mason states (1877, p. 374): “It is to be understood, in speaking of
the objects as smoothing- stones, that we do not know what they were used to
smooth, or whether they were used for any such purpose. We use the name for
convenience of classification, and shall readily change it as soon as their function
is ascertained.”
Axes
Figure IV, 3, and Figure VIII, represent two specimens which are unique in
the Jamaican series. The first, from Inspector Church’s collection, was recently
dug up in a field at Highgate, St. Catherine. It is about 3 inches long, as is also
the straight head, and is formed of a piece of ornamental metamorphic rock
with alterations of light and dark green layers arranged obliquely to the axis of
the object. The whole surface is very smooth. The wedge- shaped cutting edge
is sharpened and accidentally chipped. It seems very likely that the specimen
may have been used as an axe- blade, and that the lateral projections were for
the purpose of fixing it more firmly into the haft.
Figure VIII is a much more massive implement, made of diorite. It is 9 inches
long, 5 inches across at its greatest breadth, and weighs nearly 4 pounds. It
shows a slight abrasion all around the neck.
The axe- blade with a distinct head, neck, and cutting edge is rare in Jamaica;
nothing is known of the history of this larger specimen, whether it was
originally found in the island or not. It bears a marked resemblance to numerous
massive forms from St. Vincent and Trinidad, and to others figured in
the “Guesde Collection” (1885).