Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Environment, Fauna, and Flora / 53
ered limestone at a time estimated at 125,000 years b.p. The lowest three meters
of the core (9.23–6.32 m) are dated between about 120,000 and 93,500 b p.,
corresponding to the last interglacial, when there were at least four lake high
stands. The mid- section of the core is two m thick (6.32–4.34 m) and dates
from 93,500 to about 10,700 b.p., corresponding to the beginning of the Holocene.
Lithologically, this part of the core is composed of earthy calcareous
mud, and the lake for the most part was dry. Chronologically, this was the last
glacial period, and even in these latitudes it may have been quite cold. The uppermost
four meters of the core (< 4.34 m) show three cycles of alternating
wet and dry conditions, indicated lithologically by marls and organic calcareous
muds. The last of the marls, characteristic of the present lake environment,
commenced at a depth of 1.81 m. The dates and characteristics of the three
episodes are as follows:
Cycle 3a. At the beginning of the Holocene, the lake refilled with fresh water.
A high stand occurred at about 10,000 b.p.. A relatively wet climate prevailed
until about 8000, followed by a drier phase until about 5000 b.p.
Cycle 3b. A second wet phase is dated to about 4400–3300 b.p., again followed
by a drier phase lasting for about 2,000 years.
Cycle 3c. The final cycle commenced at about 1200 b.p., when the deposition
of the latest marl began and the lake “filled suddenly” to around its present
level. An influx of new mollusk and ostracod species is correlated with
a “major flooding event” in the neighboring Black River catchment area.
This episode is defined by an uncalibrated radiocarbon date of 1180 ± 60
b.p., corresponding to a calibrated interval of 1770–990 b.p.
The authors compare this flooding event (which from the prehistoric point
of view is clearly of most interest to us) with the sequence from Lake Miragoane
in Haiti (Hodell et al. 1991). In some respects this sequence contrasts
with that from Wallywash Great Pond, but a “dry episode” from about 2400
to 1500 b.p. agrees with the Jamaican evidence. This was followed by a “brief
period of wetter conditions” between about 1500 and 900 b.p., which again
suggests that the two islands were responding to general changes in the Caribbean.
This evidence is not inconsistent with that from Paradise Park (Keegan
et al. 2003). Two sites here have uncalibrated radiocarbon dates of 1180 ± 60
and 490 ± 60 b.p., corresponding to calibrated ranges as published of a.d. 710–
990 and a.d. 1320–1490 respectively. The older site (Wes-15a) is defined as
Ostionan (Redware) and the more recent one (Wes-15b) as Meillacan (White