Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Environment, Fauna, and Flora / 57
Hellshire Hills. Its remains have been “frequently encountered” in the caves of
the Jackson’s Bay area (Fincham 1997). There are or were six endemic and one
indigenous species of snake found in Jamaica, none of them harmful (Senior
2003). The black snake (Alsophis ater) is now extinct, but according to C. B.
Lewis (AJ 1976, 3) it was once widespread, and its remains have been found for
example at Cinnamon Hill (J10).
The role of fish and mollusks in the pre- Columbian diet of Jamaica is well
attested. As noted by Roobol and Lee, the queen conch (Strombus gigas) in particular
was also used for tool manufacture. Less attention has been given to
crabs, especially land crabs (Gecarcinidae), although these have frequently been
found at Taíno sites. Most common are the black land crab (Gecarcinus lateralis)
and the white land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi). According to Senior, both
have continued to be popular and widely consumed. Finally, mention should
be made of birds (Downer and Sutton 1990; Senior 2003). About 250 species
have been recorded from Jamaica. Since the island lies on one of the main
north- south migration routes, many of them are visitors, but 30 are endemic.
Since the bones are fragile and relatively difficult to identify, not much evidence
has been found of them in excavations so far. They have been recorded, for example
at Tower Hill (K7), and no doubt more will be recognized in future.
Flora
As John Rashford states, “the Arawak transformed Jamaica’s natural forests into
settlement vegetation by their responses to wild plants and their cultivation of
largely introduced domesticated plants” (Rashford 1993). These domesticates
for the most part came from South America. Our understanding of the process
of domestication on the continent has been transformed by recent work summarized
by Piperno and Pearsall (1998). As they point out, horticulture and
agriculture constitute an evolutionary continuum, but there is a distinction between
them. Horticulture implies the creation of small- scale “house gardens”
that typically contain a range of plants from morphologically wild to clearly
domesticated. Agriculture is characterized by larger field systems in which domesticated
plants are predominant and constitute the staple crops. Food crops
are no doubt the most important, but some domesticates had other uses. They
include roots and tubers, cereals, vegetables, legumes, and what may be described
as tree fruits. These include varieties described by Rashford as “ halfwild”
or “ semi- cultivated.” Sturtevant (1961), Adams (1972), and Vega (2001)
give much useful information about them. These authors rely to a consider-