 |
| No items matching your keywords were found. |
Maruca Design
Early Caribbean Colonization
There is a paucity of reliable prehistoric data for the Caribbean region.When the initial colonists came to the Caribbean there was an abundance of terrestrial and marine life on and near most of the larger islands.Today over 90% of the mammal species,that were variably present on the islands 20Ka ago are extinct.Temporally a number of settlements have been submerged or uplifted.Rising sea levels inundated low lying coastal areas,which probably motivated the residents to seek refuge at other locales [S Wilson,2007].
The Banwari Trace site on Trinidad was occupied initially ca 6080-5650 BCE +/-100a [all dates calibrated],when sea levels were about 18m below current levels.Trinidad might have been connected to the mainland at that time.Today Banwari Trace is located on a hillock at the southern edge of Orapuche Lagoon opposite the South American coast on the route to the Lesser Antilles.The first settlers may have come from Orinoco Delta region,[J Guarch-Delmonte].The early hunter-gatherers on Trinidad do not appear to have exploited the marine resources to any significant extent.There was a gradual shift from terrestrial fauna to inshore and estuarine food over the next 2Ka [S Wilson,2007].Ca 4100 BCE Orapuche Lagoon changed from freshwater/brackish to a marine,mangrove swamp environment and there was an appreciable increase in the number of shell middens from ca 4100-3500 BCE [N sSaunders,2004].
The Banwari Trace cultural inventory includes bone and lithic artifacts.Bone projectile points were used to tip arrows and fish spears.There were minimal stone projectile points in the Caribbean, where bone and shell were the materials of choice to shape projectile points [ibid].There were no ceramics and the standard of tool production was relatively poor for that era.Tool kits included implements that could be used to construct canoes.Distinctive ground tools were used in the Lesser Antilles for a considerable period of time.Bipolar reduction was used to produce small,useful flakes at many sites [S Wilson,2007].At Banwari Trace middens post 4200 BCE a variety of small irregular chips and cores were manufactured from flint,quartz and chert,etc,by precussion flaking.The crouched remains of Banwari Man [ca 3400 BCE] were interred in one of the shell middens [N Saunders,2004].People utilized the St John's Road site about 5km from Banwari Trace ca 5000 BCE.The first migrants to the Caribbean could have been Ortoiroids from Guana and Casmimiroids from Beliza ? [B Reid,2003].
Sites on Tobago 32km NE of Trinidad yielded similar cultural material.Occupational areas on both islands were generally restricted to less than 1.0ha.Post 3000BCE seafarers made the 125km open sea voyage to Grenada.The relatively low accumulations of cultural material at many small island sites infers ephemeral use.The Norman Estate site,where the inhabitants caught deep sea fish,dates to 2362-1742 BCE.Ground pecked and polished stone work at this locale were of high quality prior to the ceramic period.There are several older sites on Antigua.The occupants of Little Deep site [ca 3105 BCE] and Twenty Hill site [ca 2910 BCE] struck blades from prepared cores,with affinities toGreater Antilles methods [S Wilson,2007].
From 3000-2000 BCE the descendants of the early Trinidad settlers explored the Lesser Antilles and exhibited a preference for encampments proximal to shallow,fringing reefs.They navigated the difficult passage to Barbados,which is 150Km out in the Atlantic Ocean and which involved a voyage against the trade winds and equatorial currents.Archaic groups from the Greater and Lesser Antilles probably met on Antigua and Puerto Rico.There was a degree of interaction,but the two groups generally maintained their own identities.The Virgin Islands,Vieques and Culebra were colonized ca 1500 BCE.There were significant population movements from 2000-1000 BCE and relations with some mainland homelands could have been maintained [S Wilson,2007].
J Guarch Delmonte [2003] postulated that mariners from Central America could have voyaged to the Caribbean at an early date.Newcomers selected the islands that they explored and/or occupied.It was not a progressive migration through the Caribbean.The Vignier III site on Haiti dates to ca 4510-4350 BCE.The Paso del India site in north-central Puerto Rico contained hearths 5m below ground level,which were used 3500-3200 BCE.The Maruca site,south Puerto Rica,was utilized sporadically from ca 2400-400 BCE.Excavations yielded cultural material,which had strong affinities to assemblages in the Dominican Republic,Haiti and Cuba.The Maruea lithic tool inventory was comprised of large blades,cores,scrapers and flake tools.There were ground implements at Maruea,which resembled those at Banware Trace shell middens on Trinidad.Couch shell artifacts at Maruea,which were manufactured in the Cuban style,include large projectile points,hand picks.carved and drilled shell ornaments [M Ridriguey,1999].Some of the chert ,which was used to shape the Maruea lithics "may" have been imported from Long Island quarry on Antigua [J Walker, 1995?].The residents of Maruea focused on coral reef,marinefood aquistion.This followed a different pattern from Krum Bay,where a wider variety of faunal resources were exploited [L Newsom,2004].
A Collins [2000] speculated that the Levisa "might" have colonized Cuba as early as 6000-5000 BCE.At the Levisa I rockshelter in the Oriente Province of Cuba the eight oldest cultural horizons range in age from 4250-3700 BCE [J Koslowski,1974].The frequency of blades declines upwards and flake tools become more common.This change may not be due to a paucity of good quality lithic material [eg;chert],which is present in abundance on Cuba and Hispaniola.Early inhabitants consumed more manatee,seals and turtles than latter residents.There was no evidence of fishing and there was minimal shell fish at Levisa I.By 2000 BCE fishing and shell fish collection were common practices along the Greater Antilles coast and rivers.This correlates with population expansion and feral species reduction.As the island populations expanded,individuals from various points of origin interacted to varying degrees [J Wilson,2007].
Cuba's early colonists frequently utilized caves and rockshelters.There were numerous aceramic [pre-2000 BCE sitesCa 2000 BCE the Caya Redando culture gradually replaced the incumbent Guayaba tradition.D Rodriguez-Ferrar identified two eastern Santiago,Cuba,locales with circle mound enclosures and squares,which have some similarities to earth works in the St Johns River region of Florida.D Brinton [1898] found a small,skilfully made jadeite axe[celt] in a cave with stone tools and female remains ca 2Ka old.Jadeite is not indigenous to the Caribbean and probably came from Guatemala.Abstract geometrical designs,concentric circles,spirals and triangles adorn many Cuban cave walls.The identity of the artists is conjectural.A number of Cuban caves have circular skylights,which bear a resemblance to those in underground Olmec rooms.There are tenuous indications of intermittent interaction interaction between Mesoamerica and the Caribbean.Small Cuban groups occasionally migrated to the Greater Antilles.More archaeological data is needed to reconstruct the early colonization patterns in the Caribbean.
About the Author
Maruca Design interview