The Archaeology of Caribbean and Circum-Caribbean Farmers (6000 BC - AD 1500)

483 Pages·2018·6.43 MB·English

by  Basil A Reid

The Archaeology of Caribbean
and Circum-Caribbean
Farmers (6000 – 1500)
BC AD
Comprising 17 chapters and with a wide geographic reach stretching from
the Florida Keys in the north to the Guianas in the south, this volume places
a well-needed academic spotlight on what is generally considered an integral
topic in Caribbean and circum-Caribbean archaeology.
The book explores a variety of issues, including the introduction and dis-
persal of early cultivars, plant manipulation, animal domestication, dietary
profi les, and landscape modifi cations. Tried-and-true and novel analytical
techniques are used to tease out aspects of the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean
database that inform the complex and often-subtle processes of domestication
under varying socio-environmental conditions. Contributors discuss their
fi ndings within multiple constructs such as neolithisation, social interaction,
trade, mobility, social complexity, migration, colonisation, and historical
ecology. Multiple data sources are used which include but are not restricted
to rock art, cooking pits and pots, stable isotopes, dental calculus and
pathologies, starch grains, and proxies for past environmental conditions.
Given its multi-disciplinary approaches, this volume should be of immense
value to both researchers and students of Caribbean archaeology, biogeography,
ethnobotany, zooarchaeology, historical ecology, agriculture, environmental
studies, history, and other related fi elds.
Basil A. Reid (PhD, University of Florida) is Professor of Archaeology in the
Department of History at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago. He is currently the senior representative for Central
America and the Caribbean at the World Archaeological Congress. His
major research interests are the pre-colonial archaeology of the Caribbean,
archaeology and geoinformatics, precolonial Caribbean farmers and Carib-
bean heritage. He has published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, and
has authored, edited and co-edited several books on a variety of topics relat-
ing to Caribbean archaeology. His books include A rchaeology and Geoin-
formatics: Case Studies from the Caribbean (2008), Myths and Realities
of Caribbean History (2009), C aribbean Heritage (2012) and E ncyclopedia
of Caribbean Archaeology (2014). He is a member of the editorial boards of
the Journal of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology and the A rchaeo-
logical Society of Jamaica . Reid was the Lead Archaeologist of the Red
House Archaeological Excavations in Port of Spain, Trinidad from July 1,
2013 to January 31, 2015. His forthcoming book is entitled: An Archaeo-
logical Study of the Red House, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
The Archaeology of Caribbean
and Circum-Caribbean
Farmers (6000 – 1500)
BC AD
Edited by Basil A. Reid
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Basil A. Reid; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Basil A. Reid to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial
material, and of the contributors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or repro-
duced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 9780815347385 (hbk)
ISBN: 9780815347408 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781351169202 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
Contents
List of illustrations viii
List of contributors xii
Acknowledgments xxvi
Caribbean and circum-Caribbean farmers: an introduction 1
BASIL A. REID, PETER E. SIEGEL, NICHOLAS P. DUNNING,
CORINNE L. HOFMAN, STÉPHEN ROSTAIN,
VICTOR D. THOMPSON, AND SCOTT M. FITZPATRICK
PART I
Caribbean farmers from a regional perspective 33
1 Comparative perspectives on pre-Columbian farming in the
Caribbean as seen through the lens of historical ecology 35
SCOTT M. FITZPATRICK
2 Humanizing the landscapes of the Lesser Antilles during the
Archaic Age 55
PETER E. SIEGEL, JOHN G. JONES, DEBORAH M. PEARSALL,
NICHOLAS P. DUNNING, PAT FARRELL, NEIL A. DUNCAN,
JASON H. CURTIS, AND SUSHANT K. SINGH
3 The neolithisation of the northeastern Caribbean: mobility
and social interaction 71
CORINNE L. HOFMAN, RENIEL RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, AND
JAIME R. PAGÁN JIMÉNEZ
4 Straddling the subsistence divide: the case of Canímar Abajo
and contemporaneous sites in Northwestern Cuba 98
DAVID GRAY SMITH, YADIRA CHINIQUE DE ARMAS,
ROBERTO RODRÍGUEZ SUÁREZ, WILLIAM M. BUHAY,
IVAN ROKSANDIC, MATTHEW C. PEROS, AND MIRJANA ROKSANDIC
vi Contributors
5 Early horticulturalists of the southern Caribbean 113
ANDRZEJ T. ANTCZAK, JAY B. HAVISER, MENNO L. P. HOOGLAND,
ARIE BOOMERT, RAYMUNDO A. C. F. DIJKHOFF, HAROLD J. KELLY,
MA. MAGDALENA ANTCZAK, AND CORINNE L. HOFMAN
PART II
Animal domestication 147
6 Animal management and domestication in the realm of
Ceramic Age farming 149
MICHELLE J. LEFEBVRE AND SUSAN D. DEFRANCE
PART III
Caribbean farmers and rock art 171
7 Rock art and horticulture in the Caribbean: icons and
symbols of humidity 173
PETER G. ROE, MICHELE H. HAYWARD, AND MICHAEL A. CINQUINO
PART IV
Caribbean versus Pacifi c farmers 205
8 A comparative study of pre-colonial farming in the
Caribbean vis-à-vis the Pacifi c 207
BASIL A. REID, FRANK R. THOMAS, AND SCOTT M. FITZPATRICK
PART V
Caribbean farmers (methods and techniques) 235
9 Some methods for reconstructing the woody resources of
Neolithic farmers in the Caribbean 237
CAROLINE R. CARTWRIGHT
10 Domesticating the island: anthropogenic soils and landform
modifi cation as components of subsistence-resource
acquisition strategies in Puerto Rico 252
ISABEL C. RIVERA-COLLAZO AND LARA M. SÁNCHEZ-MORALES
11 Isotopic challenges and categorical stumbling blocks in
Caribbean archaeology: a cautionary tale from Puerto Rico 273
WILLIAM J. PESTLE AND RENIEL RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS
Contributors vii
12 Assessing dietary and subsistence transitions on prehistoric
Aruba: preliminary bioarchaeological evidence 288
HAYLEY L. MICKLEBURGH AND JASON E. LAFFOON
PART VI
Circum-Caribbean farmers 307
Florida Keys 309
13 When foragers are managers: social complexity and
persistent foraging in the Florida Keys 311
TRACI ARDREN, VICTOR D. THOMPSON, SCOTT M. FITZPATRICK,
JOSEPH STEVENSON, AND ROGER L. SIERRA
Central America 327
14 Maize, manioc, mamey, and more: pre-Columbian
lowland Maya agriculture 329
NICHOLAS P. DUNNING, TIMOTHY BEACH, ELIZABETH GRAHAM,
DAVID LENTZ, AND SHERYL LUZZADDER-BEACH
15 Getting to the grain: the domestication of Zea mays in
Mesoamerica and beyond 353
ROBERT P. KRUGER
South America 371
16 Pre-Columbian farmers in the Guianas 373
STÉPHEN ROSTAIN
17 From cooking pits to cooking pots: changing modes of food
processing during the Late Archaic Age in French Guiana 391
MARTIJN M. VAN DEN BEL, SEBASTIAAN KNIPPENBERG, AND
JAIME R. PAGÁN JIMÉNEZ
Postscript 419
PETER BELLWOOD
Glossary 429
Index 441
Illustrations
Figures
Frontispiece Map of the Caribbean and Circum-Caribbean xxvii
0.1 Benjamin Irving Rouse’s time-space systematics showing
the cultural evolution of indigenous groups in the
Caribbean 3
1.1 A. Modern Mayan home garden in the Yucatan, Mexico;
B. Incan circular farming terraces, Sacred Valley of
the Incas (Peru); C. Stone terraces at Chincero, Sacred
Valley of the Incas, Cusco, Peru 42
1.2 Wetland taro cultivation on Futuna, South Pacifi c 44
1.3 Monumental earthwork formations and architecture in
the Pacifi c Islands 45
1.4 Fish ponds and traps in the Pacifi c 47
1.5 LIDAR image map of Mound Key, Florida 48
2.1 Map of the Caribbean Basin 57
3.1 Map of the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico 72
3.2 Multi-functional ground stone tools for grinding,
rubbing, pounding and crushing plants 75
3.3 Selected starch grains of domestic and wild plants
recovered from lithic artifacts at Plum Piece (Saba) 84
4.1 Map of Cuba showing the location of sites 100
4.2 AMS radiocarbon dates from Canímar Abajo, Guayabo
Blanco, Cueva del Perico I, and Cueva Calero 102
5.1 Map of the southern Caribbean region showing the
archaeological sites discussed in the text 115
6.1 Islands with guinea pig remains 156
6.2 Common hutia and guinea pig species that occur on
Caribbean sites 159
7.1 Pueblito Carmen, Guayama, Puerto Rico, river boulder
petroglyphs 177
7.2 Cueva de Mora, Comerio, Puerto Rico, frontal view of
an anthropomorphic skull-faced three-pointer pictograph 189
Illustrations ix
7.3 Mural de Zamas, Jayuya, Puerto Rico, labyrinthine
petroglyph assemblage 191
7.4 Maisabel, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, petroglyphs 193
7.5 Caguana, Utuado, Puerto Rico, panorama of the reconstructed
western alignment of petroglyphs at main plaza 196
8.1 Map of the Pacifi c Ocean showing the major cultural divisions
and the boundary between Near and Remote Oceania 208
8.2 Sapodilla (Sapotaceae) 211
8.3 St. John site in southwestern Trinidad 213
8.4 Terraced taro fi elds, Vanua Levu, Fiji 221
8.5 Giant swamp taro grown in pits, Abaiang Atoll, Kiribati 221
9.1 Variable pressure scanning electron microscope (VP-SEM)
image of a radial longitudinal section of Bursera simaruba
(gumbo-limbo) charcoal 243
9.2 VP-SEM image of a transverse section of Pinus sp. (pine)
wood showing resin oozing from the resin canals 243
9.3 VP-SEM image of a transverse section of Cedrela
odorata (red ‘cedar’) charcoal 245
9.4 VP-SEM image of a tangential longitudinal section of
Guaiacum offi cinale (lignum-vitae) wood 245
9.5 VP-SEM image of a tangential longitudinal section of
Amyris elemifera (sea torchwood or cuabilla) wood 246
10.1 Map of Puerto Rico showing the location and zoomed
images, in the same scale, of Salto Arriba and Angostura 255
10.2 Graphs summarizing the results of the geoarchaeological
analyses for Units 1, 3 and 4 of Angostura 256
10.3 Graphs summarizing the results of the geoarchaeological
analyses for Units 2 and 13 of Salto Arriba 259
11.1 Map of Puerto Rico 276
11.2 Scatterplot comparing δ13C and δ15N values of
ap co
previously published Ceramic Age individuals from
Puerto Rico with Maruca individual 2B 279
11.3 Boxplot comparing δ13C values of previously published
ap
Ceramic Age Puerto Rican bone samples with corrected
and uncorrected δ13C values of Maruca dental enamel 280
ap
12.1 Map of the Caribbean, with inset of Aruba showing sites 291
12.2 Chart of δ13C results showing individual isotope values;
en
and the mean (±1σ) for All, Archaic, and Ceramic
samples separately 296
12.3 Chart of δ13C and δ15N results showing individual isotope
co
values; and the mean (±1σ) for All, Archaic, and Ceramic
samples separately 296
12.4 Chart of δ13C results showing individual isotope values
en
from this study compared to the mean δ13C (±1σ) for other
en
precolonial sites in the Antilles 299