Popular literature on the prehistoric Caribbean is dominated by the colonial myths of Caribs and Arawaks. Although there is good contact period ethnohistorical evidence from some islands, mainly in the Greater Antilles, reliable evidence for the prehistory of small islands in the Caribbean can only be obtained through archaeological fieldwork. This volume outlines recent fieldwork on Barbados, Tortola and the Cayman Islands. The main topics covered are:
-the cultural background
-unoccupied islands
-settlement archaeology on Barbados
-the Port St Charles Archaeological Rescue Project
-Barbados material culture
-settlement archaeology on Tortola
-Tortola material culture
-Barbados ceramics: scientific analysis
-economy and subsistence
Illustrated with 107 photographs and line drawings, Prehistoric Settlements in the Caribbean is a mine of information for those researching, teaching or just interested in the Caribbean before Europeans arrived.
Contributors
Acknowledgements
Foreward
Introduction and cultural background
Unoccupied islands? The Cayman Islands
Peter Drewett, Sylvia J. Scudder and lrvy R. Quitmyer
Environmental archaeology at Great Cave, Cayman Brac: the natural history of a cave
Sylvia J. Scudder and Irvy R. Quitmyer
Settlement archaeology on Barbados I: excavations at Hillcrest, Silver Sands, Little Welches and Maxwell
Settlement archaeology on Barbados II: the Port St Charles (Heywoods) Archaeological Rescue Project
Peter Drewett and Maureen Bennell
The Saladoid settlement evidence
Maureen Bennell
Barbados material culture I - pottery: typology and style
Mary Hill Harris
Barbados material culture II - shell, stone and wooden artefacts
Peter Drewett, Guy Hunt, Maureen Bennell and Lys Drewett
Settlement archaeology on Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Peter Drewett and Brian Bates
Soil investigations at Paraquita Bay
Sylvia Scudder
Excavations at Belmont 1996-97
Peter Drewett and Brian Bates
Tortola material culture I: pottery
Lys Drewett
Tortola material culture II: stone and shell artefacts
Guy Hunt and Peter Drewett
Analysis of an Ostionoid lithic assemblage from Belmont, Tortola
Guy Hunt
Barbados ceramics: scientific analysis
Lys Drewett and Scot M. Fitzpatrick
Petrological analysis of Barbados ceramics
Lys Drewett
Compositional analysis of Barbados pottery
Scot M. Fitzpatrick
Economy and subsistence I: animal remains from sites on Barbados and Tortola
Elizabeth S. Wing
Economy and subsistence II: shellfish and plant remains
Peter Drewett, George Rogers and Lee A. Newsom with shell identifications by Dan Drewett, Amy Burgess and Quetta Kaye
Shellfish
Peter Drewett
Plant remains from the Port St Charles (Heywoods) site, Barbados
George Rogers
Archaeological wood remains from the Heywoods (Port St Charles) and Hillcrest Sites, Barbados
Lee A. Newsom
Prehistoric settlement of Barbados and Tortola
Bibliography
