Current Research

Caribbean

Margaret Bradford is working on the Settlement Pattern Mapping Project for the Windward Islands, mapping the geographical distribution and chronological range of ceramic sites. [Submitted by Margaret Bradford]

TRINIDAD

Archaeological materials from the Manzanilla 1 site (Palo Seco) on the east coast of Trinidad are currently being studied in the context of a Master's degree program at Leiden University under the responsibility of Corinne Hofman, Menno Hoogland, and Aad Boomert. Transect surveying and test pitting were done at the site in September 1997. [Submitted by Corinne Hofman]

BARBADOS

BARBADOS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY. The Barbados Archaeological Survey was established in 1984 as a joint project between the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and the Barbados Museum, and is directed by Peter Drewett. Survey work has located 80 Precolumbian sites. The main aim of this long-term project is to examine how distribution of settlements and land use changed over time (from ca. 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1400) and how habitation sites articulated with each other. Research has concentrated on three main coastal areas: central southern Barbados from Maxwell to Chancery Lane; the east coast promontory at Hillcrest, Bathsheba; and the west-coast site of Heywoods. Currently work is concentrating on the Heywoods site, where an entire prehistoric landscape is being revealed during the construction of a marina at Port St. Charles. The marine inlet was firstly a focus of activity by a preceramic fishing and foraging community around 2000 B.C. Secondly , a small village represented by round houses of the late Saladoid-Troumassoid ceramic periods (ca. A.D. 600-1100) was established, and finally a substantial Suazoid midden represents prehistoric activity from about A.D. 1100 to 1400. Barbados is currently in a major development boom and as an offshoot of the Barbados Archaeological Survey, students taking the Master's degree in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, are involved in a rolling program of site evaluations as a part of their core course. [Submitted by Peter Drewett]

From September, the final phase of the survey at Heywoods Amerindian site, situated in the northern part of the island, is being carried out. This site has so far yielded the first recorded evidence of worked wood on the island, as well as the largest concentration of pot stacks that has been reported for a single site in the Southern Hemisphere. The ongoing excavation will be completed by February 1999, and it will focus on location and survey of the last undisturbed section of the site, which is now an operational marina. [Submitted by Allissandra Cummins]

Investigations at Newton Plantation, situated in the south of the island, continued under the supervision of Ray Pasquariello and focused on examining mortuary practices of Afro-Barbadian slaves. Mr. Pasquariello is a doctoral student at Syracuse University. For further information contact Kevin Farmer, Assistant Curator of History/Archaeology at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society; fax: (246) 429-5946. [Submitted by Allissandra Cummins]

Mary Hill Harris has been analyzing the pottery recovered during the construction of a marina at Heywoods, Barbados. Previous excavations (in 1986 and 1991) revealed mostly Troumassoid or Suazoid material with a couple of areas of Saladoid pottery in marsh deposits (and also some preceramic shell tools). Ronald Hinds (rhhinds@sunbeach.net) and others recovered many of the stacks originally exposed, and then construction was halted long enough for Maureen Bennell (mbennell@compuserve.com) to carry out two excavations during the summer of 1996. The marina bulldozers and later excavations exposed at least 30 pot stacks, which have been interpreted as beach wells, the walls of which were lined with bottomless, large (~36-46 cm diameter) mostly undecorated bell-shaped vessels. Packing material between the pots was composed of other sherds from vessels, griddles (all but one of the flat type), and pot rests, which were frequently vividly decorated. Maureen Bennell's excavations uncovered features such as fire pits, postholes, and burials, which also contained smaller amounts of pottery, including an unusually decorated grooved double-profile sherd with one of the burials, and at least two incense burners from different features. [Submitted by Mary Hill Harris]

GUADELOUPE

Large-scale excavations are being carried out at the site of Anse a la Gourde, on the northeast coast of Grande Terre, on the Pointe des Chateaux peninsula. The excavations are directed by Andre Delpuech (DRAC) and Corinne Hofman and Menno Hoogland (Leiden University). A field school is held at Anse a la Gourde each year for students from various international universities. The site of Anse a la Gourde is estimated at about 4 ha. This multicomponent settlement was inhabited between A.D. 450 and 1400 and includes four occupation phases covering material from Cedrosan Saladoid to Suazan Troumassoid. The main occupation phase is situated around A.D. 1000 (Mamoran Troumassoid). A horseshoe-shaped midden surrounds a habitation area where more than 1,900 features have been documented, including postholes, hearths, refuse pits, and burials. The 60 burials are located within what are believed to be house structures. Apparently the burial ritual was very complex, and primary as well as secondary burials have been recovered, occasionally with burial offerings such as ceramic vessels, beads, etc. The shell work is of extremely high quality. Excavations at Anse a Gourde will continue for another two or three years. [Submitted by Corinne Hofman]

A multiyear survey project of the eastern area of Guadeloupe is being conducted by Maaike de Waal (Leiden University) in the context of Ph.D. research. The survey area includes the Pointe des Chateaux Peninsula (to the east of the site of Anse a la Gourde), the island of La Desirade, and the islands of Petite Terre. Transect surveying and test pitting during the 1998 field campaign have resulted in an inventory of 20 archaeological sites on the Pointe des Chateaux Peninsula. Surveys of La Desirade and Petite Terre are planned for 1999 and 2000. [Submitted by Corinne Hofman]

ANTIGUA

The University of Calgary has an annual summer school on Antigua directed by Reg Murphy. Research is currently in progress at a number of different sites. The Ceramic age Saladoid sites of Elliot's and Royall's are among the earliest and largest known on the island. These sites have exceptional preservation, and the remains of insects, plants, and land snails have been recovered through flotation.

Christy de Mille, Ph.D. student at the University of Calgary, is studying lithic technology of both the Archaic and ceramic ages. De Mille is also investigating Archaic subsistence strategies.

Research into Napoleonic-period health and medical practices at a colonial outpost is in progress at the Naval Hospital and cemetery at English Harbour by Reg Murphy and Tamara Varney (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Calgary). Varney, a physical anthropologist, is particularly interested in issues such as lead poisoning and diseases in the Antiguan population during the late eighteenth century. [Submitted by Reg Murphy]

THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT. The British Virgin Islands Archaeological Project was initiated in 1994 and is directed by Peter Drewett (University College London) and Brian Bates (Longwood College, Virginia). Following a detailed survey of Tortola, work is concentrating on the Belmont Archaeological Project and on a survey of the island of Jost Van Dyke, which is directed by Brian Bates. The Tortola survey located 33 small village or farmstead sites dated to ca. A.D. 600-1500 and situated in the bays around the island. Five larger, perhaps village, sites were found on the north coast, and one of these at Belmont was selected for intensive study. The main aim of the project is to excavate the entire site in order to determine the economic, social, and ceremonial activities that my have taken place on sites of this size on small Caribbean Islands. The site is being hand dug in open-area blocks with detailed plotting of artifact distributions as well as features. Clear patterns in artifact, ecofact, and deliberately deposited natural stone distributions are emerging. Apart from the remains of a small round building, most of the area excavated to date was probably open space within an oval or round village. Ceremonial activities took place within this space. Two pairs of stones were found set on edge and aligned on the summit of Belmont Hill. Around these stones were carefully placed whole pots, a carved shell vomit spatula, a triton shell trumpet, and food refuse. It is hoped that five future seasons (1999-2003) will put these ceremonial activities into their domestic context. [Submitted by Peter Drewett]

Emily Lundberg has focused recent research on ceramic production and cultural chronology in the Virgin Islands, in an effort to address models of cultural change and social interaction in the region. Although this is an ongoing study of materials from various sites, the majority of analyses completed to date involved temporally well-defined ceramic assemblages of the Tutu Archaeological Village site, studied on behalf of Tutu project director Elizabeth Righter and the Government of the United States Virgin Islands. Assemblage descriptions and stylistic evaluations were contributed to a forthcoming book edited by Righter. In collaboration with James H. Burton (University of Wisconsin-Madison), another aspect of the study completed for Righter compares sherds and assemblages according to extractable chemical elements. Those results augment Lundberg's research into temper and other attributes of sherd fabric in correlation with vessel types, which has suggested that development and change of multiple local production processes can be discerned through time. Although fabric variables may co-vary in patterned ways within styles, there is nonetheless a fluidity indicative of alternatives available to potters at many points during production. [Submitted by Emily Lundberg]

Archaeological research is underway along the beach front of Cinnamon Bay, St. John U.S. Virgin Islands. The beach is rapidly eroding, destroying historical-period Danish plantation remains, washing out the human remains of the slave burial ground, and threatening to erase 500 years of occupation and ceremonial activity of the Taino and their ancestors. Historical research underway in Denmark is uncovering significant information on the plantation and plantation life at Cinnamon Bay. While waiting the results of the archival research, archaeological efforts have concentrated on the prehistoric site component. Site integrity appears to be excellent. A few of the ceremonial artifacts recovered to date include a carved zemi stone, a gold disk, carved teeth, a blade fragment of a ceremonial dagger, clay adornos, three pointers, a ball belt fragment, and tiny (1 mm diameter) black and white shell beads possibly used in making zemi dolls. The project is dedicated to education and community participation. Each week archaeology is introduced into several elementary through high school classrooms prior to on-site participation. On-site, several days a week are committed to school group lectures and participation. The project stresses community involvement through a volunteer program that appears to be working, as the project averages 1,000 volunteer hours per month. [Submitted by Ken Wild]

Peter Siegel (John Milner Associates & Field Museum of Natural History), John Jones (Texas A&M University), Deborah Pearsall (University of Missouri), and Daniel Wagner (Geo-Sci Consultants and Johns Hopkins University) cored a pond, a mangrove swamp, and a small lagoon in the vicinity of Maisabel, a large early and late ceramic age site located on the north coast of Puerto Rico. The goal of this research is to obtain direct baseline information regarding the environmental and subsistence context for the Saladoid colonization of the north coast and for the dramatic social and political changes that transpired during the Ostionoid period in prehistoric Puerto Rico. The sediment cores are being analyzed for pollen and charcoal particulates (Jones), phytoliths (Pearsall), and particle sizes and chemistry (Wagner). To date, probable cultigens identified in pollen samples from the pond adjacent to Maisabel include cotton and sweet potato. Radiocarbon dates obtained so far from this core are 1660±50 B.P. (cal A.D. 260-535, 2 sigma) and 2560±50 B.P. (815-525 cal B.C., 2 sigma). The 1660 B.P. date corresponds to the middle Hacienda Grande (early Saladoid) occupation of the site. Wood recovered from the base of the mangrove core was dated to 3820±70 B.P. (2465-2030 cal B.C., 2 sigma). As analysis proceeds, additional samples will be submitted for radiocarbon dates. This research is being funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Peter Siegel, principal investigator) and the H. John Heinz III Fund Grant Program for Latin American Archaeology (Deborah Pearsall and Peter Siegel, co-principal investigators). [Submitted by Peter Siegel]

Michael A. Cinquino and Michele H. Hayward , from Panamerican Consultants, Inc., report on three investigations:

Panamerican 1

In September of 1998, Panamerican Consultants, Inc. conduced a Phase I cultural resources survey for the Río Culebrinas Flood Protection Project, Municipios of Aguada and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to construct two levees on other side of the Río Culebrinas as it enters into the Aguadilla Bay. Background data analysis efforts and the surface and subsurface inspection of approximately 3,465 m (11,361 feet) within the floodplain project area led to the identification of two previously unrecorded sites and the reconfirmation of the presence of three recorded sites. Three of the sites are to be directly impacted by the construction of the levees, and the other two may be impacted by associated prolonged or flash flooding. The first grouping includes historical-period ceramics associated with the known Iglesia de Espinar site (first settlement dating to 1585) and two unrecorded resources consisting of a surface concentration of prehistoric and historical-period artifacts and a second location of a light concentration of historical-period materials. The remains associated with the church and the multicomponent prehistoric site are considered potentially eligible to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The second grouping consists of a historical-period sugar-processing molino (sugar mill) associated with the recorded Hacienda Concepción dating to 1907, and the also registered Puente del Río Culebrinas, a bridge built in 1897. Both the sugar mill and bridge are NRHP-eligible resources.

Panamerican 2

In September of 1998, Panamerican Consultants, Inc. conduced a Phase I cultural resources survey in connection with the Aguadilla Waterfront Erosion Control Project, Municipio of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to construct a revetment, a rubble mound, a concrete wall, and a parking lot and boat ramp, as well as dredge part of the harbor. The background and field investigation (e.g., informant interviews, a walkover of the area, shovel testing at 10-m intervals, photographic documentation) of the project area failed to yield any indications of significant cultural resources. Instead, it was clear that the area had been severely disturbed from past construction activities, including the not-historically-important partial remains of a seawall or pier. The project area currently contains cemented limestone gravel fill overlain with beach sand most likely placed there prior to the construction of the former standing structures located on the site before their demolition. No historical-period remains associated with these previous buildings were located. Based on the results of the investigations, it was concluded that the proposed construction activities would not impact any significant resources.

Panamerican 3

In January of 1998, Panamerican Consultants, Inc. carried out a Phase III data recovery investigation of Site LO-9. This prehistoric settlement is located in the Piñones area within the municipio of Loíza along the north coast of Puerto Rico. Site LO-9 is included in the Piñones National Register District and is listed in the NRHP as a contributing element to the district. The Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority is sponsoring construction activities from a breakwall, to a bike path, to highway improvements and associated landscaping, which will impact the site. Methods employed in the investigation of Site LO-9 included the gathering of background data, interviewing archaeologists who had conducted former studies of the site, and the excavation of 19 50-x-50-cm shovel tests and four units (2 1-x-2-m units and 2 2-x-2-m units). The data collected from these units were used to document the nature and history of the settlement and to conduct specialized studies (e.g, faunal analysis, radiocarbon). The ceramic styles and radiocarbon results, for example, indicated an occupation at the site from the very end of the Early Ceramic period or beginning of the Late Ceramic period through to the middle phase of the Late Ceramic Period. [Submitted by Michael A. Cinquino and Michele H. Hayward]

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Since 1996, the University of Florida has been collaborating with the Dominican National Parks Service in the archaeological study of Concepción de la Vega, under Kathleen Deagan (principal investigator), former site supervisor Jeremy Cohen, and current supervisor Alfred J. Woods. The goals of the project have been to survey and map the site in order to determine its size and spatial configuration; assess site integrity; and catalog and inventory already excavated materials from Concepción. These activities are intended to assist the Dominican National Parks Service in its efforts to promote public awareness of the historical and cultural resources of the Dominican Republic's rural areas.

Concepción de la Vega Real was founded by Columbus in 1494 as one of a string of military, trading positions that bisected the island from north to south. The site is located near the center of the island of Hispañiola approximately 100 miles northwest of San Pedro de Macorís, the birthplace of Sammy Sosa. Concepción grew, over the course of the first decades of the sixteenth century, into the island colony's largest city, rivaling the official capital of Santo Domingo in economic, political, and ecclesiastical importance. At its peak, the town boasted a fort, one of the colony's two cathedrals, one of the colony's two foundries, a cabildo, a hospital, and a Franciscan monastery. Concepción's fortunes rose and fell with the exploitation of two local resources--gold and the Caribbean Indian population. By 1520, it was clear that both were quickly disappearing. The town was gradually abandoned after this time, as Spaniards removed themselves either to the island's capital or tried their luck in New Spain. In 1562, an earthquake destroyed the town's standing structures, which the remaining residents took as a sign to abandon the settlement, relocating to the banks of the Camú River, the current location of the modern city of La Vega.

During recent fieldwork, 1,625 test pits were excavated, covering an area of approximately 357,000 m². On the basis of the results produced so far, we can conclude that the city's extent is minimally 360 m north-south and 640 m east-west with an area of 230,000 m², making it likely the largest Spanish city in the New World at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It should be emphasized that the dimensions of Concepción de la Vega will most likely change toward the greater when analysis of this summer's work is completed. The second aspect of the program at Concepción has been to inventory, catalog, curate, and conserve the huge quantity of materials excavated at the site over the past 30 years. These have been stored at the site, and the first task was to inventory, label, and repackage the artifacts in inert storage media. Some 758 discrete excavation contexts have been documented, mostly from the center of the site near the fort, and 153,619 artifacts and 321 kg of faunal remains have been cataloged. [Submitted by Al Woods]

Under the asepses of the Lucayan Ecological Archaeology Project, directed by Drs. Mary Jane Berman and Perry L. Gnivecki, Wake Forest University, and endorsement of the Department of Archives, Nassau, under the direction of Dr. Gail Saunders, Charlene Dixon Hutcheson is continuing a basketry-weave-type study of the basketry-impressed sherds from the Pigeon Creek site, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. She will be expanding this investigation to other excavated sites on San Salvador Island in the near future. Hutcheson plans to show differences in weave variation and preferences between these sites, which relate to social variation. The overall goal of this long-term project is to obtain comparative data on basketry-impressed pottery for as many known Lucayan sites in the Bahamas as possible for the purposes of determining inter- and intra-site, as well as inter- and intra-island, distribution and range of variation for this decorative category. This could then be used in research topics such as basketry grammar, materials, personal or group markers, distribution of types, and so forth, or other social organizational questions dealing with both basketry and pottery production and technology. The project is in a very preliminary stage at present. [Submitted by Charlene Dixon Hutcheson]

CARIBBEAN

GENERAL. Quetta Kaye, of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, is carrying out Ph.D. research on the topic of the paraphernalia associated with the use of intoxicants by prehistoric Caribbean islanders. She has attempted to locate, describe, and illustrate six classes of paraphernalia involved with intoxicant use: duhos, vomit spatulas, canopied "idols," inhaling bowls and tubes, teeth plaques (the possible single surviving element of an idol or duho) and also evidence of enema use. She has been trying to establish the true identity of the plant substances involved by taking ceramic samples from archaeologically recovered inhaling bowls and having these subjected to GC-MS analysis. She currently awaiting the results of this analysis, and would like to hear from anyone involved in similar work. She has also been considering identification of alkaloid-bearing plant materials present in the precontact period by pollen or phytolith analysis [Submitted by Quetta Kaye]