Precolumbian Settlements on Carriacou, West Indies

Life and death at precolumbian Lavoutte, Saint Lucia, Lesser Antilles

“…The veneration of ancestors was an important aspect of the worldview of these insular communities, reflected in the continuous use of the combined habitation and cemetery area, the rebuilding of structures, and the deposition of kin on ancestral grounds in the context of the household, be it within or outside the house structure. Data from contemporary sites in the region show that this was common practice and demonstrate a recurrent pattern of village life, shared worldview, and exchange of goods and ideas throughout large parts of the archipelago Hoogland 2004, 2011;Fitzpatrick et al 2009;Morsink 2011;van den Bel and Romon 2010). The presence of non-local pottery and lithic materials and artifacts in the region accentuates the integration of the Late Ceramic Age communities into millennia-old regional social networks in which people, goods, and ideas, as well as cultural and social practices amalgamated over time Hofman et al 2007;.…”

“…1), tourism represents a vital part of the islands' economies and takes precedence over other social concerns of the local community. Modifications of the landscape resulting from development projects, combined with processes of erosion exacerbated by regular hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, sea-level fluctuations, and earthquakes, often leads to the exposure, damage, or complete destruction of archaeological sites (e.g., John F. Cherry, personal communication 2011; Cooper and Peros 2010;Crock and Petersen 2001;Delpuech 2004;Fitzpatrick et al 2009;Sophia Perdikaris, personal communication 2011).…”

New Radiocarbon Dates for the Grenadine Islands (West Indies)

“…), and possibly the green iguana (Iguana iguana) for dietary consumption (Newsom and Wing 2004;Stahl 2009;Giovas et al, forthcoming). The zooarchaeological record also suggests heavy exploitation of marine resources, particularly finfish and gastropod mollusks (LeFebvre 2007;Fitzpatrick et al 2009;Giovas 2009). In contrast to the larger islands that bound them to the north and south, the Grenadines have relatively extensive reef development with large bank barrier reef complexes on the windward side of some islands, especially off the eastern coasts of Petit Martinique, Carriacou, and the Tobago Cays (Tupper et al, http://www.reefbase.org).…”

“…Intensive survey found or rerecorded at least a dozen sites (Fitzpatrick et al , 2009 with artifactual assemblages that were typical of Ceramic Age deposits. Later excavation at the 2 largest of these sites-Grand Bay by Fitzpatrick and colleagues and Sabazan by Giovas as part of her PhD research-over several field seasons (2004-5, 2007-8, 2011), demonstrate that both sites contain a wide array of archaeological remains and features indicative of long-term habitation that span the terminal part of the Saladoid period (about AD 1-500/600) on through the Troumassan Troumassoid (about AD 600-1000) and Suazan Troumassoid (about AD 1000-1400) subseries of ceramic styles (see Fitzpatrick et al 2004Fitzpatrick et al , 2009also Petersen et al 2004 for description of ceramic typologies).…”

“…Intensive survey found or rerecorded at least a dozen sites (Fitzpatrick et al , 2009 with artifactual assemblages that were typical of Ceramic Age deposits. Later excavation at the 2 largest of these sites-Grand Bay by Fitzpatrick and colleagues and Sabazan by Giovas as part of her PhD research-over several field seasons (2004-5, 2007-8, 2011), demonstrate that both sites contain a wide array of archaeological remains and features indicative of long-term habitation that span the terminal part of the Saladoid period (about AD 1-500/600) on through the Troumassan Troumassoid (about AD 600-1000) and Suazan Troumassoid (about AD 1000-1400) subseries of ceramic styles (see Fitzpatrick et al 2004Fitzpatrick et al , 2009also Petersen et al 2004 for description of ceramic typologies). In addition to Carriacou, research has also begun to expand to other islands in the north (Fitzpatrick et al 2007) and includes preliminary subsurface testing by Fitzpatrick and Kappers in May 2010 at 2 Chatham Bay sites (a northern and southern one, referred to by Bullen and Bullen [1972] as "Chatham Midden" and "Chatham Pasture," respectively) and Miss Pierre on Union Island, a previously unrecorded site on Mustique known as Lagoon Bay, and 14 C dating of the eroded coastal profile at Banana Bay on Baliceaux.…”