Prehistoric migration in the Caribbean: past perspectives, new models and the ideal free distribution of West Indian colonization

Abstract

Historically, archaeologists have pursued two basic approaches to prehistoric Caribbean colonization: those relying on historical narratives and those informed by theoretical modelling. With few exceptions, the latter have not been widely employed. Here, we introduce a behavioural ecology model used in Pacific archaeology, the ideal free distribution (IFD), to understand Caribbean migration and island settlement as a form of adaptive behaviour. We assess the sequences of Ceramic Age (post-2500 BP) colonization and overall prehistoric island colonization for fit against the predictions of the IFD using terrestrial net primary production and island area as measures of habitat suitability. We conclude that certain aspects of Caribbean colonization -the initial settlement of larger, high-quality-habitat islands and temporal pauses between migration pulses -are consistent with the IFD. Model inconsistencies observed for Ceramic Age colonization, however, are best explained in terms of the limitations of Pre-Columbian seafaring and territorial behaviour on the part of pre-existing Archaic occupants.

A Test of Ideal Free Distribution Predictions Using Targeted Survey and Excavation on California’s Northern Channel Islands

“…The location of larger sites with permanent or semipermanent occupation usually takes into account a suite of environmental and socioeconomic factors. The ideal free distribution or IFD (Åström 1994;Fretwell and Lucas 1969;Fretwell 1972;Sutherland 1983Sutherland , 1996Treganza 1995) is used in behavioral ecology and increasingly in anthropology and archaeology to understand how such factors affect human settlement and broader patterns of decision-making and culture change (e.g., Kennett 2005;Kennett et al 2006Kennett et al , 2009Kennett and Winterhalder 2008;McClure et al 2009;Winterhalder et al 2010;Culleton 2012;O'Connell and Allen 2012;Codding and Jones 2013;Giovas and Fitzpatrick 2014;Moritz et al 2014;Codding and Bird 2015).…”

Geospatial modelling for predicting the ideal free settlement of Rapa

“…Most archaeological applications of the IFD have been more broadly focused on a regional scale (Giovas & Fitzpatrick ; Kennett et al . ).…”

“…The human behavioural ecology (HBE) model, the ideal free distribution (IFD), is one framework through which to understand and make archaeological predictions about demographic expansion following island colonisation (Fretwell & Lucas ; Giovas & Fitzpatrick ; Kennett et al . ; Winterhalder et al .…”

“…The IFD has been used to understand island colonisation from the Caribbean (Giovas & Fitzpatrick ), the Northern Channel Islands (Jazwa et al . ; Winterhalder et al .…”

“…The human behavioural ecology (HBE) model, the ideal free distribution (IFD), is one framework through which to understand and make archaeological predictions about demographic expansion following island colonisation (Fretwell & Lucas 1969;Giovas & Fitzpatrick 2014;Kennett et al 2006b;Winterhalder et al 2010). The IFD typically describes decisions concerning expansion into new habitats and subsistence intensification through measures of 14 Predicting the ideal free settlement of Rapa Figure 1.…”