Occurrence of Exogenous Freshwater Bivalves (Unionoida) in the Lesser Antilles During the 1St Millenium A.D.: Example from the Hope Estate Saladoid Site (St

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OCCURRENCE OF EXOGENOUS FRESHWATER BIVALVES (UNIONOIDA) IN THE LESSER ANTILLES DURING THE 1ST MILLENIUM A.D.: EXAMPLE FROM THE HOPE ESTATE SALADOID SITE (ST. MARTIN, FRENCH LESSER ANTILLES).

Nathalie SERRAND

ESA 8045 CNRS, Archéozoologie et Histoire des Sociétés, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire d’Anatomie comparée, 55, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris. Tel : 33 (0) 1 40 79 32 88 - Fax : 33 (0)1 40 79 33 14 - email : [email protected]

❐ ABSTRACT The Hope Estate shell assemblages attest of alimentary and technological exploitation of marine Mollusks by its Saladoid inhabitants (ca. 500 B.C.-A.D. 600). Among numerous remains, ten fresh water Mussel specimens, all seemingly worked artifacts of an ornamental type, were recently identified as belonging to the Unionoida order and are therefore likely to have originated either from the Greater Antilles or the South-American mainland. Similar observations had already been reported for two Saladoid sites in St-Croix and suggested for two other contemporary sites in the Lesser Antilles but remained unpublished. Taken together, they suggest that trade and cultural networks, evidenced between insular and continental Saladoid populations by other archaeological remains, also likely included some shells as elements of economic and symbolic value.

Resumen Los agregados de material de concha del sitio de Hope Estate, en la isla de St Martin en las Antillas Minores, atestiguan de la explotación alimenticia y tecnológica de los moluscos marinos por los ocupantes Saladoid (cerca de 400 B.C.-A.D. 600). Entre los numerosos restos, diez espécimenes de concha, asimilables a objetos de typo ornemental, fueron identificados como perteneciendo al orden Unionoida de mejillones de agua dulce. De hecho son probablemente originarios de las Antillas Majores o del continente sud-americano. Observaciones similares existen para dos sitios Saladoid de la isla de St-Croix y fueron sugeridas para dos sitios contemporáneos de las Antillas Minores. El conjunto suggiere que los enrejados de cambio comercial y cultural documentados entre poblaciones prehistóricas Saladoides insulares y continentales por otros vestigios arqueológicos incluyen verosi- milmente también algunas conchas como elementos de valor económica y simbólico.

Résumé Les assemblages malacofauniques du site de Hope Estate attestent de l’exploitation alimentaire et technologique des Mollusques marins par ses occupants Saladoïdes (env. 500 B.C.-A.D. 600). Parmi les nombreux restes, dix spécimens de moules d’eau douce, assimilables à des objets de type ornemental, y ont été récemment identifiés comme appartenant à l’ordre des Unionoida et sont, de ce fait, susceptibles d’être originaires des Grandes Antilles ou du continent sud-américain. Des observations similaires, non publiées, avaient déjà été établies pour deux sites Saladoïdes de l’île de St-Croix et suggérées pour deux sites contemporains des Petites Antilles. L’ensemble sug- gère que les réseaux d’échanges commerciaux et culturels, documentés entre populations Saladoïdes insulaires et continentales par d’autres vestiges archéologiques, incluaient, vraisemblablement, certains coquillages comme éléments de valeur économique et symbolique.

136 ❐ INTRODUCTION

Archaeology and ethnohistory have much contributed to a better understanding of the Saladoid occupation of the Caribbean area and of some of its populations’ cultural trends. Yet it is still difficult to get a dynamic picture of the Saladoid cultural space and of movements of populations, ideas, resources and goods within it; save when archaeological remains witness of cultural and / or commercial exchanges taking place between islands and with the continent. Several types of exogenous materials, technological productions or stylistic traditions were indeed identified in Caribbean island sites and connected with their primary, sometimes continental, sources. Recently, observations of exogenous freshwater mussels on the Saladoid site of Hope Estate (St Martin), echoing a unpublished report for the island of St-Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands) by Vescelius and Robinson (1979), suggest that some Mollusks’ shells also were circulating in the Caribbean area as economically and / or symbolically valued raw materials or finished artifacts.

❐ CONTEXT, SITE AND MATERIAL

The Hope Estate site, Molluscan materials and exogenous Unionids

The Hope Estate site is located inland the northeastern part of the calcareous island of St Martin, on a small rocky spur, 80 m high above the alluvial plain and about two kilometers far away from the nearest coast as the crow flies (Figure 1). Excavations undertaken by Haviser (1991), Barret and Leton (1989), Henocq, Hofman and Hoogland (Henocq et al. 1993, 1994, 1995) and Bonnissent (Bonnissent et al. 1997, 1998) revealed dense remains of a large Saladoid village occupation extending on the plateau‘s shelf (Figure 2). Two large peripheral belts of refuse middens yielded rich and stratigraphically com- plex material assemblages. The site’s occupation sequence, divided into two to three occupation phases, according to the ceramic assemblages, globally spans 500 B.C. to A.D. 600 (Bonnissent et al. 1998). During ongoing studies of the Hope Estate shell remains, ten modified fragments of thick nacreous shells, given they could not be directly identified, were isolated out of the materials from all field campaigns: four modified fragments were isolated from the 1997-1999 remains (Figure 3-a, f, i and j) while subsequent examination of artifacts that had been exhumed prior to 1997 revealed six other specimens (Figure 3-b to e, g and h).

❐ TAXONOMIC IDENTIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION

Identifications

Preliminary identification of the archaeological specimens was achieved using comparative collections at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. All specimens are related to the Unionoida order of freshwater Mussels. Detailed identification of the Unionids representatives, which are numerous and for some poorly known and characterized by ecophenotypic variability, remains difficult (Cummings, personal communication 1998; Haas 1969a, b; Johnson 1981; Olsson and Wurtz 1951; Ortman 1921). A few morphoscopic diagnostic criteria were used to classify the archaeological specimens. Thus seven out of the 10 (Figure 3-a and d to i) exhibit similar characteristics: a thick, nacreous surface; a strong posterior ridge curving from the postero-ventral end to the postero-dorsal end; full, low and little sculptured umbos with moderately deep cavities; a long and straight hinge, narrow under the umbo and wider behind and in front; well-formed and compressed cardinal teeth stretching from below and in front of the umbo almost to the anterior margin ; anterior lateral teeth extending over and beyond the anterior adductor scar and lamellar ridges stretching behind the umbo on to the posterior end1. These observations led us and Dr. Kevin S. Cummings, from the Illinois Natural History Survey, to identify these seven specimens to the genus Paxyodon Munschen, 1781, of which the only species known is P. syrmatophorus (Figure 4-a and Table 1). Its shell is notably characterized by a

137 stretching wing, which is not apparent on the fragmentary archaeological pieces (Cummings, personal communication 1998; Haas 1969a:457, 1969b:490; Olsson and Wurtz 1951:2; Ortman 1921:458). The other identifiable specimen (Figure 3-j) in opposition, while also nacreous, is flat without any posterior ridge, has an almost toothless or edentate hinge and a little marked umbo, all characteristic attributes of the Anodontites genus, possibly the species A. infossus Baker, 1930 (Figure 4-b and Table 1). Finally, two specimens (Figure 3-b and c), given the absence of diagnostic attributes, could only be attributed to the order’s rank. In any case, direct comparisons with available specimens of the two known Cuban species, Nephronaias scamnata (Morelet) and Villosa gundlachi (Dunker) (Johnson 1981), thanks to Dr. J.-P. Pointier of the Laboratoire de Biologie Marine and Malacologie of the CNRS, and subsequent observation by Dr. K. S. Cummings, indicated that none of the archaeological specimens relate to these two species.

Distribution of Unionids and potential origin of the Hope Estate specimens

As a matter of fact, Unionids are widely distributed in the large drainages of the Neo-tropical area. Yet, they are absent from the Lesser Antilles (Maze 1883:5) and only known so far in the Greater Antilles in restricted areas of Cuba (Pinar del Rio Province to the west, Rio Taco and Gibara to the east and Cacajajicara) where two species have been observed: Nephronaias (Nephronaias) scamnata (Morelet) and Villosa gundlachi (Dunker) (Arango 1865; Johnson 1981:270-280; Lea 1832-1874:77; Von Martens 1890-1901:507-508, Table 39, Figure 9-11a). No other representative of Unionids is mentioned in the studies for the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Jamaïca (Crosse 1891:69-211 and 1892:5-71, Vendryes 1899:590-607, Van der Schalie 1948). On the other hand, although the wide geographic distribution of freshwater mussels in South-America remains poorly understood (Von Martens 1890-1901, Ortmann 1921:454, Baker 1923-1930, Haas 1969a:510-579), recent evaluations by Dr. Kevin S. Cummings (personal communication 1998) reveal that specimens of the two families and species identified at the Hope Estate site are known from the Venezuelan area, where only the Hyriinae sub-family and the Mycetopodidae family (see Table 1) are represented. Specimens of Paxyodon syrmatophorus and of Anodontites infossus are respectively known from the Orinoco (Academy of Natural Sciences records Philadelphia, ANSP; Figure 4-a) and Rio Aroa (Illinois Natural History Survey records, INHS; Figure 4-b) river systems. The Hope Estate archaeological specimens thus may likely have had a continental origin, maybe directly connected to the Venezuelan hydrographic systems; if not they are not likely to have come from any of the Lesser Antilles islands.

❐ DESCRIPTION AND DATES

Table 2 gives all spatial, stratigraphical and chronological indications for the 10 specimens’ contexts. It is to be noted that most of the specimens appear concentrated in the center of the eastern belt of refuse deposits, one of the site’s richest area (Figure 2). There are five calibrated dates available for the specimens’ contexts, most of which are identified as Cedrosan Saladoid deposits (Table 2): specimen 2007C is at least posterior to a layer2 dated to 1770 ± 50 B.P. (Beta-106228, wood charcoal), that is cal A.D. 135-405 (2 sigma, Beta Analytic Florida, Stuiver and Becker 1993 in Bonnissent et al. 1997:11, 17); specimen 2513B is at least anterior to a layer3 dated to 1560 ± 60 B.P. and 1710 ± 70 B.P. (Beta-106231 and Beta-106233, wood charcoals), that is cal A.D. 395-635 and 160-530 (2 sigma, Beta Analytic Florida, Stuiver and Becker 1993 in Bonnissent et al. 1997:10, 17) ; unit 16’s context is dated to 2070 ± 140 B.P. (LGQ 1099, wood charcoal) that is cal A.D. 60-635 (2 sigma, Beta Analytic Florida, Stuiver and Becker 1993 in Henocq et al. 1995 : 21). Finally one date was directly obtained from specimen 2917A: 1610 ± 45 B.P. (AA 30805, shell), that is cal A.D. 342-557 (2 sigma, computer program Calib.exe 4.1, Stuiver and Reimer 1993). When probability histograms are plotted and major peaks located, all calibrated dates appear consistent despite wide ranges which are usual for that period of time (Figure 5). They all fall within the first millenium A.D. and mostly before the seventh century. Further detailed analysis of the shells’ contexts and association with other material assemblages still need to be done.

138 To be noted is also that nine of the shells exhibit human made perforations, either biconical or conical, starting from the shell’s external side under the hinge, most often behind the umbo, or from the shell’s internal side and sometimes enlarged. More over, one specimen (Figure 3-e) has its postero- dorsal end cut out into a wing or a fin, accentuated by strong incisions; another one (Figure 3-b), although fragmented and unperforated, has its external side incised; the last one (Figure 3-c), although of uncertain identification, shows an interesting, maybe artificial, colored line associated with three perforations.

❐ DISCUSSION

Other archaeological and recent specimens

Linda S. Robinson and Gary S. Vescelius isolated, in 1978-79, a hundred seventy-three worked shell pieces among rather exceptional exogenous materials4 from the Richmond and St. Georges sites in St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands), both related to the Middle Saladoid, Cuevan period (ca. A.D. 350-600). These shells were characterized by the authors as “ unlikely to have been of local origin ” and were identified by David H. Stansberry, of the Ohio State University, as South-American freshwater mussels of the Prisodon genus (see Table 1), which is reputedly known from the Amazon and Orinoco basins (Vescelius and Robinson, oral communication and manuscript 1979). The artifacts, according to Vescelius and Robinson, were carefully worked with geometrical designs or representations of bird, frog and human figures as well as perforated, etc.. These observations were presented during the 8th International Congress for the Archaeological Study of pre-Columbian Cultures in the Lesser Antilles, in St. Kitts, but remained unfortunately unpublished and we don’t know of any illustration of the artifacts. Vescelius and Robinson also pointed out of several nacreous ornaments from the Middle and Late Saladoid Indian Creek site, in Antigua, an artifact described as an “ elegantly carved shell pen- dant ” by S. Olsen (1974:16, Figure 715); its size and morphology are similar to those of Unionids. In a similar way, they indicated a cut out, incised and triply perforated artifact from an unlocated Guadeloupean site ; it also shows strong similarities with Unionids and was classified by E. Clerc as an “ornement corporel - objet ornemental - pendentif représentant des formes humaines ou animales” and positioned in a time frame of A.D. 300-800 (Clerc 1974:130-132). Although attention was then clear- ly drawn on the underestimated presence of exogenous shells in Antillean Saladoid sites, their implications for contacts with the South-American mainland remained unexplored. Finally, without addressing any ethno-archaeological analogy or the perenniality of techno-cultural traditions, let’s just mention the recent use of nacreous shells by the Mundé6 women of the Bolivia/Brazil border and Rio Pimenta-Bueno area (one of the Rio Machado’s tributary) as witnessed by Lévi-Strauss (1994:174-175). Some of his photographs show women wearing neck parings including shells, doubly perforated in front and behind the umbo, that almost doubtless belong to the Unionoida order.

Exchange systems and scenarios

Unequal distribution of resources in the Caribbean area was likely overcome, by Saladoid groups, through systems of access to distant resources: the presence of continental terrestrial vertebrate species and semi-domestic plants (Keegan 1987; Newsom 1993; Wing 1989, 1993)7; of flint flaked tools of which only a few insular sources are documented in Antigua (Long Island islet), St Kitts and Puerto Rico (Knippenberg 1999; van Gijn 1996); of semi-precious lithics (amethyst, nephrite, turquoise, etc.) imported from continental sources (Boomert 1987 ; Cody 1990, 1993 ; Helms 1987) ; of exogenous vol- canic tempers in both Saladoid and Post-Saladoid ceramic samples from the calcareous islands of Barbuda and Anguilla (Donahue et al. 1990) are some evidence of exchanges in the Caribbean area. Numerous archaeological evidence as well as ethnohistory witness of the continental networks’ bread- th and complexity and of their permanence until the Contact Period in the Amazon area, the Orinoco region and the coasts of the Guyanas (Acu Caribbean area. Numerous archaeological evidence as well

139 as ethnohistory witness of the continental netwin this frame, several scenarios for the shells’ circulation into the Caribbean islands can be suggested: 1 - They may have been transferred, as finished artifacts, during Saladoid dispersal episodes from the continent. They thus could have been elements of a traditional “cultural baggage ” and parts of the original symbolic “ equipment ”. These artifacts and their signification may have lasted or been quick- ly abandoned with the adaptation of the “ symbolic landscape ” to new symbols of the insular world. 2 - These artifacts may also have been acquired as unequally available raw material or finished objects, after the populations settled on the islands through commercial exchanges, either directly between insular and continental groups, or indirectly via a larger circulation system and intermediaries spaced out in space or / and in time. 3 - In much the same way, they may have been integrated as rare and signifying objects within a ceremonial or symbolic transfer system (transmission of prestige goods, retribution, gifts, counter-gifts, etc). 4 - They may also have been directly obtained on the continent by insular groups on commercial trips for the disposal of local insular goods in exchange for exogenous continental goods. In any case, while the raw material per se was certainly valued for its rarity, provenience and thick iridescent layer, recurrences in the treatment applied to the artifacts themselves, suggest that they might also have been economically and symbolically signifying elements.

❐ CONCLUSION AND REFLEXIONS

The Richmond, St. Georges, Hope Estate and perhaps Indian Creek and Guadeloupean sites constitute a small cluster of coherent evidences. They indicate that some shells circulated at least during the first millenium A.D. either as valued raw materials and / or as symbolic, prestigious objects within the Caribbean. Increased identification of Unionids remains in shell materials is therefore necessary but remains often difficult among various nacreous fragments that can easily be assigned to the Antillean oysters Pinctada or Pteria spp.. Progress in the understanding of the spatial and temporal distributions of Unionids in island sites needs dated contexts that could help determining an “ active period ” where they were highly significant and used and is necessary for exploring possible relationships with other documented exchange processes. Identification of debitage remains on sites, or connection between finished artifacts and continental or island production centers, also are crucial if one wants to deter- mine whether the shells were more likely brought into the archipelago as valued raw material or finished products. If shell circulation only shows up through these “ exotic ” specimens, it is yet possible it was concerning less spectacular local species and productions. For instance, a high percentage of discoid beads made out of the most common Caribbean species Strombus and Chama spp. is often observed on sites; could it reflect a production intended to exceed the only inhabitants’ needs? Could it be directed toward middle-range (inter-islands) exchanges of composite finished objects ornamented with beads (see Carlson 1995; Dunn and Kelley 1989; Littman and Keegan 1991; Moscoso 1981)? More globally these observations, combined with those made on lithic and ceramic exogenous materials, lead one to consider the Saladoid socio-economic systems, in a context of unequally distributed resources, as integrating complementary resources widespread in a fragmented insular and continental territory. Witness of enlarged exploitation of several islands, exchanges between neighbor populations and transfers of some continental elements thus also bear consequences as for the understanding of Saladoid sites’ occupation and relationships: i.e. temporary occupations related to localized resources’ acquisition activities; successive occupations by the same populations of sites localized on different islands, etc. At last, the existence of circulation networks associating economic and symbolic transfers and interactions may help understanding the initial maintenance of a Saladoid cultural unity, and, the appearance in the long term of a Post-Saladoid cultural diversification.

140 ❐ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I first of all and very gratefully thank Dr. Kevin S. Cummings, of the Illinois Natural History Survey, for his undeniable kind support, his correcting and refining of the archaeological specimens’ identifications and the great pictures used in Figure 4. Warm thanks go to Mr. P. Lozouet, of the Laboratoire de Biologie des Invertébrés Marins (M.N.H.N. Paris) for his always helpful advice and for letting us access to the M.N.H.N. specimens collections; to Dr. J.P. Pointier, of the Laboratoire de Biologie Marine and Malacologie (E.P.HE., UMR 5555 CNRS) who let us look at some of the Cuban exemplars he collected and to Mrs G. and A. Faulkner (Munich) for their bibliographical advises. The University of Arizona and the National Science Foundation processed the radiocarbon date directly obtained on specimen 2917A. We want to acknowledge the help of D. Bonnissent and C. Stouvenot who let us use the Hope Estate site map they established in 1998 and all data available. I warmly thank D.R. Watters and K.S. Cummings for their text corrections and advice.

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❐ NOTES

1 Dentition varies a lot from very imperfect for representatives of the Unioninae sub-family to absent for those of the Anodontinae sub-family (Cummings personal communication 1998; Haas 1969a; Ortman 1921). 2 Lower Stratum E. 3 Upper Stratum C. 4 Folmer Andersen’s ancient archaeological collection, now property of the National Parks Service. 5 Olsen suggests that it represents a manatee (1974:16). 6 “ Les Indiens qui se désignaient eux-mêmes du nom de Mundé étaient probablement les restes d’une population jadis nombreuse, appelée Kepkiriwat par les Nambikwara. Une expédition mili- taire brésilienne les découvrit peu avant la Première Guerre mondiale. Ils étaient depuis tombés dans l’oubli. […] ” (Lévi-Strauss 1994:165). 7 These introductions’ nature (contemporary or subsequent to the initial migrations?) and the sta- tute of the introduced animals (commensal or domestic) have still to be understood.

❐ FIGURES CAPTIONS

Figure 1. The island of St. Martin (French Antilles) and the Saladoid site of Hope Estate. Figure 2. The Hope Estate site - After Bonnissent and Stouvenot 1998. Figure 3. The ten Hope Estate archaeological Unionids : Top - dorsal view ; Bottom - ventral view (© Serrand) a–1997, 2513B; b–1993, unit 9 ; c-1993, unit 16 ; d-1993, unit 9 ; e- ? ; F-1999, 3502; g-1993, unit 9; h- 1993, unit 5; i-1997, 2007C; j-1999, 2917A (directly radiocarbon dated). Figure 4. Present day specimens of the two Unionids species identified at Hope Estate –Courtesy of Kevin S. Cummings 1999 ©. a – Paxyodon syrmatophorus (Munschen, 1781) – ANSP specimen 125546 (Orinoco River, Venezuela). b – Anodontites infossus (Baker, 1930) – INHS specimen 17032-4 (Rio Aroa, Yaracuy, Venezuela). Figure 5. Probabilities histogram of calibrated radiocarbon dates for the Hope Estate Unionids’ contexts.

❐ TABLE CAPTIONS

Table 1. Simplified Classification of the Unionoida order and of some genera (after Abbott and Boss 1989 : 120-124) Table 2. Summary of the spatial, stratigraphical and chronological contexts of the ten archaeological Unionids from Hope Estate.

145 Figure 1. The island of St. Martin (French Antilles) and the Saladoid site of Hope Estate.

146 Figure 2. The Hope Estate site - After Bonnissent and Stouvenot 1998.

147 Figure 3. The ten Hope Estate archaeological Unionids : Top - dorsal view ; Bottom - ventral view (© Serrand) a–1997, 2513B; b–1993, unit 9 ; c-1993, unit 16 ; d-1993, unit 9 ; e- ? ; F-1999, 3502; g-1993, unit 9; h-1993, unit 5; i-1997, 2007C; j-1999, 2917A (directly radiocarbon dated). 148 Figure 4. Present day specimens of the two Unionids species identified at Hope Estate – Courtesy of Kevin S. Cummings 1999 ©. a – Paxyodon syrmatophorus (Munschen, 1781) – ANSP specimen 125546 (Orinoco River, Venezuela). b – Anodontites infossus (Baker, 1930) – INHS specimen 17032-4 (Rio Aroa, Yaracuy, Venezuela).

149 Figure 5. Probabilities histogram of calibrated radiocarbon dates for the Hope Estate Unionids’ contexts. 5. Probabilities Figure

150 Table 1. Simplified Classification of the Unionoida order and of some genera (after Abbott and Boss 1989 : 120-124)

151 Table 2. Summary of the spatial, stratigraphical and chronological contexts of the ten archaeological Unionids from Hope Estate.

152