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All Islands Great and Small: the Role of Small Cay Environments in Indigenous Settlement Strategies in the Turks & Caicos Islands

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All Islands Great and Small: the Role of Small Cay Environments in Indigenous Settlement Strategies in the Turks & Caicos Islands ALL ISLANDS GREAT AND SMALL: THE ROLE OF SMALL CAY ENVIRONMENTS IN INDIGENOUS SETTLEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS By PETER THOMAS SINELLI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2010 1 © 2010 Peter Thomas Sinelli 2 To my family, who always knew I could do it 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS What a long, strange trip it’s been. When your graduate career spans three presidential administrations, you have a lot of people to thank. Some of them helped for a few weeks, and others for many years, but everyone who chipped into this effort shares one thing in common: they believed in me. I could never had made it if it were not for the faith of others in what I was trying to accomplish. I am deeply indebted to the field school students who paid good money to join a guy they barely knew for six weeks of manual labor in a foreign country most of them had never heard of. Without the contributions of Meghan Beverung, Tiffany Cosgrove, Erin Funk, Matt Kear, Brena Lepore, Matt Newman, Winn Phillips, Jen Riley, and Lauren Willis, and especially Geoff DuChemin, there is no way I could have pulled this study off, period. I am also very grateful for the in-country assistance and camaraderie of Brian Riggs, who is as essential to Turks & Caicos archaeology as trowel and screen, but a whole lot more helpful and fun. I also thank his colleagues at the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources, officials from the Department of Fisheries and the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board, and the staff of the Turks & Caicos National Museum for their generous logistical and/or financial backing. I also owe much to the departmental office staff and my graduate assistants who contributed to the dissertation. Jordana Labson and the rest of the UCF Department of Anthropology office staff were all so helpful as I prepared the final manuscript. My graduate assistants Mike Martin and Phil Wolfe processed a lot of ceramic data, and Holly Champion and Josh Crosby created some excellent maps. Andy Ciofalo did all of the above, and was gracious enough to tackle any other oddball request I threw at him. Finally, Lucas Martindale Johnson 4 applied his superb computer skills and artistic ability to create maps and wonderful sketches of artifacts. Over the years, my family has been a constant source of logistical, financial, and moral support. Grandma Becky, Grandma Deb, Grandma Susan, and Aunt Katie selflessly helped run the house during my fieldwork and other absences. The Culbertsons, Roberts, and Sinellis also pitched in on many occasions during the analysis and writing, and my parents Michael and Susan Sinelli generously funded my radiocarbon analyses. Aside from their direct role, my parents and affines have been tireless cheerleaders, and their words of encouragement kept me going during the dark times when I thought I would never finish this endeavor. I also want to thank a number of people within the academy. My Chair at UCF, Arlen Chase, has been particularly supportive, as have my colleagues in the department. I deeply appreciate my committee of Mark Brenner, Kathy Deagan, Mike Moseley, and Jerry Murray for sticking by me. I was never a typical graduate student, and I probably caused more than the usual number of headaches for them. They could have jumped ship during any of my prolonged hiatuses as stay at home dad, but they never did. Everyone’s commitment to me and my career is a huge reason this project succeeded. As for Bill Keegan, where do I start? Twelve years ago he agreed to take on quite a project—turning a finance guy into an anthropologist. This quest required the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job. Wisdom to guide me in the appropriate direction, but also to step back and let me learn some things for myself. And patience, well, because it has been twelve years. I will always be thankful for his example, and for everything he has given and taught me. 5 Finally, there is my family. As there are no words to describe the depth of my gratitude, I will be brief. I thank Mike and Alex for letting daddy work on his paper instead of playing. There will be lots of time for that now! And I thank Amy, whose ceaseless support is the only reason I made it this far. We (not I) did it! 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................................12 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................13 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................21 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................22 Research Objectives ................................................................................................................22 Profile of a Small Cay Environment .......................................................................................22 Project Overview ....................................................................................................................23 The Project .......................................................................................................................23 Categories of Small Cay Sites .........................................................................................25 Introduction to Turks & Caicos Archaeology ........................................................................27 Overview .........................................................................................................................27 Ceramic Chronology of the Turks & Caicos Islands .......................................................29 The Significance of Shell Bead Manufacture in the Turks & Caicos Islands .................31 2 THE CAICOS BANK SURVEYS ........................................................................................39 Geographical, Physical, and Biological Description of the Caicos Bank ...............................39 Geography of the Caicos Bank ........................................................................................39 Physical Description of the Caicos Bank ........................................................................40 Biology of the Caicos Bank .............................................................................................41 Overview of reef and bank fauna .............................................................................41 The modern Caicos Bank fishery .............................................................................42 Caicos Bank exploitation in prehistory ....................................................................45 Survey Theory and Methodology ...........................................................................................49 Survey Theory .................................................................................................................49 Survey Methodology .......................................................................................................51 Survey Results ........................................................................................................................52 The Survey of Long Cay .................................................................................................52 Physical description and survey methodology .........................................................52 Survey results ...........................................................................................................54 The role of Long Cay ...............................................................................................57 The Survey of Moxie Bush ..............................................................................................57 Physical description and survey methodology .........................................................57 The role of Moxie Bush ...........................................................................................59 The Survey of Dove Cay .................................................................................................59 Physical description and survey methodology .........................................................59 The role of Dove Cay ...............................................................................................61 7 The Survey of Iguana Cay ...............................................................................................62 Physical description and survey methodology .........................................................62 The role of Iguana Cay .............................................................................................63 The Survey of Horse Cay ................................................................................................64 Physical description and survey methodology .........................................................64 The role of Horse Cay ..............................................................................................67 The Survey of Six Hills Cays ..........................................................................................69 Physical
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