Trinidad's Lithic Era People (Est BC 9000-7000
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Trinidad’s Lithic Era People (est BC 9000-7000) Peter O’Brien Harris Abstract: I try to reconstruct the culture of this early people. Direct information is minimal: three pieces of early environmental data, two lithic artifacts, and three flake-scatter campsites. I use the ethnography of the 20C Colombian Nukak to provide a comparative set of beliefs, religious institutions (numerous), economic and political institutions (minimal), camp layout, artifacts (men’s, women’s, joint), rainforest starch (no cultivation), and protein. I expand the archeological data with a regional survey: Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, and an excavation on the Lower Amazon. Trinidad seems to be part of a Lithic culture area defined by the Guianas-Amazon watershed (Figure 1), stemmed points, and possibly painted rock sites. It does not seem related to the Joboid series of northwest Venezuela. Résumé: J’essaie à reconstituer la culture de cet ancien peuple. Il y a peu d’informations directes: trois sur l’écologie ancienne, deux artifactes lithiques, et trois gisements de bivouac. J’utilise l’ethnologie des Nukak de la Colombie du vingtième siécle, pour offrir une série comparative des croyances, des institutions religieuses (nombreuses), des institutions politico-économiques (minimales), plan de bivouac, artisanat (masculin, féminin, mixte), féculents et viandes de la forêt (sans cultivation). J’élargis les données archéologiques avec une étude régionale: Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, plus une fouille à l’Amazone Inférieure. La Trinité semble former partie d’une région culturelle définie par les pentes Guianas- Amazone (Figure 1), les pointes à pied, et peut-être les rochers peints. Elle ne semble pas se lier à la série Joboide du nord-ouest de Venezuela. Resumen: Trato de reconstruir la cultura de este pueblo antiguo. Información es limitada: tres datos pertinentes al temprano medioambiente, dos artefactos liticos, y tres talleres. L’etnografía contemporanéa del grupo Nukak de Colombia nos ha permitido manifestar una serie de referentes sobre las creéncias, instituciones religiosas (numerosas), instituciones político-económicas (mimimas), disposición del asentamiento, artefactos e implementos (masculinos, femeninos, y mixtos), proporción de ingesta de almidón y protéinas provenientes de la recolección y de la caza (no son cultivadores). Extendo los datos arqueológicos a partir de un survey regional que comprende Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, y una excavación en el Bajo Amazonas. Trinidad posiblemente forma parte de una cultura litica definida para la cuenca Guianas-Amazonas (Figure 1), puntas pedunculares, y quizá las piedras pintadas. Al parecer no tiene relación con la serie Joboide del noroeste venezolano. 30 Environment During the global ice age (BC 19,000-12,500), Trinidad is a different world. Temperature and sea level are much lower. Savana vegetation dominates in areas of modern rainforest. And megafauna are present. Six finds of prehistoric megafauna1 in southwest and south Trinidad confirm this open landscape. A subsea pollen sample off the east coast at 22 fathoms2 below modern shows a shoreline mixture of mangrove and savana pollen dating to BC 15,870 (Harris 1991). This means the Columbus Channel and Gulf of Paria are dry land at this time, and Trinidad is part of Venezuela. BC 12,500-7,500 is a period of change. Temperature and sea level rise dramatically, with two small oscillations. The savana is mostly replaced by rainforest. The megafauna become extinct. By BC 11,500 Trinidad is a virtual island, with a narrow landbridge connecting our southwest peninsula to the Orinoco Delta3. If invented, the canoe would give easiest access. Lithic Remains Lithic remains currently comprise: one stemmed point, one plano-convex scraper, and three flake-scatter camp sites (Figure 2)4. The Stemmed Point (Figure 3) was found at Biche in east Trinidad, 10 km from the sea, at 40 m elevation (Harris 1991). Its dimensions are 9.2 x 3.8 x 1.35 cm x 36.8 g. The body has been thinned with a soft hammer. The margins have been finished by pressure flaking, and near the tip the edges have been ground for 1 cm to improve penetration. Its sturdy manufacture plus pressure flaking suggest a date ca BC 9000. Solidity, thickness, and weight suggest a hand held spear. Good lateral symmetry means it would also be good for throwing (Rodríguez pc 2009). The rock is a high quality brown chert, most likely from the Querecual formation of northeast Venezuela near Barcelona (Figure 1.1), some 400 km from Biche by canoe (Frampton pc 2009). This rock source suggests invention of the canoe by BC 9000, the date proposed for the Biche point. There are many ethnohistoric reports of spears as a standard Indigenous hunting and war weapon: long staves with a fire-hardened point (early 17C Guyana), as sharp as steel (18C Orinoco). The Indians attack the larger animals such as bush hog and jaguar at close quarters, with wooden spears as long as themselves tipped with a broad lancet-shaped piece of iron of European manufacture (1920s, upper Negro) (Roth 1924: 169, 170). The Plano-convex Scraper (Figure 4)) was found on surface at the pottery site of Atagual in west Trinidad (AD 0-700), 13 km from the sea, at 165 m elevation. Its dimensions are 9.3 x 5 x 1.4 cm x 66g. The dorsal face shows centripetal flaking. The ventral face has a clear bulb of percussion. The platform has been removed by controlled flaking followed by fine retouch. Pressure flaking is absent. This tool type has a long date span (say BC 14,000- 8000). Its function is planing a medium to hard material, such as wood or bone. All four margins are worn (Rodríguez pc 2009). The rock is an indurated siltstone, probably porcellanite from the Erin formation of southwest Trinidad. Coastal exposures would be accessible by canoe some 60 km from Atagual (Frampton pc 2009). 1 Mastodon, Megatherium, Mylodon, and Glyptodon (Saunders 1960). 2 One fathom = 1.83 m. 3 I locate this landbridge at Soldado Rock. But Boomert locates it at Erin Point (2000: fig 4). 4 Sites are shown in their drainage basins. The fractured line shows the 100 m contour. The swamps are based on the 1971 Soils Map, and represent the approximate period BC 5000- ca AD 1900. 31 I know of no ethnographic parallels, but the short-handled iron adze of the Warao master canoe maker may be considered functionally similar. It is sacred, and is curated in a special basket at the east end of his house (Wilbert 1976: 340). The Camp Sites are three small surface scatters of chert flakes and cores. Some flakes show signs of use. All are in southwest Trinidad, close to the sea or inland water, 15 m or less above sea level, and far from sources of chert (Figure 2). They are assumed to be seasonal camps: variously for hunting (Fyzabad: southwest shore of former Oropuche Lagoon), fishing (Savaneta: west-coast north of Lagoon), and visiting a sacred place (Pitch Lake Southwest: west-coast west of lagoon). The absence of formal Lithic artifacts suggests a later date, say BC 7000. In fact Boomert feels they are Banwarian, but the presence of Lithic rather than Archaic artifacts near a similar site in Guyana, Tabatinga (Evans and Meggers 1960: 22, fig 109), suggests he may be wrong. Today all three Trinidad sites have been destroyed by construction. Nukak Ethnography The Nukak number 400-500 persons, and exploit a 10,000 km2 area of rainforest (Figure 1.2): ie twice the size of Trinidad. They live in bands of 30-40 persons. They move camp 70-80 times per year, exploiting a seasonal circuit of wild plant and animal resources. Their focus is daily band survival. They have no cultivation. There is no formal leadership above band level. A 1963 massacre by recently arrived colonos resulted in missionary contact in 1975. In 1988, following a colono shotgun raid to rescue an abducted child, 43 Nukak (women, youths, children: but no men) emerged from the forest. Ethnographic work started soon after, but was shut down in 1996 by Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionárias de Colombia (FARC). Ethnographer and missionary data from this short research window are summarized by Politis (2007, 2001). Beliefs include a four-level universe and numerous spirits: • World of Above is located in the sky, and is the opposite of Nukak daily life. A huge open plaza contains permanent colono-type houses with galvanized iron roofs, large gardens of cultivated crops, and a single central Kupé tree. Rainforest occurs only at the edges. This world contains a senior male spirit who smokes a giant cigar. Also the Sun who leaves his camp in the east each morning to distribute food animals. When he re-enters camp in the evening, he paints himself red. • World of Below is deep below Earth. It contains dangerous spirits, and the Nukak who failed to reach Earth through the Hole of Origin (also located in the East). • Earth contains the rainforest. Also a male ancestor spirit, probably the howler monkey, who created many animals and trees, and probably Blowpipe Hill. Also his wife, whose urine created the plant for dart poison. • Underground Place is just below Earth’s surface, and contains “House of the Tapir”, where the ancestral clan spirits of Tapir, Deer, and Jaguar live during the day. There is also a poorly documented “Water House”, home of the spirits of caiman, capybara, and various kinds of fish. Deceased Nukak have three spirits: • 1st spirits lead a life of fun and plenty in World of Above. Their activities continuously affect Earth: eg when they have a lot of sex, a certain tree on Earth fruits abundantly. • 2nd spirits live in “House of the Tapir” during the day, and feed at night in the forest in the form of their ancestral clan animals.