A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT FROM TRINIDAD, WESTiNDIES

Peter O'B. Harris

THE BICHE POINT

This paper reports the context and technology of the Biche point, proposes a tentative 2-phase framework of paleo-environment, reviews data on flaked stone points within a framework of 3 separate subregional traditions, and assigns a tentative lifeway and chronology to the Biche point.

CONTEXT

Fifteen year old Jameel Baksh was sweeping the family yard in Baptist Street, Biche, in February 1988. As he reached the southwest corner of the house, he noticed something small and sharp exposed in a shallow erosion channel formed by rainwater falling from the roof. He dug up à large stemmed chert point (Fig.1). He took it to school in a town some 20 km away, and showed it to his teacher. She asked her younger brother to show it to his teacher in the nearby college. He in turn passed it to the history master, who recognized it as a possible Amerindian artifact, and brought it another 30km to the Archaeology Centre at the University of the West Indies, where it is now on permanent display.

Biche is a large village in east Trinidad, located near the western edge of the Nariva swamp (Fig.2). Here a series of silt-free rivers flow slowly east from the Central Range, but are hindered from reaching the sea by a coastal sand ridge, which stretches across the full 21 km width of the bay. The trapped waters form a large freshwater swamp, with stands of moriche palms, and a single exit. Today much of this has been drained and is worked as agricultural land.

The context of the point seems good. The base of the erosion channel lay 7 cm below ground surface, and the point lay a furthers cm deeper (Fig.4). Jameel's house is located near the top of a low ridge, some 40 m above sea-level, and 3.5 km from the swamp edge. The top of the ridge is some 10 m west of the house, and is littered with blocky pieces of poor quality brown sandstone (4-13 cm) eroding from the surface, together with a few mudstone pebbles (1-5 cm). The location conforms in most respects with a Venezuelan paleo-site definition formulated by Cruxent: "small ridges or hillocks (8-12 m high) in a savana or past savana environment, with outcrops of usable stone" (Cruxent pc 1972). However the stone is extremely friable, and could not be used for making implements. Careful surface searches by both Arie Boomert and myself failed to find any usable stone flakes or fossil bones, so that for the present the point must be considered an isolated find.

MANUFACTURE

The point weighs 36g, is 9.2 cm long, 3.8 cm wide, and 1.3 cm thick. The material is a brown chert with occasional dark streaks, and a certain degree of impurity. Chert pebbles with these attributes are found in the eastern half of the Central Range, and a deposit is known near Four Roads, Tamaña, on the northern flank of the Central Range. This is some 10 km from the find, on the other side of this 100 m high range of hills. However pebble size here is typically less than 8 cm, and a larger pebble (say 12 x 6-7 x 3-4 cm) would be required for manufacture. This would make the southeastern part of the Cordillera Costal in the state of Sucre a more likely source. and the Guayana Shield can be geologically excluded

73 74 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

(Kuarsingh pc 1988). The ripples in the flaking scars show that it is a high quality material from a flint- worker's perspective (Purdy pc 1991).

Manufacture can be reconstructed in 3 stages:

(1 ) The pebble was reduced to a blank through percussion flaking. Strong controlled blows to the edge from above remove radial flakes from the lower surface. The tool was probably a soft hammer. Insufficient surface is left from this first stage to check this. But it is the most logical tool for chert of this quality, because of its control; and the shallow flaking scars of stage 2 are characteristic of its use. This hammer requires a soft dense material such as manatee rib, heavy hardwood, or deer antler. The first 2 should have been available: from the freshwater Nariva swamp and the Central Range forest. Paleo-deer antlers in Trinidad are likely to have been too light.

(2) The blank was then reduced to the symmetry and shape intended by its manufacturer. Shallow 4-10 mm scars confirm use of the soft hammer. There is good lateral and longitudinal symmetry; however one should note a slight difference in the latter (Fig.5). The gradient of aspect A is extremely smooth; while aspect B has 2 small indents. These coincide with an apparent design division of the point into 3 distinct parts: point, blade, stem. These nicks suggest that aspect A was governed primarily by cross-sectional symmetry, and aspect B primarily by shape.

(3) Finally the edges were finished. Here the 1.5-4 mm miniscars suggest percussion rather than pressure flaking. The microscope (12 x magnification) also shows tiny areas of rough stone along the edges of the front 5.5 cm of the point, 0.5 mm wide, where the protuberances between edging scars have been broken off. It is not clear whether this derives from abrasion as a final stage of manufacture, or from use.

DESIGN

The finished point appears to conform with a clear set of design functions. The point section (3 cm) has an unusuallythicksubcircular cross-section, and edges which form a 75-85° angle. The design function suggests puncturing: eg a tough skin.

The blade (3.7 cm) has convex wings which curve out (3.8 cm at their widest) and in (2.9 cm at the rear), and edges which form a 40-50° angle. The design of this part suggests ease of penetration and withdrawal.

The stem (2.5 cm) tapers in thickness and width to a rounded end. The design suggests insertion into a haft, plus fastening with say vegetable gum and binding with plant fibre string. The notches at the base of the wings suggest a fairly substantial shaft (say ca 2.3cm diameter without binding).

In summary the above elements suggest a spear of unknown length, with a sturdy shaft (say 2.3cm thick), tipped by an equally sturdy point (6.8cm long without stem), apparently designed for piercing thick- skinned animals and easy withdrawal. The dimensions seem too large foraspearthrowerdart. Technology involves percussion flaking with a soft hammer, and probably does not include pressure retouch. The culture seems to have required a practical rather than aesthetic standard of symmetry and finish, and the skill level is high. Design, size and technology suggest a date prior to extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna (ca BC9000), and to the appearance of pressure flaking (ca BC 9000 in the U.S. plains). Finally the thick subcircular cross-section of the point section is perceptibly different from the flattened ellipse of most other stone points. HARRIS 75

PALEO-ENVIRONMENT CARIBBEAN

Some data are available for this early period. A temperature curve for the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere (say 45* N) shows a 7*C difference between BC 16,000 and BC 7600 (Fig.3). The pattern would have been the same on the Caribbean coast of South America, but the temperature difference would have been smaller, say 2-3'C (Van der Hammen 1974:25). The difference in Atlantic sea level for the same period is believed to approach 100 m. The climatic regime prior BC 12,500 is believed to have been sufficiently drier to produce wide areas of savana where tropical rain forest is found today.

TROPICAL LOWLANDS

The few items of local data support the implications of the broad picture given above. Lower sea level is shown by a subsea pollen sample 14 km off Trinidad's southeast point with a C14 date of BC 15,870± 6001 (Muller 1959:28) (Fig.2). A mixture of savana and mangrove pollens locate the coastline on the continental shelf at 40m below present sea level (Enrique Gonzales pc 1976). The 20m and 50m subsea contours have been plotted in, and the latter clearly shows Trinidad as part of the mainland. The Nariva swamp probably migrated in and out with the coastline along a SW-NE axis.

Several pollen cores from the Guyana and Surinam coast show a history of shifting sea level (Van der Hammen 1974:21): eg a 31 m core with two C14 dates from Oglebridge in the Guyana coastal plain (ibid: Fig. 18). Around BC 43,000, the site lay within the mangrove zone near its inland boundary (75% mangrove pollen). A gradual lowering of sea level led into an undated 3.5 m section dominated by savana (91%). Next a rapid sea level rise initiated a 13.5 m section dominated by mangrove (98%), with a date of BC 6640 2 m above its beginning. Then the sea level fell gradually, and the youngest 2 m section was dominated by savana (55-58%). Using Fig.3 as a reference, one may tentatively correlate the 3.5 m savana phase with the last glacial of BC 20,000-12,000.

Cores from the interior show a similar pattern, but here the fluctuations reflect periodic changes of rainfall. A 6.3 m core from lake Moreiru in the Rupununi savana shows a repetitive 3-phase cycle: rapid rise in lake level, followed by a period of high water, and a gradual fall to a lake low (ibid: Fig. 21b). The earliest cycle is undated: a 2.35 m section with a high percentage of woodland pollens (50-80%) and therefore high lake level, dipped gradually over the next 45 cm, to a lake low and a peak of savana pollens (90%). In the middle cycle, woodland pollens rose rapidly to a high (90%) which continued for 1.95 m, followed by a gradual dip over the next 55 cm, to a lake low and another peak of savana pollens (90%). In the youngest cycle, a rapid rise of woodland pollens to 50% is dated at BC 5335, followed by 2 gradual dips over the next 65 cm, to a lake low with 95% savana pollens 20 cm above a date of BC4110. Thereafter the pollen count is predominantly savana (65-90%). Again using Fig.3 as a reference, the high rainfall portion of the middle cycle seems to correlate with the period of temperature transition: BC 12,500-7600.

A similar fluctuation between savana and forest is shown by 2 undated pollen cores from the tropical forest environment of the south Amazon basin, in the state of Rondonia (Ibid: Fig. 22). In one, a period of forest pollens (80%) was followed by a savana peak (72.5%), and then by forest pollens (100%). In the other which is felt to be earlier, forest pollens (91 %) were followed by savana pollens (95%). Correlation with Fig. 3 is not possible without dates, but the 'eternal' rainforest is clearly preceded by a period of savana.

A detailed well-dated climatic curve spanning the last 10,500 yrs has recently been published for southwest Haiti. A 7.7m core from Lake Miragoane shows 4 pollen phases, and a detailed curve reflecting changes of lake level based on the 180/160 ratio of a lake shell. The phases broadly match Fig.3: arid (BC 76 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

8500-6200); slowly developing to mature forest (BC 6200-500);dry (BC500-AD1000) ¡disturbed (AD 1000 to date). But the detailed curve shows an appreciably different pattern (Hodell et al 1991:792).

Finally one dated pollen core from the Nariva swamp shows that its recent history includes at least 3 phases: brackish water, fresh water swamp forest, and fresh water grassy swamp. This is the 7m Sand Hill West core from the northwest part of the swamp (Ramcharan n.d: Fig. 10). The lowest 3m section, starting just before BC 3310 ± 70, was dominated by mangrove (38-86%), implying absence of a sandbar across the bay. The next 2m section was dominated by freshwater swamp forest (31-71%), implying presence of the sand bar. The top 2m section, starting ca BC 770 ± 55, became increasingly dominated by swamp grasses (48-90%), suggesting reduced rainfall.

Some Pleistocene megafauna remains have been found in Trinidad, but neverassociated with man (Saunders pc 1973). These include forest edge browsers such as Mastodon and Megatherium, and savana feeders such as Glyptodon, the giant armadillo. However another common savana feeder, the small American horse, has not been reported.

TWO PALEO PERIODS

Two periods of paleo-environment can be tentatively reconstructed from the above data and Fig.3. During the last glacial, BC 19,200-12,500, sea level was probably 100 m lower than today, and Trinidad was part of the mainland. The temperature was 2-3'C cooler, climate was noticeably drier, the typical vegetation cover was probably savana, with forest along river banks and swamp edges. The megafauna included Mastodon, Megatherium, and Glyptodon. The period of climatic transition, BC 12,500-7600, was probably a time of abundant rainfall with increasingly warmer temperatures, except during the two 1000- year cooler intervals (ca BC 11,500-10,300 and BC 9000-7700). The small areas of forest expanded, increasingly replacing the savana. Forest-edge browsing megafauna populations such as Mastodon and Megatherium probably also expanded. Sea level rose, except for the same two 100-year periods of regression. In the Gulf of Paria area, the sea would have breached the north sill (90-95 m) quite early. Trinidad would not have separated from the mainland until much later, when the sea advancing along the south coast crossed the south sill (45 m) off southwest Trinidad (van Andel and Sachs 1964:38). Using Fig.3 as a reference, Trinidad probably became an island ca BC 10,3002.

NARIVA

As the sea level rose, the Nariva swamp presumably migrated inland. During phases of rising sea level, the sand bar was probably absent, and the swamp was brackish water. During regression phases, the sand bar was probably present, and the swamp was freshwater. Based on Fig.3, tentative dates for this fluctuating history can be calculated: eg brackish (BC 12,500-11,600), fresh (BC 11,500-10,800), brackish (BC 10,800-9200), fresh (BC 9000-8100), brackish (BC 8100-6800), fresh (BC 6800-5700), brackish (BC 5700-4000), fresh (BC 4000-2800). Based on the Sand Hill West pollen core, the next brackish phase started BC 3400; so the fit is some 600 years out.

If the Biche point dates to BC 9000, at the top of the 2nd temperature peak in Fig.3, its paleo- environment can be tentatively reconstructed as follows: sea level would be some 7m below present, the Nariva swamp some 2 km further out to sea and about to change from brackish water to fresh, the low ridge some 5.5 km from the swamp edge, and in savana or open forest. HARRIS 77

CARIBBEAN POINTS Flint working traditions are known from 3 arpas bordering the Caribbean (Fig. 6) : the arid coastal area of northwest * ihe savanas of the'Guayanas interior, and coastal Belize-Jamaica-Cuba- Hispaniola. One isolated point and some point-shaped flakes have also been reported from the Lesser Antilles.

DESIGN AND SIZE There is no question that point designs cluster, sometimes locally, sometimes regionally. This implies that designs have a cultural, as well as a functional, content. In North America, there is widespread distribution of the fluted Clovis point, covering the U.S. central plains and eastern states, some 50% of the country. This point is large (7-12 cm), made by percussion flaking, often found in assoication with mammoth, small horse, camelid, and extinct bison bones:, at kill sites where a number of animals have been herded into a ravine or over a cliff, and dates to the period BC 10,000-9000 (Willey 1966:38-40). The widespread distribution of the same design is felt to reflect a wide distribution of ideas, produced both by mobility of the hunting lifeway, and fluidity of band membership: i.e. the ease with which an individual leaves one band and joins another.

The succeeding point types have a much smaller distribution. For instance the Folsom is limited to the western plains. It is 6-7 cm long, the edges are usually finished by pressure flaking, the associated animal is extinct bison, the context is still kill sites, and the period is BC 9000-8000 (Willey 1966:42-4). This may reflect stabilization of the bands into loosely defined hunting and social territories.

In Peru, a pattern of point types from a long cave sequence (Rick 1980: Fig 16.9) reinforces the possible use of point style as a conscious emblem of social identity (ibid: 101). Pachamachay cave has a long record of occupation (BC 10,000-400 plus) by camelid hunters from the high puna. The pattern of point types is compatible with use as an emblem: initially by families, then lineages, and finally by a larger social unit. Ricksuggests a model similar to weaving, where a family design is passed on unconsciously through informal mother-to-daughter learning, and then is consciously used by others to recognize the community to which the weaver belongs.

Length of point often has a chronological value. Skilfully chipped points do not seem to occur before BC 12,000, the start of the period of climatic transition. In general, local sequences show a diminution of size over time. This is held to reflect mainly a change of weapon: from spear (8 cm and over), to spearthrower dart (3.5-7 cm), to arrow point (under 2.5 cm). Broken points however were sometimes reworked to a shorter size, and were probably used for lower ranking game (ie smaller, less protein)3. Rework can usually be recognized by proportions which no longertotally balance. However length can only be used as a chronological indicator in known local sequences. For instance, some peoples continued to use flint- tipped spears in the Ceramic period, and others never changed from spearthrower to bow-and-arrow.

NORTH VENEZUELA In the upper Río Pedregal valley of northwest Venezuela, some 24 km from the coast, the Joboid series comprizes over 45 small (30-80 m) sites. These are distributed over a succession of 4 terraces, which are presumed to reflect successive episodes of river history: Camare: the highest terrace has the simplest assemblage, comprizing crude choppers, knives, and ovoid plano-convex scrapers. 78 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

Las Lagunas: the 2nd terrace assemblage adds thick bifacial blades.

El Jobo: the 3rd adds thin bifacial blades, long narrow leaf shaped El Jobo points (Fig. 7a,b), hammerstones, and quartz crystals. The points are 5-10 cm long, and the cross-section is described as lenticular by one source (Cruxent and Rouse 1958: 69) and thick cylindrical by another (Bryan et al 1978: 1275), so presumably both forms are present.

Las Casitas: El Jobo points predominate in the 4th assemblage, but a few smaller Las Casitas points appear. These range from diamond shaped to stemmed, with a triangular blade, and a length of 4.8-5.3 cm (Fig. 7c,d).

The artifact material is predominantly quartzite (Cruxent and Rouse 1958:68-70).

Although this series is undated, early dates have been obtained at 2 other sites with Joboid artifacts. At Muaco, a spring near the coast, excavation into an undisturbed portion of the site has produced megafauna bones associated with a plano-convex scraper, hammerstones, and a fragment of El Jobo point. A complete El Jobo point was also found eroding from the deposit. Many of the bones had been burned, some showed cutting marks, and others showed heavy battering suggesting use as a chopping block. One of the burned bones produced a C14 date of BC 14,920. Although this date seems to apply to the El Jobo phase, it may also belong to the earlier phases, especially if wooden spears were used, as Cruxent has suggested 4. At Taima. Taima, another spring 3 km further north, Cruxent has excavated mastodon and glyptodon bones, some of which signs of battering, associated with 3 fragments of El Jobo points, a unifacial knife or scraper, and chopping or pounding stones, witih dates between BC 12,000 and 10,000. To assess the validity of these early dates, a later multidisciplinary excavation was made. This uncovered the partially dismembered remains of a juvenile mastodon in a clearly undisturbed stratigraphie context, with the midsection of a quartzitic El Jobo point within the cavity of the right pubis, a used jasper flake 3 cm from the left ulna, and a pointed stone cobble jammed between the right femur and acetabulum. A concentrated mass of sheared (2-4 cm) twigs was closely associated and is hypothesized as the contents of the animal's stomach. Four C14 samples from this material processed by 4 different laboratories produced dates of BC 12,250-11,030, which average at BC 11,565.

Above the bone deposit were 4 distinct stratigraphie layers: 2 of colluvial sand (30-80cm) and (approx 60-65 cm), each capped with remnants of a weathered surface; then a layer of black organic clay (up to 30 cm) reflecting inundation, possibly a swamp episode; and at the top another layer of colluvial sand (1- 3 m). The black clay layer produced 6 consistent C14 dates spanning BC 8340-7700 (Bryan et al 1978).

Thé El Jobo phase is therefore dated to BC 12,000-10,000 with some degree of certainty. This is important for two reasons. Firstly it is the only dated point type in the Caribbean area. Secondly, unreasonable doubt has been cast on these dates by researchers unwilling to acceptthe existence of points with earlier dates than Clovis. We need therefore to be quite clear on the good quality of the data.

In terms of paleo-climate, the El Jobo phase coincides with the first half of the period of climatic transition. The coastwould have been further out to sea than today. The animal remains indicate a savana and probably riparian forest environment, and the Río Pedregal terraces a series of reducing floodplains. This situation suggests a regime of higher and probably seasonal rainfall during the glacial, which has diminished over time to present-day aridity. One may speculate that the ITCZ was displaced northward during the last glacial, and that the Rio Pedregal terraces and the Taima. Taima ancient weathered HARRIS 79 surfaces mark phases of its progress south, in line with the pattern of temperature fluctuations shown in Fig.3. The dates of the black clay layer (BC 8340-7700) are remarkably close to the dates of the 2nd cool period (BC 9000-7700) shown in the global temperature curve (Fig.3). The Joboid lifeway seems oriented to savana and forest edge ecozones, and not to the coast. It is also important to note that no fragments of Las Casitas medium sized stemmed point have been found associated with megafauna, so that this point type probably dates after their extinction ca BC 9000.

Small points: 2 stemmed points from the arid islands of Margarita (de Booy 1916:21 ) and Cubagua (Cruxent and Rouse 1958: 54) may indicate a 5th Joboid phase. The example from Cubagua has a triangular blade, and is made from quartz, but size is not given. It was found on the surface of Punta Gorda, a preceramic hilltop site with Manicuaroid material. Some Saladoid sherds probably deriving from trade suggest a date during AD 1 -350.

THE GUAYAN AS INTERIOR

In the interior savanas of the Guayanas, 3 stone-flaking complexes have been reported. Boomert has also assembled data on 14 isolated Lithicfinds (Boomert 1979)5. Clustering in riverdrainages suggests a pattern of 4 possible phases, and 6 possible zones (Fig 8).

(1 ) The Tupukén complex comprizes 5 sites on low savana hillocks with eroding green stone, in the upper Cuyuni area, some 200 km south of the Orinoco delta. Description suggests the area may be a relict of the Pleistocene savanas. Cruxent has reported crude bifacial choppers made from large flakes of this stone. The level of technology is broadly similar to the earliest Joboid phase, Camare (Boomert 1979).

(2) Long stemmed points are reported from 3 drainages: Cuyuni-Mazaruni (3): 3 finds totalling 6 points are reported6, of which 3 are long (8-11.7 cm) (fig. 10a). These 2 rivers join the Essequibo together from the west, some 40 km from its mouth. The area may relate to the Tupukén complex, some 200 km upstream. It may also link with the eastern edge of the upper Caroni drainage area, as the headwaters of the Mazaruni are near Roraima.

Rupununi-lreng-Takutu (1): 4 finds including a chipping station and 3 points are reported7. One is a long stemmed point (14 cm+) (Fig. 10b); and one reportedly has shoulder barbs. The environment is seasonally flooded savana. The Ireng and Takutu flow into the Branco, the Negro, and finally the Amazon, without any rapids intervening; while the Rupununi flows into the upper Essequibo, and then past several rapids to the Atlantic. This area provides a seasonal inland waterway between the Amazon and the Guyana coast. The lake Moreiru pollen core shows that the paleo-environment was savana.

Barima (1): 2 finds are reported in this small coastal area8. One is a long stemmed point (16 cm+). For the other see Small Points (below).

These long stemmed points seemdesigned for megafauna, in which case they should be broadly contemporary with the 3rd Joboid phase, El Jobo. Alternatively they may be a specific point type, say for manatee. This seems unlikely on the Cuyuni as several cataracts occur above its junction with the Essequibo. However manatee are reported on the upper Takutu (Im Thum 1883/1967:40), so that this is a possibility for the Ireng, Barima, and Biche points.

(3) Two Medium Point complexes are reported: 80 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

Canaima is a single site in a small savana in the upper Caroni area, which may also be an environmenll : relict of the Pleistocene. Here Cruxent found choppers, plano-convex scrapers, flat bifacial knives, points, b and hammerstones. Points are numerous, and range from diamond shaped to stemrñedvWitrva triangular blade, and a length of 4-7.5 cm (Fig.9a,b). The artifact material is almost exclusively jasper (Rouse and Cruxent 1963:42) (Boomert 1979). Four finds of isolated plano-convex scrapers (2) and stemmed points (2)9 suggest the presence of a broader upper Caroni area which extended to the Venezuela-Guyana boundary near Roraima. The Sipaliwini complex comprizes several sites on low savana hillocks with eroding rhyolite, quartz and granite, on both sides of the Surinam-Brazil border10. The huge area is probably another Pleistocene relict with undulating landscape, forest islands, arid moriche palm swamps in periodically inundated values. The artifacts include crude bifacial choppers, piano-convexscrapers, thin ; ovoid knives, 2 main point types, pointed pebbles, and small hammerstones. The points are all made of thin finely rechipped rhyolite or quartz. The majority (80%) are trianguloid (unstemmed), with a lanceolate blade, a flat or concave base, and a mean length of 5.5 cm. The minority are stemmed, with a lanceolate blade, sloping shoulders, and a length of 7-8 cm (Fig.9c). Some also have small shoulder barbs (ibid). The general similarity of blade shape and size in these 2 types should be noted. The •only difference seems to lie in the stem and method of hafting.

Three medium point types are present at Canaima and Sipaliwini, all with the appropriate size for spearthrower darts rather than arrow points. Horse and/or deer should have been present in the paleo- savana environment. The diamond-shaped and stemmed types are similar to Las Casitas, the Joboid4th phase minority type. The majority unstemmed triangular type at Sipaliwini has the same blade size. Perhaps these types represent cultural influence from 2 different directions: diamond/stemmed from the west, and triangular from the south.

(4) Small Points with shoulder barbs are reported in the coastal Barima drainage, from "the middens on the Aruka hills"11. Eight Mabaruma phase ceramic sites are shown on these hills (Evans and Meggers 1960: p70 map), so that these points maybe reasonably assigned to the Ceramic Stage, and dated to AD 1-350. This matches the Punta Gorda dating ratherwell. Although the environments are widely different, tropical forest and arid, both areas are coastal. Stone arrow points may have been a special purpose item during the mainland coastal Archaic/Early Ceramic transition.

Two isolated finds do not fit into the above clusters, but could conceivably relate to the Sipaliwini savana far upstream:

Courantyne (1 find)12: plano-convex scraper, some 180 km upstream from the coast. Maroni (1 find)13: triangular point with concave base (unstemmed), some 100 km upsteam from the coast. Size is not known.

BELIZE-JAMAICA-CUBA

Macroblades and points from Belize with estimated dates of BC 6000-4000, undated points from Jamaica and perhaps Cuba, and macroblades in Santo Domingo with estimated dates of BC 4000, have long suggested a probable migration sequence into the western Caribbean.

In coastal Belize, a series of 6 preceramic phases has been proposed (Nelken-Terner 1987), of which the first 3 are considered here. Phases 2 and 3 were reported in some detail at the 1985 congress (Callaghan1990). HARRIS 81

Lowe-Ha (est BC 7000-6000): comprizes 6 small sites, on old sand ridges. Extinct horse and other remains suggest probable exploitation of the savana ecozone. Artifacts include scrapers, 2 point types, and unmodified flakes.

Sand Hill (est BC 6000-5000): comprizes 18 small sites, the majority of which (13) are in the pine- oak forest ecozone producing acorns, deer, and small game; while 5 are in the fresh or brackish water lagoon ecozone. Artifacts include crude choppers and unifacials, long prismatic or pointed macroblades, fine bifacial knives, points, flakes, and manos. Unlike other unifacials, macroblades are struck from a prepared platform. Use-wear suggests major working of hard and soft wood, plus some preparation of hides and a soft vegetal substance.

There are 3 point types (Fig. 12a), but only 6 points (N=12) show signs of hafting, and wear suggests use mainly for cutting, slicing, and scraping. On the other hand 3 unmodified flakes show evidence of hafting and use as a point.

Orange Walk (est BC 5000-4000): comprizes 20 sites of varying size; settlement in the coastal zone has increased, and some suggest macroband exploitation of marine resources. Manioc roots are also present. Artifact technology and use are generally similar, but there are several minor changes: hide preparation decreases; meat preparation appears; new tools include gravers for bone work, hoe-like tools, and mortars; ground stone tools increase from 0.5 to 1.5%; the mortars and a small amount of obsidian show the start of importation. There are 3 new point types (Fig. 12b,c), and again the main use is cutting, slicing, and scraping. Ten (N=21) show evidence of hafting, and only 2 show use as a point.

The lifeway is clearly in a state of transition, marked by increasing sedentism, exploitation of coastal resources, heavy woodwork compatible with house- and canoe-building, probable cultivation of manioc, collection or exchange of distant resources and products. Transition of the point to a small knife/scraper tool without change in design is significant.

Three Lithic finds are known from Jamaica14:74 stemmed and 1 triiangular point reportedly from "a mound near Old Harbour" (central south coast) ; 2 scrapers from "a stratum on the seashore at Morant Bay" (southeast coast); and one side-notched point at Montego Bay (northwest coast) (Loven 1935:219-22). Most of the 75 points are in "different stages of manufacture", but some are finished. The main material is a "light ferruginous flint; in some cases it is reddish". Loven notes it may be local to the site, as limestone occurs on the peninsulars either side of Old Harbour. He illustrates 10 (¡bid: PI.XIII) which suggest the presence of 3 types: Stemmed triangular: narrow triangular blade, with slightly outflared or straight stem (Fig. 13 a,b,c). Assuming Lovén's illustration is life-size, and allowing for missing portions, estimated lengths would be 3.2- 9.1cm. Stemmed lanceolate: broad lanceolate blade with outcurving barbs, and slightly outflared stem (Fig.13 d.e). Estimated lengths are 4.4-6 cm.

Triangular: narrow triangular blade, with concave base (Fig.13 f). The material is different, a dark flint, and the estimated length is 3.5 cm.

Reportedly these points are in the Göteborg museum. If they show cutting-slicing-scraping instead of point use-wear, this would relate them functionally to the Belize sequence, and demonstrate the disappearance of a point in the Antilles. 82 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

LESSER ANTILLES

For the sake of completion, isolated finds from the Lesser Antilles should be mentioned. One isa 6.7 cm stemmed point with a broad lanceolate blade from the northeast coast of Antigua (Fig.11a). The material is a dark brown chert with darker patches and streaks, quite different in appearance from local cherts. It was found on a footpath below a cliff which had been excavated for construction of the Long Bay Hotel. As a few overseas visitors had already stayed there, its status was felt to be doubtful (Nicholson pc 1988). Given the probable importance of Antigua as a flint source for Indians of all periods living within a radius of 200 km (3 days journey by canoe), it seems more reasonable to assume that the visitor who dropped it was a precolumbian Indian. Point-shaped flakes include: one from Krum Bay, St. Thomas (Figueredo 1980:42); another from Antigua (Olsen 1976:94); and a possible "commenced arrow-point" from St. Kitts (Loven 1935:211 ).

CONCLUSION

COMPARISONS

Only 2 of the above types share the distinctive thick subcircular cross-section of the point section of the Biche point. El Jobo points (Fig.7a,b) are described as having a "thick cylindrical cross-section" in one source (Bryan et al 1978:1275), and as being "lenticular in cross-section" by another (Cruxent and Rouse 1958:69). As both sets of authors have first-hand knowledge of these points, and include Cruxent as co­ author, it is assumed that both descriptions are correct, but apply to different examples or different sections of the point.

The Ireng point (Fig.1 Ob) has not only the heavy point section, but an even clearer 3-part design division, asmall serrated section like some EUobo points, a tapered stem, and a water-associated location. Only its 6.3 cm point section has a lanceolate shape for easy withdrawal, but this is almost as long as the complete blade-and-point section (6.7 cm) of the Biche point.

One other South American point shares a subcircular cross-section of the tip. This is the typical stemmed point of the Paiján complex of coastal Peru (Fig.11 b), with C14 dates of BC10,845-6310, which has been rather fully defined (Chauchat 1976,1988). The complex comprizes: a tufa processing sequence (collection areas, and workshops containing unifacial side-scrapers); a rhyolite processing sequence (quarries containing blanks, and workshops containing blanks and points); and living sites (containing mainly utilized flakes, e.g. denticulates, plus some hammer and milling stones). The blanks appear to be manufactured by percussion flaking with a soft hammer (probably wood). The points appear shaped and finished by pressure flaking15. Points have a lanceolate, triangular, or intermediately shaped blade; but all are long, and share a thick narrow point. A few flakes have been converted into small stemmed unifacial or usable points (4-5 cm) by bifacial pressure flaking. The main subsistence remains encountered were land snails, fish (some of which were quite large), and lizards; plus avariety of small game. Deer and marine shells16 were noticeably absent.

Today the area is desert. The subsistence remains indicate a seasonally wet scrub environment in Paiján times. Megatherium, Pampatherium (giant armadillo), Mastodon, extinct horse and camelid remains eroding out of the desert surface imply a savana/forest island environment for the preceding geological stratum. C14 dates of BC 10,410-6960 from some of the bones suggest that extinction immediately preceded the Paiján phase. Chauchat hypothesizes that exploitation has recently shifted HARRIS 83 from a suddenly extinct megafauna to a mixture of inland and marine ecozones; and that the long slender tip of the Paiján point represents modification of the hunting weapon for thick-skinned megafauna into one designed for large fish.

CONCLUSIONS

(1 ) It is possible that use of flaked stone points was restricted to the capture of top ranking game. (2) The situational data of the Paiján complex, and location of the Biche and Ireng long stemmed points, suggest that this use had recently shifted from savana/forest edge megafauna to large aquatic fauna.

(3) It seems reasonable to place the long stemmed Biche and Ireng points within atentative Guayanas series, at a point which parallels the Joboid series transition from El Jobo to Las Casitas.

(4) The dates of both the El Jobo phase and the Paiján complex suggest that the Biche and Ireng points belong to the period BC 10,000-8000.

(5) If Trinidad became an island ca BC10,300, the above dates imply development of the canoe prior to BC 10,000. The aquatic association present in the Paiján complex, and suggested by the Biche and Ireng points, provides slim but independent evidence in support of this inference.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge advice from: Dr. José Cruxent of the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, on attributes of Venezuelan paleo-lndian sites; Dr. John Saunders of the Museum of Basle on Trinidad pleistocene megafauna; Dr. Enrique Gonzales of Texaco Trinidad Inc on palynology; Dr. Harry Kuarsingh of University of the West Indies, Trinidad on geology; Dr. Barbara Purdy of University of Florida, Gainesville, on flint working; and Desmond Nicholson of the Museum of Historical and Archaeological Society on the Antigua point. I take responsibility for any errors in the way their data have been used.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boomert, Arie 1979 The Sipaliwini Archaeological Complex of Surinam: A Summary. De Nieuwe West- Indische Gids 54:

Bryan, Alan L, Rodolfo M. Casamiquela, José M. Cruxent, Ruth Gruhn, and Claudio Ochsenius 1978 An El Jobo Mastodon Kill at Taima. Taima, Venezuela. Science 200:1275-7.

Bryson, Reid and Thomas Murray 1977 Climates of Hunger; Mankind and the World's changing weather. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. 84 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

Callaghan, Richard T.

1990 Possible Preceramic connections between Central America and the Greater Antilles. Proceedings of the 11th ICCA, , 1985: 65-71. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Atlanta.

Chauchat, Claude 1976 The Paiján complex, Pampa de Cupisnique, Peru. Nawpa-Pacha 13:85-96.

1988 Early hunter-gatherers on the Peruvian coast. In Peruvian Prehistory, ed R. W. Keatinge: 41-66. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Cruxent, José M. and Irving Rouse 1958 An Archeological Chronology of Venezuela, vol 1. Pan American Union, Washington D.C.

1961 Arqueología Cronológica de Venezuela, vol 2. Pan American Union, Washington D.C.

Dillehay, Tom D., Mario Pino Q., E. Mott Davis, S. Valastro Jr, Alajandra G. Várela, and Rodolfo Casamiquela 1982 Monte Verde: Radiocarbon dates from an Early Man Site in South-Central Chile. Journal of Field Archaeology 9:547-50.

Evans, Clifford and Betty J. Meggers 1960 Archeological Investigations in British Guiana. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Figueredo, Alfredo E. 1980 A Chert Point from Krum Bay, St. Thomas. Journal of the Virgin Islands Archaeological Society 9:41-2. Frederiksted, St. Croix.

Hodell, David A., Jason H. Curtis, Glenn A. Jones, Antonia Higuera-Gundy, Mark Brenner, Michael W. Binford, and Kathleen T. Dorsey, 1991 Reconstruction of Caribbean climate change over the past 10,500 years. Nature352: 790-3.

ImThurn, Everard 1883 Among the Indians of Guiana. Dover 1967 Reprint, New York.

Lovén, Sven 1935 OriginsoftheTainancuIture,Westlndies.ElandersBokfryckeriAkfiebolas,Göteborg.

Muller, J. 1959 Palynology of Recent Orinoco delta and shelf sediments. Micropaleontology 5 (1): HARRIS 85

Nelken-Terner, Antoinette 1987 Belize: Time and Space. lndigenaXLVII(1):23-31. Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, Mexico City.

Olsen, Fred 1976 Preceramic Findings in Antigua. Proceedings of the 1 st Puerto Rican Symposium in Archaeology, 1973:85-94.

Purdy, Barbara A. 1981 Florida's Prehistoric Stone Technology. University Presses of Florida, Gainesville.

Ramcharan, Eugene K. n.d Flora history of the Nariva swamp, Trinidad. Unpublished 1980 PhD dissertation, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad.

Rouse, Irving, and José M. Cruxent 1963 Venezuelan Archaeology. Yale University Press, New Haven.

Van Andel Tj. and P.L. Sachs 1964 Sedimentation in the Gulf of Paria during the Holocene transgression: A Subsurface Acoustic Reflection Study. Journal of Marine Research, 22:30-50.

Van Der Hammen, Thomas 1974 The Pleistocene changes of vegetation and climate in tropical South America. Journal of Biogeography 1:3-26

Willey, Gordon R. 1966 An Introduction to American Archaeology vol.1. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.

NOTES

1 Sample 1109: the pollen environment is not analysed in detail.

2 Using Muller's C14 date however, this would have occurred shortly before BC 16,000.

3 It is possible that flint points were restricted to large game for cultural as well as practical reasons, and that small game was normally hunted with perishable points, eg sharpened wood.

4 Evidence of wooden spears and small (2.5-3 cm) grooved subspherical stones associated with mastodon remains has now been found at Monte Verde in central Chile with an average date of BC 11,165. The grooved stones are said to be identical with those used by the present-day Mapuche for sling-and-thrown stones (Dillehay 1982:548-9).

5 His sources are cited below.

6 Four stemmed points from the Cuyuni (Evans and Meggers 1960: P1.8 b,c,d) (Roth 1929: P1,1 A, 86 A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

a); one from the Semang (Williams 1978); and one underscribed point from a gold placer in the Puruni (Quelch 1891).

7 The chipping station is Tabatinga, off the Takutu (Evans and Meggers 1960:22); the long point is from the Ireng river, reportedly from the river bed (ibid); the barbed point from Palikúa Creek, off the upper Rupununi (Roth 1929: P1,1A,c); and the other from the Rupununi (Linné 1929).

8 Long point from the Barima river area (Roth 1924: P1,36A, right).

9 Scraper from Urequén on the Kukenán river, near Roraima; and from Icabaruriver, uppe r Caroni. Points from Paragua river, major western tributary of the Caroni; and Chiguano river (?location) (Dupouy 1956/7, 1960).

10 The savana is called Sipaliwini in Surinam, and Paru in Brazil.

11 "seven small pointed, triangular arrow-points with tangs and barbs", which are reportedly in the British Museum (Lovén 1935:211). 12 Camp Jaguar (J.P. Berrangé pc).

13 Jorka Creek (J.P Berrangé pc).

14 During the Congress I was told of another find from the southeast coast: John Fletcherfound astone point in material excavated from a drainage ditch in the land barrier between the 2 salt ponds near Yallahs, St. Thomas. It was given to the government archeologist (George Lechler pc 1991). I believe it has not yet been published.

15 It seems that the BC 9000 date I used earlier for the appearance of pressure flaking in North America is not a valid continental time indicator.

16 If there were any coastal camp sites, they would have been covered by rising sea level. -ARRíS 87

Figure 1 : Aspects A and B of the Biche point ( 1.9 times üíesizei A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

Figure 2: The point was found 500m SE of Biche. A dotted line shows the 12m contour inland of the Nariva swamp. A bold line in the sea shows the 50m subsea contour; and 'X' locates the shoreline pollen sample from 40m dated ca BC 16,000.

BC 20,000 15,000 10,000 5000 AU

Figure 3: Estimated temperature curve for the past 25,000 years for the northern hemisphere, vviîb_a____ latitude of say 45° N (Bryson antfWa7T977T HARRIS 89

Figure 4:

Location of Biche point: by SW corner of the house (plan) and in the soil (profile).

MKIvl /ƒ

Figure 5:

Profiles generally show symetry; but two indents on aspect B mark off the three functional sections: point, body, stem. A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT

Figure 6: Location of flaked stone point traditions bordering the Caribbean.

'« • • • • *s

Figure 7: North Venezuelan points: (a,b) El Jobo serrated (9.7cm) and finely rechipped (11cm); (c,d) Las Casitas diamond-shaped (6.5cm) and stemmed (4.5cm) (Rouse and Cruxent 1963: PI.3.E,F,G,) (Cruxent and Rouse 1961: PI20.1K Figure 8: Flaked stone finds in the Guayanas mapped into drainage clusters. Remaining isolates are marked (x) (based on Boomert 1979).

i • i -J-

Guayanas medium, points: (a,b) Canaima Figure 9: diamond-shaped (5.6cm) and stemmed (7cm) (Rouse and Cruxent 1963: PI.6A); (c) Sipaliwini stemmed (7cm) (Boomert). A PALEO-INDIAN STEMMED POINT 92

Figure 10:

Guayanas long points: (a) Cuyuni river (10.6cm); (b) Ireng river (14cm) (Evans and Meggers 1960: Pl.8.d,a).

Figure 11 :

(a) Antigua point (6.7cm) (Olsen 1976: Fig.4); (b) Paiján point from coastal Peru (10.7cm) (Chauchat 1988: Fig.2.6c). HARRIS 93

Figure 12: Belize "points", (a) Sand Hill Pedernales-like (6.8cm); (b,c) Orange Walk Trinidad-like (9.2 and 5cm) (Caliagham 1990: PI1.1 and PI5.1,3).

Figure 13:

Jamaica points from Old Harbour: (a,b,c) stemmed triangular;(d,e) stemmed lanceolate; (f) triangular. (Loven 1935: PI.X111.2,4,7;1). Dimensions assume that Loven's illustrations are life-size.