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Comments on the Mainland Origins of the Preceramic Cultures of the Greater Antilles COMMENTS ON THE MAINLAND ORIGINS OF THE PRECERAMIC CULTURES OF THE GREATER ANTILLES RichardT. Callaghan Computersimulations are used to shed light on the probable origins of the earliest Preceramic cultures of the Greater Antilles and to understand the navigation skills necessary for island colonization. These cultures, dating to between ca. 4000 B.C. and 2000 B.C., are found on Cuba, Hispaniola, and possibly Puerto Rico. Two areas, northern South America and northern Central America, have assemblages that bear resemblance to the assemblages of the Greater Antilles, but there are importantdifferences. Chance discovery of the GreaterAntilles is possible from three areas: northern South Amer- ica, northern Central America, and southern Florida. Directed voyages have a high degree of success from all three areas. However,voyages from northernSouth America requirethe least navigational skill, making it the most likely source of col- onization. From northern Central America, foreknowledge of the islands appears to be required, while directed voyages from southern Florida encounter considerable risk. Se empleanmodelos de simulaci6npor computadorapara entenderlos origenesposibles de las primerasculturas precerdmicas de las Antillas Mayores, asi como las habilidadesnecesarias para realizar su colonizaci6n. Estas culturas, que tienenfechas entre4000 a. C. y 2000 a. C., se encuentranen la Cuba, la Espaiiola y posiblemente en Puerto Rico. Dos areas, la parte norte de Sudamericay la regi6n norte de Centroamerica,tienen conjuntosarqueoldgicos que presentansemejanzas con aquellos de las Antillas Mayores. Sin embargoexisten diferencias importantes,especialmente en las industrias liticas. Los resultados de la simulaci6n indican que hubo posibilidades del descubrimiento de las Antillas Mayores desde tres areas: el norte de Sudamerica,el norte de Centroamericay el sur de la Florida. Hay grandesposibilidades de exito en viajes intencionales desde cualquierade estas areas. Sin embargo,los viajesdesde Sudamericarequieren menos habilidadesparala navegaci6n, haciendo que esta sea lafuente mds probable de la colonizaci6n. Parece ser necesario tener un conocimientoprevio de la existencia de las islas para realizar el viaje desde America Central,y el viaje directo desde el sur de la Florida involucra riesgos consi- derables. Finalmente,este estudio sugiere que los conjuntosarqueoldgicos de la Centroamerica,de Sudamericay de las Anti- Ilas Mayoresrequieren de un andlisis comparativodetallado antes de poder sacar una conclusidnsolido con respecto al origen de las primeras culturas de las Antillas Mayores. irtually every area of the Caribbeanand for the earliestpopulations in the GreaterAntilles Gulf mainland (Figure 1) has, at some (Keegan 2000; Wilson et al. 1998). The majority time, been hypothesizedto be the origin of the suggested origins for the GreaterAntillean of the early PreceramicAntillean cultures. Coe Preceramiccultures are based on comparisonsof (1957) suggested the Yucatan Peninsula, while a few artifacts,a few artifacttypes, or manufac- Hahn (1961:181-182) suggested the Gulf Coast turingtechniques. Despite calls from scholarssuch and the southwestern United States. Western as Rouse,no systematiccomparison has been made Venezuelawas suggestedby a numberof authors between the early Preceramicassemblages of the (Veloz and Martin 1983; Veloz and Ortega 1973; GreaterAntilles and any mainlandassemblages. Velozand Vega 1982).An originhas also beenpos- Even withinthe Antillean material, conflicting tax- tulated in the microblade-producingcultures of onomies exist (Rouse 1992:58). Louisiana(Febles 1982), and in Nicaragua(Crux- I would suggest that the early Preceramiccul- ent andRouse 1969). Currentlythe Yucatan Penin- turesof the GreaterAntilles probably had multiple sula seems to be favoredas the most likely source inputs from the surroundingmainland, but some Richard T. Callaghan * Departmentof Archaeology,University of Calgary,Calgary, Alberta CanadaT2N 1N4 Latin AmericanAntiquity, 14(3), 2003, pp. 323-338 Copyright( 2003 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology 323 This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Wed, 14 Oct 2015 20:47:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 324 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003] Figure 1. Staging areas for voyages (letters indicate regions of departure considered in this study). group had to arrivefirst. This issue of primacyis cations have been proposed for the occupations investigatedthrough the use of computersimula- includingthose of Kozlowski(1974), Rouse(1992) tions of both accidentaland intentionaldiscovery andVeloz andVega (1982). AlthoughRouse's clas- of the islands from various mainland points of sificationhas been criticizedfor maskingvariabil- departure.The resultis to evaluatethe potentialfor ity in the assemblages,I use it hereas it is the most discovery of the islands by mainlandpeoples and widely known.Rouse (1992:51) classifiedthe arti- to assess the navigationalskills necessaryto reach factsof theearliest occupants of theGreater Antilles the islands.The simulationprogram is a morecom- intohis CasimiroidSeries, for a periodlasting from prehensiveversion of an earlierwork (Callaghan ca. 4000 B.C. to 400 B.C. The seriescontains three 1999, 2001). The currentversion has numerous subseries: Casimiran (4000 B.C.-2000 B.C.), advantages:it is more flexible with respect to the Courian (2660 B.C.-A.D. 240), and Redondan, questions that can be asked, it contains more beginning perhapsas early as 2050 B.C. (Rouse detailedwind andcurrent data, and it incorporates 1992:51-61). According to Rouse (1992:51), the archaeoclimaticmodeling factors in climatic vari- earlypeoples making these artifactsoccupied Cuba ation duringthe Preceramicperiod of the Greater andHispaniola and possibly PuertoRico; the early Antilles thatmight be significant. assemblagesfound on Antiguamay also represent Once likely placesof originon the mainlandare a manifestationof the CasimiroidSeries. No sim- identified,I presenta brief discussionof the simi- ilar assemblages are found south of the Guade- laritiesand differences between the relevantmain- loupe Passagein the LesserAntilles (Figure 1). land assemblagesand those of the GreaterAntilles These Casimiroidpeoples did not makeceram- based on previouslypublished work.' ics or practiceagriculture. Initially, their chipped stonetools were madeon blades,but these became The Preceramic Period Early less frequentin comparisonto tools madeon flakes of the Greater Antilles over time. Both blade and flake tools are over- The earliest human occupations known in the whelmingly unifacially retouched and shaped. Caribbeanislands date to approximately3000 B.C. Retouchon the dorsalsurface is usuallymarginal. for Cuba (Kozlowski 1974:67) and 4000 B.C. for Occasionally,a few retouchflakes are removed on Haiti (Moore 1991). A numberof artifactclassifi- the ventralsurface, often nearthe base (Kozlowski This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Wed, 14 Oct 2015 20:47:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions REPORTS 325 1974). Extensivelychipped bifacial stone tools are the exceptionof two small sites, Boutbois and Le extremelyrare. Kozlowski (1974:70) reported three Godinot on Martinique (Allaire and Mattioni poorlyprovenienced bifacially chipped tools from 1983), and one very dubious site, Buccament,on Cubancollections, but doubtedthat one originated St. Vincent (Hackenberger1991). In fact, there is in Cuba. very little evidence of Preceramicpeoples in the The Old Harbor collection (Loven 1935: islands southof the GuadeloupePassage until one 219-222) of bifacialpoints from Jamaica has been reaches Trinidadand Tobago. Direct crossings, suggested as belonging to the first peoples occu- which bypassed these islands, were possible pying the GreaterAntilles (Harris1991:81). How- (Callaghan2001), but the Banwari Trace site is ever, the collection is highly problematic. Sven datedto approximately5000 B.C. It is in theRedon- Loven (1924, 1935) reportedthat the collection dan period, however, 3,000 years later, that shell was acquiredby CaptainA. F. Scholanderin 1920 gouges appearin Cuba.Even if shell gouges were from a Swedish sailor in Jamaica.The collection introduced from Trinidad 3,000 years after the consistedof 75 bifacialprojectile points. The sailor occupationof BanwariTrace, such an originwould claimedthat the pointscame from a moundat Old still not explainthe earliestPreceramic cultures of Harbour, Jamaica (Loven 1935:219). Rouse the GreaterAntilles. (1960:19) noted that the points are more in keep- Simulations of ing with the Florida Archaic period and do not Computer Voyaging resemble anything found in the Caribbean.Fur- Computer simulations have been successfully ther,Bullen (1976:595) was of the opinionthat this developedto studymaritime colonization, primar- collection represented three periods of Florida ily in the Pacific.Levison et al. (1973) designedthe points, going so far as to state that the material firstexperiment of this kind in the late 1960s. The appearedto be Floridachert. Given that these points simulationexamined the possibilitythat Polynesia fit well into a Floridatypology, the circumstances was colonized from Melanesia or from South of their acquisition, the absence of Preceramic America,as Heyerdahl(1952) espoused, by drift- periodsites on Jamaica,and a lack of similartools ing with the prevailingwinds and currents.The anywhereelse in the Caribbean,I feel it best not to resultsof 101,016simulated voyages demonstrated include the collection
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