The Taíno Settlement at Guayguata: Excavations in St Mary Parish, Jamaica

In 1998 the Authors of this report initiated a Jamaican Taíno archaeological project as a joint program of the Department of History, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, and Murray State University, Kentucky, USA. The objectives were to conduct a systematic archaeological investigation of a Taíno community (c. 1000-1700 AD), towards understanding its chronology, subsistence economy, trade connections, and social organization. The Taíno occupation sites of St. Mary Parish, on the north coast of Jamaica, were selected so as to compare findings from a number of different areas within a Taíno community which could be recovered through controlled excavations. The first season of excavations was at the Green Castle site, near Annotto Bay, Jamaica, in 1999; these excavations were completed in three years, and two neighbouring sites were then investigated, Newry and Coleraine, in 2002 and 2003, respectively. A brief excavation at the Wentworth site, near Port Maria, west of Annotto Bay was also undertaken. Contents: 1) Jamaican Taíno archaeology, problems and prospects (Philip Allsworth-Jones and Kit W. Wesler); 2) Excavations (Philip Allsworth-Jones and Kit W. Wesler); 3) Chronology (Kit W. Wesler); 4) Ceramics (Kit W. Wesler); 5) Lithic assemblages (Philip Allsworth-Jones and Anthony R.D. Porter); 6) Excavation and preservation of the two pre-Columbian burials found at the Green Castle site (Ana Luísa Santos); 7) So Much To Choose From: Exploiting Multiple Habitats for Subsistence at Four North Coast Archaeological Sites in Jamaica (Lisabeth A. Carlson); 8) Mollusk shells (Simon F. Mitchell et al); 9) Sampling below the 1/8th inch range (Nicole L. Patrick and Philip Allsworth-Jones); 10) Summary and conclusions (Philip Allsworth-Jones and Kit W. Wesler).