Diversity and similarity in the Ceramic Age lapidary production in the Caribbean islands

Abstract

Personal ornaments are an important part of the archaeological record, as theyprovide valuable insights into various aspects of past human societies. Amongthese ornaments, those made of lithic materials are particularly significant due to their wide distribution and excellent preservation in archaeological sites. In the Caribbean islands, during the Ceramic Age, lapidary artifacts exhibit remarkable abundance and diversity in terms of both raw materials and typology. While archaeologists have previously highlighted differences between the Saladoid and Post-Saladoid periods, this was based on incomplete data without robust mineralogical or typological identification. A South-American origin of the specific lapidary production of the Early Ceramic period has been proposed, following the origin of Ceramic production styles, but relies on the same incomplete data. In this article, I demonstrate that robust analysis of extensive datasets, combining first-hand identification and literature survey, enables to address the questions of spactial and temporal distribution, diversity and similarity of lithic beads and pendants during the Caribbean Age in the Antilles. The study reveals that the Early and Middle Ceramic periods exhibit higher raw material and typological diversity compared to later periods. Furthermore, similarities are greater between sites attributed to the same period than between geographically close sites, both in terms of mineralogy and typology. Finally, I establish that the lapidary production during the Early Ceramic Age differs significantly between South American sites and Saladoid sites in the archipelago. Some indications pointing to the Isthmo-Colombian area are proposed, which will require further research to enhance our understanding to the same level as that of the Caribbean islands, enabling advanced comparisons.

Obsidian in the Caribbean Islands? Mysterious Ceramic Age glass artefacts in the Lesser Antilles.

“…500 B.C onwards, by ceramic-using horticulturalists originating from the Lower Orinoco during what is called the Ceramic Age (Keegan et al 2013;Reid 2018). This migration of Amerindians during the Early Ceramic period, producing specific ceramics grouped in the Saladoid series (Rouse 1992), was very successful in colonising the archipelago up North to Puerto Rico, while remaining strongly homogeneous in their way of life as seen in their settlement patterns, food production and consumption, and production of goods such as ceramics and lapidary ornaments (Bérard 2013;Queffelec 2023). Their culture underwent a transformation from ca.…”

“…The provenance of the lithic raw materials used to produce tools, ornaments such as beads and pendants, or other symbolic artefacts like trigonoliths, have been one of the main proxies employed by archaeologists to study the regional mobility and networks in the Caribbean islands (e.g. Cody 1993;Knippenberg 2007;Garcia-Casco et al 2013;Knaf et al 2021;Queffelec 2022;Queffelec 2023).…”