REPORT FROM THE ANTIGUA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ARAWAK CAMPSITES ON ANTIGUA by M. Fred OLSEN Secretary, Antigua Archaeological Society Our first excavation of Arawak sites in Antigua was started in December 1958. Several test holes were opened and it was evident that we had found middens on a fairly extensive campsite. A formal plan of excavating was drawn up and a thousand or more potsherds were soon unearthed. Prof. Irving Rouse of Yale was invited to visit the site, and to pass upon the propriety of our plan. After a delightful week in which Dr Rouse dug with us and gave us much-needed instruction, our technics and our proposed plan of digging" were approved by him, at least as being what might be expected from enthusiastic but amateur diggers. We have adopted the Yale system of classifying and cataloging the artifacts, and we are endeavouring to maintain the standards set by Prof. Rouse. The first exciting find comprised an unusually large and finely worked celt (10 inches long by 4 inches wide, made of a very hard greenstone,and given a fair degree of polish). About a foot away on the same level (24 inches below the surface), a second celt was found of the same size and workmanship. This second celt bore evidence of charred material (perhaps the residue of a haft) adhering to it. Closer examination revealed that both celts were lying on a clay layer covered by a very thin coating of ash. We guessed that these beautiful,and what to the Arawaks must have been very valuable celts, had been lost as a result of some catastrophe in which the hut had burned down. This hypothesis stimulated careful digging, and the thin greyish whita ash layer was followed until an area of about 12 feet x 16 feet had been uncovered. A circular mass of charcoal was found, and this was seen to be the charred stub of an upright post about 6 inches in diameter, and inserted about 9 inches into the ground, possibly a vertical pole which had supported the roof of a house. Digging out the post base we encountered bed rock, and further excavation revealed that the level of the highest point of this bed rock had been maintained by placing and fitting stones quite carefully. This was evidently a wellconstructed floor, and made smooth by tamping 3-4 inches of yellow clay on top of the laid rocks.
- 96 Eventually we will dig the rest of this site and datermine the shape ana dimensions of the house. Radio-carbon dating on the charred base of the post showed that this site had been occupied 500-600 AD, and we are assigning that date to the two large celts. Other near-by middens proved equally rewarding. A finely carved and colored incense-bowl was found at a layer which we date about the time of Christ, because it is about halfway between the 500 AD layer and the lowest layer carrying potsherds, crab claws and flints, for which a radio-carbon dating of 400-500 BC was obtained. This latter dating was checked by the Yale laboratory, which reported a date of 2,300 BP for a sample of charcoal dug personally by Prof. Rouse. During the past two winters we have excavated a new site and made a c u t 20 feet wide throughout the length of a midden, about 100 feet long. This trench was dug to sterile ground which occured at a maximum depth of about 40 inches. Well over a hundred thousand sherds were recovered from the midden. These sherds have been separated into groups from each 12 inches of depth, classified by color, and whether they were bowls or griddles.the bowl sherds were further separated into piles of rims, keels, bases and others. A rather exhaustive effort has been made to piece together these sherds into pots, usually starting with rims or bases, unless we were dealing with painted or incised ware. In no case have we been able to reconstruct a complete bowl, but we do have several which are half or even two thirds complete, but clearly indicating the full shape and technical characteristics of the bowls. Sometimes the sherds from the same bowl had been separated by 20 or more feet in the same layer of the midden. When we have completed a number of these pots, that is to say when we have decided no more sherds belonging to the pots are available, we then photograph and measure the pots, and finally restore the missing sections in order to make the pots more suitable for display in our small museum. Obviously this restoration will be done only on such pots as comprise characteristic examples of A- rawak ceramics, and show a good spectrum of their art. In the large trenching operation we also found many interesting artifacts : a few animal-headed pot handles, quite similar to those found all the way from Pearls Airport, Grenada, and St. Lucia, to Montserrat and particularly St. Kitts. We found a nice terra cotta head which does not appear as if it could have been a pot handle, and may have been part of an idol. A broken stone mace was found in the form of a man's head, and fortunately enough remained to indicate clearly the form of the features : high cheek-bones, flat nose, and with triangular markings on the head to indicate a head-dress. Very possibly a deity made in Arawak man's image (Circa 600 AD).
- S 7 - A fine conch shell weapon also came from the 600 AD layer.neatly curved from the heavy lip of a conch, it is pointed at both ends. Presumably it was a two ended dagger, but it bears an unusual side hand rest, which gives a greatly added power to the dagger stroke when the index finger is placed above the side handle. We have dug four middens on Antigua, all within a few hundred feet of each other, and probably all part of the same campsite. The middens are about 100-200 yards from the sea, and just barely in the lee of the shore bank which is about 50 feet above the sea. The campsite is on the Windward side of.antigua, in the Mill Reef Club Area. Specifically,it is on Big Deep and Little Deep Bays, both with fine white coral sand beaches, well protected by coral reefs, where the fishing is still good (I snorkelled about half an hour before writing this and saw several hundred fish, including a large grouper (1) which I guessed to be about 40 lbs., two large red snappers, (2) and many varieties of chub (3). Although Mill Reef is very dry and there are no streams or springs, it is quite likely that before the forests were removed for charcoal making, the large V-shaped valley to the west would drain into the bottom of the V (which on maps of 200 years ago is marked "The Brook"). Good land was available for growing cassava, and hundreds of conch shell hoes have been found, and many griddle sherds.also there are numerous pieces of coral cylindrical in shape, many of which were worn quite smooth, perhaps from grating cassava roots. Flint is abundant in Antigua and about 5,000 knives, scrapers, chisels, borers, cores and chips have been collected from the middens. Another even larger site has been located recently on Mamora Bay, also on the Windward side, with a good beach, coral reefs, cassava land, and a site for camping in the lee of a small hill. Fresh water could be obtained at the site either from stream beds, - now dry, - or from shallow wells. This site will probably be dug in the winter of 1961-62. Already we have examined many hundreds of sherds from the surface and from a few test holes 3 feet deep. The sherds are characteristics Arawak pottery of the period 500-1,000 AD. (1) Epinephelus morio (2) Lutjanus aya (3) Kyphosis sectatrix
98 We are inclined to the view point that no Carib artifacts have yet come to light on Antigua. The stone cslts and axes, which are locally called "Carib Stones" are of the same form and workmanship as those found in layers which have been radio-carbon dated as earlier than 1,100 AD, and presumably prior to the arrival of the Caribs. (4) (4) After his communication, M. Frsd OLSEN also mentionned the finding on Antigua of two stone beads and a great number of three-pointed stones only one of which was carved.
-ftlpoes ANTIGMA «mum POINT f f W ma FOKT J/\\ fawkj ML f ^y\.\*j. C M5HES JiD W»r WIW
J Fifl-1 ~ Antigua Ear/y Aravvak pottery from Mill Reef, Antigua. Incised ware and Whit* on red Poteries Arawak anciennes trouvées à Mill Reef, Antigüe Décor incisé et blanc sur rouge
Fig. 2 Antigua - Objets Arawak en provenance de MUI Reef, Antigoe (sauf coliler et anse de vase en provenance de Montserrat) Arawak artifacts, all from Miff Reef, Antigua (except neclcface and pot handle from Montserrat)
*-» ^f*.* A Fig. 3 Early Arawak potter* trom Mill Reef Antigua Incised ware and white painted design on red- Poteries Arawak anciennes de Mille Reef, Artigue Incisions et dessin peint en blanc sur fond rouge