Palmetto Junction: Preliminary Findings on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

Palmetto Junction: Preliminary Findings on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Introduction The Palmetto Junction site is located on the western side of Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands. Discovered during road construction in 2004, it is a large Lucayan Taíno site, roughly 1.8 hectares in area. Foreign potsherds and other items imported via canoe from Hispaniola were commonly found alongside locally made materials, suggesting that the people who lived there had an established, long-distance trade relationship with other Indians in the region. Five radiocarbon dates obtained from charcoal samples indicate that Palmetto Junction was occupied between AD 1280-1455. Site Location and Environment Palmetto Junction is located on Tom Lightbourne Road, approximately 11 kilometers south of the Millennium Highway. The site is easily recognizable from the road by feral cotton that continues to grow on the northeast end of the site and nowhere else on western Providenciales. Although the site seems quite remote by modern standards, a confluence of factors indicates that the Lucayans selected this area for settlement because it maximized their access to local resources and inter-island trade routes. First, the site is advantageously located in an environment that offers access to a wide variety of marine, estuarine, and terrestrial resources. Located on a narrow isthmus, native inhabitants would have had access to Frenchman’s Creek to the immediate west, and via the creek, easy egress to the reef and pelagic resources only a few kilometers west of the island. Immediately east of the site lay Chalk Sound, through which the site’s inhabitants could readily access the Caicos Bank. The reefs provided ample quantities of fish for consumption, while the

Borawski 2 banks offered another food and tool staple: conch. Moreover, Frenchman’s Creek supplied the people of Palmetto Junction with food resources such as turtles. Another important resource was identified in the immediate area during a survey of the surrounding environment during the 2015 field season. Substantial natural deposits of Bahama red loam lie adjacent to the eastern side of the site. Bahama Red Loam is a rust-colored clay that is the prime ingredient in Palmetto Ware ceramics. It is of African origin, and has accumulated in discrete areas in the Bahamas over the millennia as large Saharan dust storms periodically blow quantities of it across the Atlantic. Because Bahama Red Loam is not only a necessary resource, but also unpredictably random in its distribution across the islands, a substantial deposit of this exotic clay would have had significant value to the Lucayans. Given the size of the deposit and the quantities of Palmetto Ware found during excavation, it is possible that Palmetto Junction was a hub for the manufacture and distribution of this type of pottery. Finally, from a broader, regional perspective, Palmetto Junction’s position in the Bahama archipelago offers an easy point of access from Hispaniola, Cuba, and the central and northern Bahamas. This location is approximately 220 kilometers from the northern coast of Hispaniola, 250 kilometers from the Eastern tip of Cuba, and 175 kilometers to Aklins Island and subsequent Lucayan settlements in the central and northern Bahamas. Given its central location, Palmetto Junction was ideally positioned to serve as a hub for regional exchange and commerce, and possibly elite social activities. This interpretation is supported by the archaeological evidence and will be discussed momentarily. Site Description Recent survey and excavations conducted in May 2015 have revealed three main areas of Palmetto Junction, two of which appear to have been habitation areas. The Northern habitation

Borawski 3 area, which is approximately 120 x 60 meters, is the larger of the two, both in terms of area and the density of deposits. A ring of thirteen distinct midden features surrounds a cleared central plaza area. Immediately south of these middens lies a rocky area about 70 x 50 meters, which shows no evidence of habitation whatsoever. Finally, the Southern habitation area measures approximately 75 x 40 meters. Recent survey and excavation has revealed four middens in a ring around a central cleared area. Excavations Dr. Peter Sinelli of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Central Florida has led consecutive field seasons in 2014 and 2015. Sixteen undergraduate students and three graduate researchers have participated each year. The May 2014 field school was the first full-scale archaeological work at the site. As such, the 2014 project was designed to explore the site, conduct test excavations, and develop a better feel for its broader research potential. We developed a grid to map the site’s dimensions radiating from a main datum point, and cut about 700 meters of interlocking North-South and East-West transects through the bush to effect it. The team identified several middens and excavated five 1x1 meter units on three of these features to explore the nature and contents of the deposits. These units each produced abundant ceramic sherds and animal remains. All excavation during the 2014 field season was conducted in the Northern habitation area. In 2015, we focused our attention primarily on excavation of known features and survey of the site and surrounding environment. Excavations continued at the Northern habitation area. Four consecutive 1 x 2 meter units were excavated, creating an 8 x 1 meter trench through a particularly large midden feature in the northwestern periphery of the site. A second midden feature in the northwestern corner of the Northern habitation site was also test excavated with a 1

Borawski 4 x 1 meter unit. Finally, another 1x1 meter test unit was excavated in the flat, cleared area between these two excavation areas to evaluate soil structure and artifact density in what is hypothesized to be the site’s central plaza. The cultural deposits of the two middens excavated on the Northern area produced dense quantities of artifacts. As expected, the unit excavated on the plaza feature revealed very shallow, rockless soil and produced very little cultural material. The Southern habitation area was discovered during a survey about halfway through the 2015 field season. We discovered four discrete midden features on the southern, eastern, and northwestern perimeter of the area. Three 1 x 1 meter test units were excavated on three separate middens in the Southern habitation area. These units produced ceramic and faunal remains, but not in the density or quantity of units excavated in the Northern habitation area. To summarize, over the last two field seasons UCF anthropologists have transected nearly a kilometer of jungle in order to navigate and map Palmetto Junction. We have excavated eighteen square meters in thirteen individually named units. These thirteen units were excavated on eight separate middens and one plaza feature. Five of the midden units and the plaza unit are located in the Northern habitation area; the remaining three midden units are located in the Southern habitation area. Data Recovered The 2014 and 2015 field seasons produced prodigious quantities of ceramics and faunal remains. Large quantities of shell remains have also been found as well as other cultural materials such as stone and shell beads. A total of eighty-six field samples have been numbered to date, accounting for seventy-eight bags of pottery weighing a total of seventy kilograms and ninety-seven bags of bone.

Borawski 5 Pottery is prolific and dense throughout the site. In 2014, although only five 1x1 meter units were excavated, the team recovered thousands of sherds weighing a total of 27.589 kilograms. An undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida conducted an analysis of the sherds from the 2014 field season last fall, which revealed a ratio of about 93% Palmetto Ware to 7% imported ceramics by weight. Specifically, sherds from pots that were imported from the Greater Antilles accounted for 7.51% (2.072 kg) of the sherds recovered, while sherds of Palmetto Ware, which the Lucayans manufactured from locally available materials, accounts for 92.49% (25.517 kg) of the assemblage. Ceramics found during the 2015 field season have not yet been analyzed, but future analysis will reveal if this ratio will remain consistent in the Northern habitation area. We are also interested to see if there is any variance in the distribution of imports to Palmetto Ware in the Southern habitation area, as this may imply some social differences between the two regions of the site. Many of the Palmetto Ware sherds bore basketry mat-marked decoration, which is a decorative motif that originated in the Bahama archipelago. Moreover, there were a number of elaborately decorated sherds within the assemblage. Amongst the imported ceramics, we identified sherds executed in both the Meillacoid and Chicoid styles that were common in Hispaniola and Cuba between AD 1000 and AD 1500. The Palmetto Ware ceramics found throughout the site during both field seasons reveals a high incidence of mat marking on griddles and exterior convex surfaces of some globular vessels. Intriguingly, mat marked imported ceramics were common, with this motif appearing not only on the bottoms of griddles but also on the convex exteriors of large bowls and other vessels. The Palmetto Junction site has yielded a very large amount of animal remains to analyze. Unsurprisingly, fish bones represented the most abundant category of animal remains. Although

Borawski 6 identification is still ongoing, there are dozens of species of fish represented at the site. People at Palmetto Junction utilized a wide variety of sizes of fish, which implies that the Lucayans were employing a wide variety of capture techniques and consistently exploited estuarine, bank, reef, and pelagic ecologies as part of their broader foraging pattern. This data supports the hypothesis that one of the reasons Palmetto Junction was situated as it is was to optimize access to every marine ecology and the distinct resources therein. In addition to fish remains, we excavated a large number of hutía bones. The Bahama hutía is a large rodent similar to the guinea pig that was once widespread throughout the Bahama archipelago and was a valued food item for the Lucayans, even if only occasionally consumed. The most common hutía bone in our assemblage is the mandible, although there are many other hutía bones present as well, including femora, humeri, and members of the pelvis. It is important to mention that hutía have been present in every single unit excavated at Palmetto Junction to date. Although densities were substantially higher in all of the midden units in the Northern habitation area versus the Southern habitation area, the ubiquity and density of the rodent remains clearly demonstrates that this resource was not an occasional treat, but a key component of the residents’ overall protein consumption. Sea turtle carapace and bone were also regularly observed, although not in large quantities. Overall, the Palmetto Junction site has a rich diversity of animal resources that should yield very interesting answers to questions of resource use when analysis is complete. Finally, a small quantity of other cultural material has been excavated as well. Several imported stone beads have been uncovered as well as a tooth inlay from either a wooden cemi or perhaps a duho. Overall, the material culture uncovered in midden units has been exceptionally dense, particularly those excavated in the Northern habitation area.

Borawski 7 Preliminary Interpretations The location of Palmetto Junction is ideally positioned to maximize access to local resources and to facilitate contact among settlements in the Central and Northern Bahamas and in the Greater Antilles. To date, excavated ceramics bolster this hypothesis, as imported ceramics and styles indicate contact with southern and northern neighboring regions, including Hispaniola, Cuba, and the Northern Bahamas. Furthermore, the volume of faunal remains and the ubiquitous presence of large quantities of hutía suggest elites gathered here to engage in regionally significant social and economic activities. Interestingly, none of the hutía bones show any evidence of gnaw marks by rodents, which leads us to believe that although hutía were being regularly and intensively consumed here, they were not running around wild and being captured as they rooted through the middens. Rather, they were purposefully and intentionally captured, or perhaps even managed elsewhere and then transported for consumption at the site. Forthcoming projects will address these questions regarding Palmetto Junction. Future Questions Future analyses of excavated cultural material will prove vital to the interpretations of Palmetto Junction’s function in this region of the northern West Indies. Several projects specific to the site, both undergraduate and graduate, have begun or are beginning this fall. My master’s thesis to be completed under the advisement of Dr. Peter Sinelli at the University of Central Florida will focus on the ceramics at the site. Origins of these ceramics through decorative mode and paste analysis will reveal the extent of contacted settlements radiating from Palmetto Junction. Also this fall, an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida will commence a stable isotope analysis of hutía bones and teeth. Her work will identify what these

Borawski 8 rodents were eating, and if there is any marine component in the remains, it would suggest that the Lucayans were managing or perhaps had even partially domesticated these natural terrestrial herbivores. Moreover, an analysis of the rodents’ teeth will demonstrate which island or islands from which they originated to try to resolve the question of why we do not see evidence for rodents naturally occurring in the area. Broad faunal analyses will be addressed in a Ph.D. dissertation to be completed by Mallory Messersmith at the University of Florida. Her analyses of fish and other faunal remains will strongly advance our understanding of capture practices and diet of indigenous peoples in the southern Bahama archipelago. Finally, Andy Ciofalo, a new Ph.D. candidate at the University of Leiden, will analyze starch grains on selected ceramic materials from the site to determine which plants were being consumed at the site and how this data compares to subsistence practices in the Greater Antilles. Conclusion Palmetto Junction is one of the largest and potentially most significant Lucayan Taíno sites in the Turks & Caicos Islands. The site’s size and the timing of its occupation present an excellent opportunity to better develop our understanding of ancient Lucayan lifeways. The 14th century AD was the period in which the Taíno of Hispaniola were rapidly expanding their influence across the northern West Indies. As a large village active during this seminal period, Palmetto Junction can provide additional context to the Taíno’s use of economic, social, and political power across space and time, and how these concepts were negotiated between the Hispaniolan chiefdoms and their trading partners in the Turks & Caicos Islands. The University of Central Florida Department of Anthropology is excited to continue our work at this important site.