MATERIAL CULTURE OF THE INDIANS OF SAMANA 47 



Samana Bay. A disturbing element was the occasional find of 

 unmistakably Tainoan pottery and implements in otherwise char- 

 acteristically pre-Arawak shell middens. The deposition of many 

 fragments of Tainoan pottery in the shell heaps within the caves was 

 such as to preclude one's ignoring the significance of their position. 

 But for these heterodox objects, the Samana cave culture is a 

 rei^etition of the Cuban " Ciboney " cave culture of Pinar del Rio 

 Province and elsewhere throughout the island. 



In Plate 7 are figured three large vessels shaped from large conch 

 shells Strombus gigas. Two of these, 1 and 2 (Cat. No. 341064, 

 U.S.N.M.), might conveniently be classified as having been used as 

 plates, while 3 might be called a shallow bowl. Each of these vessels 

 is so shaped as to rest firmly on two spires at one end and the con- 

 vexly rounded shell wall at the other. No. 3 has no projecting 

 spires; therefore has not feet. It is so shaped as to rest flat on a 

 supporting surface, and so might readily serve as a container for 

 liquids. The type of plate represented in 1 and 2 is quite common 

 to each of the caves worked in the San Lorenzo area, while the shal- 

 low bowl figured as 3 is a more rare form. Smaller plates similar 

 to 1 and 2 were also found at the open village sites of San Juan and 

 Anadel, on the peninsula. No. 1 has a maximum spread of 11 centi- 

 meters (4.4 inches), while 2 has a width of 13 centimeters (5.1 

 inches). No. 3 is 6 centimeters deep (2.4 inches), while the plates 

 figured as 1 and 2 are shallower. 



That shell utensils were used almost exclusively in the caves of the 

 San Lorenzo Bay area to the practical exclusion of pottery vessels 

 of all descriptions is striking evidence of a culture type distinct from 

 that of Samana Peninsula, where vessels of pottery predominated 

 to the practical exclusion of those shaped from varieties of shell. 

 It is here assumed that we have in the Samana cave culture an 

 inferior culture antedating the Arawak type which is based essen- 

 tially on pottery decorated with incised lines; polished stone celts; 

 cassava culture, and the shaping of figurines in clay. We know 

 little of the physical type or of the spoken language. The large 

 quantity of human skeletal remains from the rock-cleft burials is 

 for the most part fragmentary in nature. 



No plates or containers shaped from large conch shells were uncov- 

 ered at Anadel or at San Juan, although several gouges or celts of 

 fossil conch shell were recovered there. Several large worked ex- 

 amples of the conch {jS trombus gigas) shell with portions of the apex 

 removed were discovered at San Juan. These had been used as 

 musical conchs by the occupants of the site. 



Mention should be made of a small shell plate figured as 4 of Plate 

 9. This interesting object was dug up at San Juan and is one of a 



