KITCHEN MIDDENS OF JAMAICA 



REPORT OF AN INVESTIGATION OF THE KITCHEN MIDDENS OF THE 



ARAWAK INDIANS, WITH A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION ON THIS 



ABORIGINAL RACE NOW EXTINCT ON THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA 



By G. C. Longley 



Introductory Note from the Department of Anthropology; A collection frora Jamaica, 

 ■which contains some fifteen hundred objects, has been presented to the Museum by Mr. G. C. Longley 

 of Pelham Manor, New York, and is now on exhibition in the South American gallery on the third floor. 

 Mr. Longley for the last six years has passed the winter months on Jamaica, and being an enthusiastic 

 amateur archaeologist, has occupied his time while therein exploring the kitchen middens of the Arawak, 

 the aboriginal inhabitants of the island. 



These kitchen middens are the refuse heaps of the Arawak and consist largely of shells and pottery, 

 fish, turtle and cony bones, implements and of course ashes. The most common finds are fragments 

 of pottery and celts and axes of stone. The pottery when ornamented generally has designs in straight 

 lines which were made by pressure of some sharp object while the clay was soft. The typical stone axes 

 of these shell heaps are remarkable for workmanship and beauty of form. They are very symmetrical 

 throughout, with the cutting edge nicely rounded and tapering to a point at the opposite end. Celts 

 of shell are sometimes foimd, but they do not occur on Jamaica as frequently as on some of the other 

 islands of the West Indies. 



Stone images, often in the form of pestles occur, and Mr. Longley was fortunate enough to find two 

 good examples. They are thought to be idols and at any rate were probably connected in some way with 

 religious rites. Mealing stones and stones used to grind and sharpen the celts and axes are well repre- 

 sented, but the most interesting objects from the anthropological point of view are the cylindrical stone 

 pendants. Identical pendants are worn to-day as insignia of office by chiefs or headmen of tribes, 

 across the entire length of northern South America. 



FOR the past six winters I have been 

 visiting the island of Jamaica, 

 that wonderful winter paradise 

 in the Caribbean Sea. It was not until 

 1912 however, that I began to make a 

 study of the aboriginal Indians of the 

 island and to conduct systematic exca- 

 vations in certain localities with the 

 purpose of collecting as many relics as 

 possible of this bygone race. 



These aborigines were the Arawak and 

 were first known to civilization through 

 the voyages of Columbus. It was on the 

 second voyage of Columbus in 1494 

 when he was coasting the southern side 

 of Cuba that he sighted land to the south 

 and soon came to anchor on the north 

 coast of Jamaica. He named this land 

 "Santa Gloria" and gave an eloquent 

 description of the beauties he beheld, 

 the verdure of the shore, the splendor of 

 the mountains and its good harbors, one 

 of which he called "Puerto Bueno." 

 The Admiral here encountered Indians 

 who at first made a hostile display, but 

 who soon became friendly after they were 



given clothes and other articles unknown 

 to them and later sent ambassadors to 

 the Spaniards with gifts of fish, fruit and 

 cassava bread. 



While one cannot say with absolute 

 certainty where Columbus landed on 

 Jamaica, and in consequence cannot give 

 the exact locality of the iVdmiral's Santa 

 Gloria and Puerto Bueno, it is probable 

 that Santa Gloria was the modern Saint 

 Anna's Bay and Puerto Bueno either 

 the modern Dry Harbour or Rio Bueno, 

 more likely the former, as the harbor 

 better fits in with the description given 

 by Columbus. It is interesting to note 

 that the excavations I conducted in the 

 interior of the island were made due 

 south of Dry Harbour and Rio Bueno, 

 so that the Indians met by the Spaniards 

 in Puerto Bueno were probably of the 

 same tribe as those from whose village 

 sites I collected many relics. 



Columbus visited Santa Gloria again 

 on his fourth voyage in 1503 and beached 

 his ships in a small cove — - and there is 

 an inlet known to this day as "Christo- 



