COLLECTING IN THE CAVES AND KITCHENMIDDENS 



OF JAMAICA 



By GERRIT S. MILLER, JR. 



Curator, Division of Mammals, U. S. National Museum 



The pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Greater Antilles are known 

 to have commonly eaten mammals of several kinds that are now either 

 very rare or quite extinct. The remains of these food animals have 

 been rather carefully investigated in the kitchenmiddens of Cuba, 

 Hispaniola, and Porto Rico, but those in the middens of Jamaica have 

 received little attention. Duerden recorded the frequent presence of 

 bones of the now almost extinct " coney " (Geocapromys brownii) in 

 most of the Arawak deposits that he excavated (Journ. Inst. Jamaica, 

 vol. 2, pp. 1-5 1, July, 1897), and I called attention to remains found 

 near Salt River that appear to indicate the former occurrence of a 

 different but nearly related animal ( Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 

 29, p. 48, February 24, 1916). No one else, apparently, has given the 

 subject any attention, in print, at least. Mr. Anthony's report (Bull. 

 Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 42, pp. 469-475, December 11, 1920) 

 deals with the remains of Jamaican mammals that probably became 

 extinct long before man arrived at the island. 



With the main object of systematically collecting bones of mam- 

 mals from kitchenmiddens and from the superficial deposits in caves 

 I visited Jamaica during February, March, and April, 1931. Work 

 was carried on from three principal centers, Kingston, Mandeville, 

 and Montego Bay. 



At Kingston, Dougall McDougall, Esq., kindly permitted me to in- 

 vestigate the extensive deposit of shells and broken pottery that cov- 

 ers an area approximately 200 yards long and 75 to 100 yards wide 

 on his estate at the summit of Long Mountain (figs. 60, 61, 62). Ex- 

 actly why the Arawaks should have made a situation of this kind 

 their dwelling place is not easy to explain. The only water supply 

 appears to have been some pools that seem likely to have gone dry 

 during the winter ; and the people were forced to bring all their fish 

 and shellfish up a very steep slope 1,300 feet high. Bones of mam- 

 mals, mostly those of the " coney," were rather numerous among the 

 shells and fragments of broken pottery of which the deposits chiefly 

 consist. The photographs (figs. 60, 61) give some idea of the abruptly 



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