l62 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



exceeded a depth of seven feet. Only a few inches of soil covered the 

 middens. 



Another aboriginal village site, higher up in the foothills of the 

 Monte Cristi range near the Dominican pueblos of Manantial and 

 Las Aguitas, is much larger than the site designated as Kilometer 2. 

 The presence there of fresh water springs throughout a portion of the 

 year accounts for the presence of such a large aboriginal population. 

 The site extends to the very summit of the highest hills of the region 

 at an elevation exceeding 200 meters. Many of the higher hills of the 

 Monte Cristi range have at their summit small deposits of conchs and 

 other mollusk shells embedded in layers of ash from aboriginal 

 hearths. 



Bones of mammals, birds, fish, and also of the sea turtle and the 

 sea cow or manatee occur in quantity throughout the Monte Cristi 

 middens. The relative proportion of fish and of mammal bones iden- 

 tify the former occupants of these sites as fishermen rather than 

 hunters. This observation is significant in considering the distance 

 from the sea. Not only bone, but coral and shell were used and 

 shaped into tools and implements, or into ceremonial objects and ob- 

 jects of personal adornment by the al)original occupants of the region. 

 In fact, celts or adzes of conch shell {S trombus sp.) recovered by the 

 expedition outnumbered those shaped from stone. For grating the 

 roots of the manioc to produce flour for bread making, slabs of brain 

 coral (Meandrina sp.) were carried the long distance from the sea 

 shore. Many such improvised graters were uncovered at each of the 

 sites investigated. Coral was also used in the carved pestles, and in 

 the effigy figurines which probably served as religious objects. With 

 regard to implements and decorative objects generally, shell and 

 bone appear to have been the favored media. This extensive use of 

 shell and bone in preference to stone or wood appears to have extended 

 along the entire northern coast of Santo Domingo. Uniformity in the 

 coast culture of northern Santo Domingo as contrasted with that of 

 other sections of the island is substantiated in pottery finds from the 

 same area. The Ciguayan Indians of Samana apparently were the 

 occupants of the aboriginal village sites of Monte Cristi Province as 

 well. At no archeological station however along the entire northern 

 coast of Santo Domingo were middens discovered resembling those 

 from the caves of Samana Bay. Apparently then, the pre-Arawak 

 cave dwellers had never become established throughout the island 

 except in certain favored sections having many caves in the vicinity 

 of salt water. 



