76 ISLAND CULTURE AREA OF AMERICA [eth. Ann. 34 



other islands a predominance of earthenware with effigy forms and 

 relief decoration, and the incised ornamentation of pottery vessels 

 from this mound is strictly Antillean. When we compare these 

 specimens with those from Porto Rico we notice certain specialized 

 features which are distinctive. In geometric designs the incised 

 lines do not end in an enlargement, nor are their extremities accom- 

 panied by pits, as is almost always true of pottery from Santo 

 Domingo and Porto Rico. Comparatively few elongated heads of 

 reptiles are found on pottery from Porto Rico, but such forms are 

 common from the shell heap at Erin Bay. The heads from Porto 

 Rico are mainly grotesquely human in form. As a rule, the rims of 

 the earthenware vessels from Porto Rico have approximately the 

 same thickness as the vessels themselves, whereas in Trinidad they 

 are often enlarged, or turned back, and are commonly ornamented 

 with figures as in the pottery from (irenada and St. Vincent. 



While it has been necessary to make comparison mainly from 

 fragments, it is believed that the numlier of characteristic forms of 

 pottery figures from this and from more northerly islands are 

 sufficient to separate the two and to lead to the belief that the 

 pottery from Trinidad is most closely allied to that of the Grenada 

 area, as would be naturally suspected, and that it is only distantly 

 related to that of the Greater Antilles.'" 



While the evidence is not decisive, it appears from the material 

 available that the Trinidad pottery is nearer to that of South 

 America than to any of the northern islands of the West Indies. 

 This fact may be explained by the situation of Trinidad, which lies 

 within sight of South America — a fact that led to an interchange of 

 cultures and peoples of the two localities. 



The nearest point in South America where excavations of shell 

 heaps have been made is the Pomeroon district, British Guiana, 

 whence we have a few specimens of pottery. None of these are 

 so well made as those from the Erin Bay shell mound, and there are 

 other indications that the ceramic art had reached a higher develop- 

 ment in the islands than on the adjacent mainland. 



Regarding the Pomeroon shell heaps. Im Thurn reached the fol- 

 lowing conclusions: "(1) That they were made not by the resident 

 inhabitants of the country, but by strangers; (2) that these strangers 

 came from the sea, and not from further inland; and (3) that 

 these strangers were certain Island Caribs, who afterwards took 



'"The author has many drawings of St. Kitts pottery which shows still greater diflter- 

 ences in form and ornamentation. For likeness of pottery heads from Grenada and 

 Trinidad compare plate Lxxxiv, Aborigines of Porto Rico, Twenty-fifth .\nn. Rept. Bur. 

 Amer. Ethu., and plate vii and fig. 62, De Booy, Certain Archaeological Investigations in 

 Trinidad, British West Indies. 



