FEWKBs] CULTURE AREAS IX THE WEST INDIES 93 



ARTIFACTS 



Geological differences between the islands of Barbados and St. 

 Vincent are great, and the culture of prehistoric man in the two 

 may have been equally divergent. Tliis diversity is reflected not only 

 in the form and character of the implements made in the two islands, 

 but also in the material of which they were made. The former does 

 not furnish hard rocks for implements, the prevailing rock being 

 coral limestone : in the latter the rocks are volcanic, very hard, and 

 suitable for fine implements. 



Stone axes with extensions on the heads are characteristic of 

 the zone, including Grenada, St. Vincent, Santa Lucia, Martinique, 

 Dominica, and Guadeloupe, but are not found in the Greater Antilles, 

 Barbados, or Trinidad. These implements are, in most instances, 

 not very sharp on their edges and ai"e only rarely pointed at the 

 head, true almond-shaped or petaloid implements being rarely 

 found. This culture area is one of the best known for a peculiar 

 type of " Carib stones " well represented in different museums in 

 Europe and America. They are often found in caches, suggesting 

 either unfinished or ceremonial implements.™ 



The island of Santa Lucia, which has also yielded many artifacts 

 in the Heye collection, was not visited by the author, but from a col- 

 lector he has learned that the middens resemble those of St. Vincent, 

 the islands being in sight of each other. The artifacts from that 

 island are mainly stone axes and fragments of pottery. 



The main feature of the stone axes from St. Vincent is an exten- 

 sion or ear on each side of the head, which imparts to it a variety 

 of forms, as notched, indented, and serrated or forked. This type, 

 preeminent in the St. Vincent zone, is well represented in collections 

 from Guadeloupe and Dominica, and to an extent from Grenada, but 

 it is sporadic, not occurring in St. Kitts. Barbados, Trinidad, or 

 other contigiious regions. 



STONE IMPLEMENTS 



The prehistoric stone implements from the St. Vincent area may 

 be classified into divisions as defined in the following pages : 

 Celts and axes. 



Petaloids. 



Axes and chisels. 



Axes with caps. 



Grooved hammers and axes. 



Asymmetrical axes. 



"The collection of CarIb stone implements in the public library of St. Vincent has a 

 few forms of the curved flat objects in which we find a continuation of the notch forming 

 a projection that is unfortunately brolien, but there is a much larger collection in the 

 Heye Museum. 



