ANALYSIS OF WEST INDIAN ARCHEOLOGICAL 

 DATA IN ITS GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBU- 

 TION 



In the precedinp: account of archeological material from different 

 islands the plan has been to group them as far as possible on a geo- 

 graphical basis. It is evident that there are great differences in the 

 remains from different islands, and it is sought to account for these 

 differences by minor variations in culture. A distinction in variety 

 of cultures, probably in the beginning more marked, was more or 

 less broken down by interchange of material cult objects before the 

 advent of the Europeans, and while the problem is a very complex 

 one a brief summary of differences in prehistoric pottery, imple- 

 ments, and ornaments may be instructive. 



POTTERY 



Although there is a general similarity in pottery from the West 

 Indies, there are marked differences in the ceramics from different 

 islands. In a general way it may be said that it indicates two great 

 culture areas — that of the Greater Antilles (Haiti, Porto Rico, 

 Cuba, and Jamaica) and that of the Lesser Antilles, the islands 

 extending from the eastern end of Porto Rico to Trinidad. Thei'e 

 are differences of note between pottery objects from Cuba, Jamaica, 

 Haiti, and Porto Rico which would differentiate these as subculture 

 areas of the Greater Antilles. The pottery from Haiti and Porto 

 Rico is so close in likeness that these two islands are embraced in 

 the same ceramic area, and this corresponds with what is known of the 

 distribution of stone collars and three-pointed stones, which are char- 

 acteristic of these two islands and not found in Cuba or Jamaica. 

 It may be possible later to chronologically separate pottery from 

 caves near the sea from that of caves in the upland of these islands, 

 but at present this separation is conjectural. There are some differ- 

 ences between the pottery of Haiti and Porto Rico and the other 

 Greater Antilles, but these are not very gi-eat. Jamaican pottery is 

 the most aberrant of the Greater Antilles. 



In the Lesser Antilles we also have a difference in ceramics from 

 different islands. As a rule, the pottery from these islands is of 

 better character than that of the Greater Antilles, perhaps the highest 



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