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Paleoenvironmental Evidence for First Human Colonization of the Eastern Caribbean
Are you interested in learning how archaeologists date human movement and colonization? Then this is the seminar for you!
The Controversy
The timing and process of island colonization is a controversial topic in Caribbean archaeology. The first settlers to the islands probably came in small groups, difficult to identify archaeologically. Further, volcanic activity, sea-level rise, and erosion from European land-use practices have obliterated, inundated, or buried ancient archaeological sites and landscapes under meters of sediments.
High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating
Traditional archaeological site-discovery methods are inadequate to address traces of these earliest people. By collecting plant microfossils, charcoal particulates, and organic samples for high-precision radiocarbon dating from appropriate contexts, we were able to systematically assess the timing and process of initial island colonization to the eastern Caribbean. In particular, data from Trinidad, Grenada, Martinique, and Marie-Galante provide a basis for revisiting initial colonization models of the Caribbean. The Lesser Antillean island arc was colonized by people as early as 3700-3000 cal BC, approximately 3,000 to 3,500 years earlier than what many archaeologists have believed.
We conclude that archaeological programs addressing early to middle Holocene occupations and land-use histories, especially in dynamic coastal settings, should systematically incorporate paleoenvironmental investigations.