Dr. Sabrina Rampersad

Who were the First Human Inhabitants of Jamaica?

The first human inhabitants of Jamaica are virtually unknown to Jamaicans and to the wider world. They were not the Taíno peoples whom Columbus met here when he landed in A.D. 1494. There was an earlier and distinct cultural group—distinct by the fine-grained, red-painted ceramics they made and used—who initially populated Jamaica about two hundred years before Taíno groups ever set foot on Jamaican soil.

Redware People

These original colonizers are known formally as the ‘Ostionan Ostionoid’ culture, but they are more commonly referred to as ‘Redware’ people because of their distinctive red pottery. Scholars first became aware of the existence of Redware peoples on Jamaica in the mid 1930s, when the north coast site of Little River (St. Ann) was discovered and investigated archaeologically; but since then, remarkably, no scholar has undertaken any systematic study with the aim of adding to the knowledge of these pre-Colonial people.

Questions about the Redware People

Still unanswered, are the questions of their origins, the nature of their demise (they ‘disappeared’ before the arrival of Columbus), their manners and customs, economic and dietary preferences, modes of habitation, manner of dress, social customs, political organization, religious beliefs and practices, and so forth. In, short, the lifestyles of these earlier Jamaicans are still a mystery to us. Fortunately, scientific dating of organic material from the Little River site has given us a date of A.D. 650 for the possible earliest arrival of these people onto the island, so there does exist a chronological starting point for new scholars interested in Redware culture.

UWI fills the Information Gaps

In 2007 Dr. Rampersad conceptualized and initiated the Blue Marlin archaeological project and headed into the field to begin collecting new and much-needed material evidence that would enhance our knowledge of the Jamaican Redware people. It is important to realize that because they are a pre-Colonial people who had disappeared before the first Europeans arrived, they were never documented in any historic record—only archaeological investigation has the potential to reveal the hidden lifeways of these people.

Location of Interest

Dr. Rampersad targeted the Great Bay/Treasure Beach region of the south coast (St. Elizabeth) (Fig. 1), where Redware peoples used this area of the island extensively, as the Blue Marlin site is not the only habitation found along the south coast. The scientific dates (radiocarbon) obtained from charcoal samples from the Blue Marlin site, indicate that Redware people were on the south coast somewhat later than on the north coast, but what this means for their overall use and exploitation of the island has yet to be determined.

Figure 1. Location of the Blue Marlin site. [View larger]

When were Redware People here?

The Blue Marlin radiocarbon dates, occurring some two hundred years later than the Little River date, presents the exciting scenario that Redware people remained on the island long after their initial landing in A.D. 650. This is important because the Redware culture, by its longevity, may well have laid the foundation for pre-Colonial life in Jamaica, and perhaps had considerable influence on how later Taíno life evolved. It is certainly not too early to speculate on the possible evolution of Taíno culture from that of the earlier Redware.

Answer to Questions about the Redware People

To answer important questions about the Redware people, Dr. Rampersad is analyzing archaeological findings such as pottery fragments excavated from the Blue Marlin site in 2007 and 2008. Since the Blue marlin site was a place of habitation, it is not surprising to see domestic types showing up amongst the ceramic assemblage, such as cooking pots with moulded handles, bowls of various sizes and shapes, small jars, and larger storage vessels. The researcher is also comparing these vessel types with the forms from Redware sties on other islands of the Greater Antilles, such as Puerto Rico and Haiti.

Dr. Rampersad is also conducting studies of the clay composition of the Blue Marlin pottery, to determine exactly how the clay was tempered in the mixing process. Ceramic clays have distinctive compositional signatures from region to region around the world, and if Jamaican Redware populations originated in Puerto Rico and/or Haiti, then they would have migrated with their ceramic ‘recipes’ intact. The sooner researchers can begin to match fabric types and manufacturing methods with other islands of the Greater Antilles, the closer scholars can get to the origins of Jamaican Redware culture.

Dr. Rampersad conducting studies on clay composition. [View larger]

Two other interesting data sets that she is studying are the shell artifacts recovered from the site, as well as the mammal, reptile, fish, and bird remains, which together comprise the faunal assemblage. All of these remains, shells included, indicate food resources these people exploited. The identification of specific species is the aim here, for determining the precise ecological zones that Redware people targeted.

There are some unexpected findings already, such as the scarcity of fish remains, indicating a minimum consumption of fish, in contrast with turtle remains; turtle appears to have been an important part of Redware diet.

Importance of this Work

This work is important if we are to determine the origins of Jamaican Redware peoples, since present studies point to a series of east to west migrations of these peoples from Puerto Rico to Haiti, and lastly on to Jamaica.

These preliminary interpretations represent only the beginnings of the post-excavation studies on the Blue Marlin site. Although a long process, continued in-depth analysis of the material culture should further develop an understanding of Jamaica’s first indigenous peoples. What is needed for the future is more survey and excavation of new Redware sites so we can better understand larger issues, such as how widespread were the Redware populations across the island, and how, if at all, they interacted with the Taíno, who came along later in time. Only then can we begin to round out our knowledge of the many complex processes in Jamaican pre-Colonial history, and approach the level of cognizance that other Caribbean islands have gained of their respective prehistories.