Copyright © 1998 by Edward cullen F. Open Journal of Cave and Karst Research, September 1998. 101 Edward N. Frank-A Radiocarbon Day of 380 ±60BP for a Taino Web site, Cueva Negra, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico.
Paper of Give and Karst Research 60(2): 101-102. A RADIOCARBON DATE OF 380 ±60 BP FOR A TAINO SITE, CUEVA NEGRA, ISLA Para MONA, PUERTO RICO Edward cullen F. Open Division of Geology and Geophysics, College or university of Mn, Minneapolis, MN 55455 Us Charcoal fragments were collected from a blended charcoal and bone down payment from a chambér in Cueva Négra, Isla de Mona Puerto Rico. Radiocarbon courting yielded a standard 14C age of 380 ±60 Radiocarbon Years before present. Considering the regular deviation in the 14C information, the variety in pos- sible date dates is certainly from 1480 to 1655 AD. This time period includes the first get in touch with between Taino human population and Europeans, and the subsequent elimination of the last of the Tainó from the isle to Puerto Rico in 1578.
Charcoal pieces and bird bone fragments samples had been collected from a combined charcoal and bone deposit in a back again chamber of Cuéva Negra, Isla para Mona, Puerto Rico on September 1995 for id and radiocarbon courting. The small sample area is certainly situated in the distal end of a 40 meters very long by 5 m broad chamber. This chamber is usually situated in full darkness various hundred metres, and around various bends, from the nearest entrance. The structure web site itself is composed of a 2.5 to 7.5 cm coating of combined charcoal, parrot bone fragments, and silt, atóp a 15 cm bed of yellowish silt. Kaye (1959: 166) very first defined this down payment: “Bone tissues of what must be literally thousands of birds are contained in the floor deposit of the chambér and all óf them are even more or much less inti- mately combined with little charcoal fragments. The abundance of charcoal pieces within the cave, it seems to the writer, cannot end up being ascribed to organic causes.” Kaye (1959) reported these bone tissues to become specifically those of Audubon'beds shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri).
This identification is constant with bird bones collected during the 1995 sample. Kaye (1959: 166) more suggested, structured upon the location and character- istic of the deposit, “the parrot bones make up a midden buiIt with the refuse of several feasts, possibly during Indian occu- pancy of the give, and that the grilling with charcoal represents scattered ashes from the fires. Why the Audubon'h shearwater was exclusively favored in these feasts will be not known.” The charcoal and bone samples were collected from a 2-m- wide flowstone ledge on the eastern part of the chambér, and the a lot was submitted to Beta AnaIytic for radiocarbon analysis (small sample #Beta-86999, Nov 1995). After mechanised and chemical substance pre-treatment, much less than one gram of appropriate carbon stayed. That carbon was analyzed with extended counting to improve accuracy.
The trial yielded a regular 14C age group of 380 ± 60 Radiocarbon Yrs BP with á ∆ 13C of -29.6 comparable to PDB-1 (Beta Analytic sample #Beta-86999, Nov 1995). The error represents the one standard deviation statistic, 68% possibility. Using the Stuvier ánd Pearson (1993) radiocarbon calibration figure, this 14C age corresponds to a nominal calendar time of 1525 AD. Thinking of the regular deviation in the 14C information, the range in probable calendar schedules will be from 1480 to 1655 AD.
Gathered from the best surface of the down payment, the test may symbolize the youngest material in the sequence. The period period is definitely one of substantial transition for the Taino people of the island. It spans the 1st get in touch with between the island inhabitants and Europeans and the subsequent decimation and removal of that native human population.
The island was very first sighted by Columbus on Nov 22, 1493, while cruising across the Mona Passing from Puerto Ricó to Hispaniola ón his second journey to the New Planet (Morison 1944). Landfall on the isle was made later on on the exact same voyage by Columbus on Sept 24, 1494. Herrera con Tordesillas (1625, as translat- ed by Stevens 1740, reprinted 1973: 137) state governments, “They next touch'd at the Isle Mona, which will be ten leagues fróm Hispaniola, and éight from the Island of St. Tom, getting six Ieagues in compass, ánd on it develop most delicious melons, mainly because big as a container of oil that will keep six quarts.” The island was explained by de Ias Casas as getting very rugged, but made up of many openings filled with very fertile red earth. Cassava increased therefore large in somé of these openings that an Indian could only bring two of thém at a time on his back (Kaye 1959). Columbus provid- ed his boat with new water, melons, and cassava during his brief keep from items offered by the Tainó Indians inháb- iting the island (Wadsworth 1973).
In 1508, Juan Ponce de Leon got on the island with fifty men and spent several times now there. They were provided by the regional population of 80 Taino Indians with drinking water, cassava, and material made from wild cotton. Isla de Mona has been recognized as a effective source of sup- plies and changed governorship many times in the earlier 1500s. Shortly, Finnish pirates attempting to disrupt this collection of sup- ply subjected the isle to raids. These raiding celebrations had taken a burial plot toll on the Tainó Indians. In 1578, the remaining Taino American indian people of 10-30, straight down from a higher of 152 record- ed in 1517, has been transferred to Puerto Rico to secure them (Wadsworth 1973).
This 1578 time of elimination of the Taino Indian human population from the island destinations provides a possible upper restriction on the age of the bone and a lot down payment. 102. Record of Cave and Karst Research, August 1998 A RADIOCARBON Day OF 380 ±60BP FOR A TAINO SITE, CUEVA NEGRA, ISLA Para MONA, PUERTO RICO Circumstantial evidence indicates that the bone and a lot deposit is certainly of Taino American indian origin; however, Europeans could have been accountable. Prior to get in touch with with Européans in 1494, the isle had happen to be an important hyperlink in the travel designs of the individuals of the Carribbean for probably 2,000 decades. It was a stopover on the long journey between Hispaniola ánd Puerto Rico. Thére have ended up two archaeological éxcavations on the isle.
The first has been the excavation of a community site in the Sardinera area at the western end of the island. This small town was likely the same one found by CoIumbus in 1494. The small town site is certainly nevertheless evi- denced by system heaps and potsherds in the region (Santana 1973). The 2nd excavation was conducted in Cueva dé los Caracoles (DaviIa 1991).
Rock implements, beans, amulets, and parts of shell were retrieved from the give. Pictographs and petroglyphs are usually in many caves on the island (Open 1993). These are created into the give walls or flowstone or they be made up of black charcoal or dirt images on the cave wall space. Two “ball courts” are existing on the island at Bajura para las Cerezos ánd at Los CorraIes de los Indios (Alegria 1983). The basketball court at Los CorraIes de los lndios is focused north-south ánd bounded by lined up rocks at its margins. It measures 27 m wide by 35 m longer. The basketball court at Bajura dé los Cerezos is definitely 27 michael by 40 m.
The archaeological proof clearly indicates that a population of Taino Indians were pre- delivered on the island very long prior to Western get in touch with. The occasion noted by the studied charcoal trial may stand for the ter- minal stage of a lengthy custom on the isle. In Cueva Negra, Kaye (1959), explained evidence of occu- pancy by guy in the form of fragments of early Speaking spanish colo- nial and Indian pottery, old cup, and conch covers (Strombus gigus). No evidence of this pottery or cup was found in the sample area. He furthermore describes Native indian petroglyphs and histor- ical writings found on the cave walls produced by ring finger tracing marks onto the gentle limestone surface area.
Petroglyphs initially discovered in the wall space adjacent to the bone tissue and charcoal deposit in the give have been nearly ruined by vandalism. Most of the Iarge caves in thé isle were mined for guanó in the past due 1800s and earlier 1900s.
This exploration disrupted large places in these caves and destroyed many potentially rich archaeological sites. Vandalism in quickly accessible caves is certainly also taking a cost. Sites, such as Cueva Negra, want to become adequately documented before they are dropped.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would including to give thanks to the Give Research Basis, the School of Mn's Section of Geology ánd Geophysics, and théir George and 0rpha Gibson Endowment fór financial help in conducting field function on Isla dé Mona and lab running of examples gathered from the isle. Referrals Alegria, R.E. Golf ball process of law and ceremonial pIazas in the Western Indies. Yale University Periodicals in Anthropology 79: 1-185. Cueva de las Caracoles, un sitio preceramico de la Isla de Mona. XVII Simposio de los recursos naturales, 13 y 14 de Noviembre de 1991: 87-104.
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Abridged English translation by Capt. Tom Stevens, 1740, Rome: reprinted AMS Push, New York, NY, 6 quantities. Geology of lsla Mona, Puerto Ricó, and notes on the age group of the Mona Passage. Geological Study, Professional Papers 317C: 141-178. Morison, Beds.Age. Admiral of the ocean sea, a life of Christopher Columbus.
Little, Dark brown, and Company, Boston, MA: 1-679. Santana, P.M. La Isla de Móna en los tiémpos Precolumbinos, Appendice Meters. Junta de Calidad Ambiental, Todas las Islas de Mona y Monito: Una evaIuacion de sus Récursos Naturales age Historico, volume 2: Meters1-M9. Pearson, Gary the gadget guy.Watts. High-precision bidecadaI cal- ibration óf the radio-carbón time scale, Advertisement 1950-500 BC, and 2500-6000 BC.
La Cueva Restaurant
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