A holistic provenance and microwear study of pre-colonial jade objects from the Virgin Islands: Unravelling mobility networks in the wider Caribbean

Alice C.S Knaf,Catarina Guzzo Falci,Habiba Habiba,Casper J Toftgaard,Janne M Koornneef,Annelou Van Gijn,Ulrik Brandes,Corinne L Hofman,Gareth R Davies

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103223

Abstract

Pre-colonial Caribbean jade objects from the National Museum of Denmark Hatt Collection were subjected to a provenance and microwear analysis. Thirty-nine jade celts and bodily ornaments from the US Virgin Islands, i.e., St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and five celts from the West Indies of unknown location, St. Vincent, Cuba and the Dominican Republic were analysed.A comprehensive in-depth examination of jade adornments from St. Croix, combining typo-technological and microwear analysis, is compared to other lithologies used for pre-colonial ornaments. A portable laser ablation system was used to sample jade celts and bodily ornaments on site in a quasi-non-destructive manner. Low-blank trace element and Sr-Nd isotope ratio data were evaluated with a multiclass regression provenance prediction model.This study demonstrates that the pan-Caribbean exchange of jade raw materials, pre-forms or finished objects during the Ceramic Age (400 BC to AD 1492) occurred on a more complex scale than previously thought involving jade sources in Guatemala, eastern Cuba and the northern Dominican Republic. In addition, the study of ornaments recovered from St. Croix reveals use of specific lithologies suggesting stronger ties to Indigenous communities on Puerto Rico than other Lesser Antillean Islands.

Highlights

The National Museum of Denmark (NMD) curates one of the largest pre-colonial collections from the Caribbean Islands, including material from Trinidad in the southeast to Cuba in the northwest
Overview of lithologies and morphological types of selected and examined bodily ornaments comprised in the Hatt Collection
The minimally-invasive laser sampling technique in combination with low blank trace elemental and isotopic analyses is shown to be capable of producing reproducible datasets for jade artefact provenance

Summary

Introduction

The National Museum of Denmark (NMD) curates one of the largest pre-colonial collections from the Caribbean Islands, including material from Trinidad in the southeast to Cuba in the northwest. The presence of artefacts made of jadeite – and omphacite jade (subsequently referred to as jade) in pre-colonial assemblages in the Caribbean has been reported by archaeologists for decades Harlow et al (Harlow et al, 2006) were the first to conduct an archaeometric study on pre-colonial lithic celts excavated on the Lesser Antillean island of Antigua and demonstrated that many were made of jade. At this time the jade celts were assigned to the Motagua Valley in Guatemala (GM), two sources north and south of

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion