Archipelagic Resource Procurement and Mobility in the Northern Lesser Antilles: The View from a 3000-year-old Tropical Forest Campsite on Saba

Abstract

ABSTRACT Archaic Age fisher-collector communities are known to have settled predominantly along coastlines in the islands of the northern Lesser Antilles beginning around 2300 cal BC. An Archaic Age campsite at Plum Piece on the island of Saba provides evidence for early populations exploiting inland tropical forest environments. Midden deposits have yielded a toolkit and faunal assemblage pointing to a seasonal occupation, possibly oriented towards a set of specialized forest activities. The identification of an archipelagic resource mobility strategy at the Plum Piece campsite suggest that it operated within the same subsistence/settlement/activity system as other Archaic Age sites in the region. This emphasizes the seasonal mobility, diversified modes of procurement and exploitation, and social interaction of Archaic Age communities in the northern Lesser Antilles.