Bitumen residue on a Late Ceramic Age three-pointer from Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe: Chemical characterization and ligature evidence

Abstract

Among the most recognizable and enigmatic artefacts found in pre-Columbian archaeological contexts of the Ceramic Age in the Greater and Lesser Antilles is the three-pointer, a triangular shaped object made of various mineral and organic materials. Despite a few ethno-historic mentions and abundant academic speculations, little is known about the social and spiritual dimensions these once animate objects had in the Amerindian Antillean communities. Furthermore, very little can be empirically verified. The wide array of known specimens shows many variations, including the presence/absence of usually poorly preserved traces of black residue, often described as plant tars, resins or gums, or as inorganic bitumen. Well preserved residues of this type have been observed on a three-pointer specimen recently discovered in a Late Ceramic Age context (Troumassoid series, 10th–11th century AD) of the Tourlourous site on the island of Marie-Galante (Guadeloupe, French Lesser Antilles). They have been physico-chemically characterized as bitumen, and they preserve evidence of a specific tying system. These data raise considerations on two points: the necessity to better document these sometimes tenuous clues of tying and adhesion systems implying bitumen (and other glues), and the need to consider that three-pointers (and other artefacts), while actively used in the mediation between social and spiritual dimensions, also have a practical side which should be addressed in technological terms in order to better understand all their dimensions.