Production of Greater Antillean pottery and its exchange to the Lucayan Islands: A compositional study

Abstract

Archaeologists working in the Lucayan Islands (The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos) have routinely identified artifacts with non-local origins, such as pottery from the Greater Antilles. Greater Antillean pottery production is characterized by broad trends in form and decoration, with a few distinct local expressions. Given the mobility of these peoples, it is often impossible based on visual appearance alone to determine where a vessel was produced at the island or intra-island level. However, despite complex and shared geological features, there are characteristics specific to certain islands and subregions of the Greater Antilles creating unique elemental signatures within clay resources that are maintained within fired pottery. We used laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to elementally characterize pottery production zones for Greater Antillean pottery, with pottery samples recovered from sites throughout the region. We identified nine main compositional groups, likely representing local production on each Antillean island sampled, including at least three compositional groups associated with different regions of Hispaniola. We then sourced samples imported to the Lucayan Islands back to their Antillean origins. Our results support the importance of the north coast of Hispaniola as a gateway to the Lucayan Islands.