What plants existed in the Lesser Antilles just prior to 1492 and could they have been exploited by the island inhabitants? - new data from archaeological excavations at Anse Trabaud, Martinique

Summary

The exploitation of plants in the tropical belt by Europeans had a major influence on the distributions of many species. The Lesser Antillean islands received their fair share of new arrivals. But what plant species inhabited the Lesser Antillean islands just prior to 1492? Establishing which plant species occurred immediately before colonial times would increase our understanding of the impact of alien introductions, provide information about biogeographical range changes, and, in addition, indicate the botanical resources available to the pre-colonial inhabitants. Archaeological excavations in a mangrove swamp at Anse Trabaud, Martinique exposed artefact-bearing sediments that were deposited between AD 600 and 1250. These sediments have yielded carpological, palynological and starch fossils. Preservation of this type is rare in the tropics. Each fossil type allows identification to different taxonomic levels. Carpological remains can often be determined to species level and, on occasion, so can fossil starch grains. This allows a detailed palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Anse Trabaud site and biogeographical and archaeological conclusions to be made. Existing archaeobotanical data from the period just before the arrival of Europeans will be reviewed and, in combination with the new data, allow regional scale conclusions to be made.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Biological Exchange in the Anthropocene: Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives

Keywords

Spatial Coverage