Archaic Age migration and settlement on Aruba

Summary

Archaic Age migration and settlement on Aruba

The Archaic Period of Aruba falls between 2500 BC to 900/1000AD and is characterized by nomadic ‘fisher-hunter-gatherers’ with a predominantly marine, coastal orientation, occupying different areas of the island. Their diet consisted mostly out of marine food and to a lesser extent hunting of small game and foraging. The majority of the so-called preceramic sites are coastal shell-middens predominantly located on limestone. The sites of Canashito and Malmok served as formal cemeteries. Both sites have burial characteristics similar to the archaic Tequendama site in Bogotá, Colombia that is suggestive of a possible migration route towards Aruba. Recently three sites characterized as temporary campments along the banks of a large rooi system yielded the oldest age within the Archaic Period. These campment sites provide the unique opportunity for beyond shell midden research that will not only provide insights about Archaic Age settlement patterns but also their stone tool kit. Furthermore new data related to paleo-tsunamis, radiocarbon datings, mtDNA results, pollen analysis and human dental calculus in combination with site data and fossil bone collagen shed more light on traditional views of the Aruban Archaic age.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• New Insights into the Archaic of the circum-Caribbean

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