"Site" (LN-101), Long Island, Bahamas: Beads, baking, and burials, but brief occupations?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in the Archaeology of the Bahama Archipelago" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

LN-101 is a multi-component Lucayan site located on the windward coast of Long Island in The Bahamas. The site is situated along sand dunes directly on the beach and is characterized by the presence of earth ovens, evidence of bead manufacture, and associated human burials, with a notable absence of dense midden deposits or features indicative of past structures. In comparison to some Lucayan villages or midden sites, which contain abundant clay artifacts and fauna-rich deposits associated with long-term or persistent site occupations elsewhere within the Bahama Archipelago, Rolling Heads presents a different combination, or "site", of archaeological finds suggestive of possibly short-term or task-specific occupations focused on the exploitation and use of animal and plant resources. Here we present a synthesis of our ongoing archaeological research, detailing the presence of earth ovens and highlighting recent zooarchaeological, starch, macrobotanical, and seasonality studies. Taken together, our analyses provide perspectives on the Lucayan-environment interactions underlying subsistence practices and landscape use at the site and challenge us to more thoroughly consider the significance of short-term or ephemeral site occupations within greater Lucayan settlement patterns.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Advances in the Archaeology of the Bahama Archipelago

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24093