Prehistoric patterns of exploitation and colonization in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Sullivan, Shaun Dorsey

Book

Prehistoric patterns of exploitation and colonization in the Turks and Caicos Islands

University Microfilms International • Ann Arbor, Mich. • Published In 1998 • Pages:

By: Sullivan, Shaun Dorsey.

Abstract
This study is an archaeological and environmental survey of the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies, during the period of 1976-1980 in which 41 prehistoric sites were located and surface collections of artifacts made. “Test excavations were coducted at nine of the sites, and a detailed topographic map was made of one complex, MC-6. An environmental resource survey was made of each island on which prehistoric sites were encountered. That survey incorporated aerial photography and ground mapping to produce maps of environmental zones defined by the distribution of plant communities, geomorphological features, and aquatic life zones. Each enivironmental zone was further defined by an inventory of resources exploitable with aboriginal technology” (p. xi). Analysis of the data from the sites indicated two primary cultural periods in the prehistoric occupation of the Turks and Caicos -- the Antillean Period from 750 - 950 A.D. and the Lucayan period of approximately 950 - 1500 A.D. Only the material on the Lucayan period has been indexed for Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) codes. This period is represented by sites designated in this study as MC-6, MC-11, MC-12, MC-13, MC-16, MC-17, MC-21, MC-32, MC-34, P-1, P-3, P-4, IC-1, PC-1, Plaza 1, Plaza 2, and South Midden (P-1-S).

Identification

Maps

Recording and collecting in the field

Historical reconstruction

Topography and geology

Chronologies and culture sequences

Late Caribbean

HRAF PubDate