UITGAVEN VAN DE NATUURWETENSCHAPPELIJKE WERKGROEP NEDERLANDSE ANTILLEN PUBLICATIONS OF THE NATURAL SCIENCE STUDY GROUP OF THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES Natuurwltlnschappelijke belangstllling voor de N8derlandse Antillen (Scientific interests in the NetherIands Antilles) door P. WAGENAAR. HUMMELINCK, 1951,31 blz., 8 platen • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . • Af 1.- 2 Rotstlkeningen van Curafao, Aruba sn Bonaire (Linear rock designs of Curac;ao, Aruba and Bonaire) door P. WAGENAAR. HUMMELINCK, 1953, 36 blz., 6 platen • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Afl.- 3 Gekwuktl sn nuttige plantln van de Nederlandsche Antillen (Cultivated and usefu1 p1ants of the Netherlands Antilles) door Fa. M. ARNOLDO (A. N. Broeders), 1954, 149 blz., 63 platen. • . • • . • • • • • • • • • . Af6.- 4 Wat in het wild groeit en bloeit op Cura;ao, Aruba en Bonaire. Zakjlora (Pocket flora of Curac;ao, Aruba and Bonaire) door Fa. M. ARNOLDO (A. N. Broeders), 1954, 170 blz., 68 platen. . • • • . • • • • • • • • • • Af4.- 5 De vogels van de Nederlandse Antillen. BiTds of ehe Netherlands Antilles, door K. H. Voous, 1955,205 blz., 5 ongekleurde en 22 gekl. platen • . . Af8.- 6 Rotstlkeningsn van Cura;ao, Aruba sn Bonaire, 11 (Linear rock designs of Curac;ao, Aruba and Bonaire, 11) door P. WAGENAAR HUMMELINCK, 1957, 34 blz., 20 platen. • • . • • . . • • • • • • • • . . • • • Af 1.- 7 De geologische geschiedenis der drie bovenwindse eilanden St. Martin, Saba sn St. Eustatius (The geological history of St. Martin, Saba and St. Eustratius) door J. H. WESTERMANN, 1957,42 blz., 10 platen • • • • • • . • • Afl.- 8 Prenda Antiyano. Verjaardagskalender, Kalinder di cumpleallos, 1958, 26 blz. met foto's en tekeningen • • . • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • Af2.- 9 Studies on ehe physical anthropology of the Netherlands Antilies. I Indiaanse skeletvondstln op Aruba sn CUTa;ao (Indian ske1etal discoveries in Aruba and Curac;ao) door P. WAGENAAR. HUMMELINCK; 11 Indian skeletal rll7ltlins from Aruba, by J. TAcoMA; 36 blz., 9 platen • • • • • • • • • • • Afl.- 10 Studies on ehe archaeology of ehe Netherlands Antilles. I Nolls on the pottery of Aruba, Curafao and Bonaire, by C. J. Du Rv; 11 A survey of ehe non-ceramk artifacts of Aruba, Cura;ao and Bonaire, by H. R. VAN HEEKEREN; 1960, 40 blz., 26 platen . . • • . . • • • • • • . . • . . . . . • •. Af2.- 11 De kustvormsn van Curafao, Aruba snBonaire (The coasts of Curac;ao, Aruba and Bonaire) door P. H. DE BUISONJE enJ. I. S. ZONNEVELD, 1960, 24 blz., 7 platen . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . • . . . • • • • • Af 1.- 12 De z:oogdiersn van de Nederlandse Antillen. Mammals of ehe Netherlands An tilles, door A. M. HUSSON (in press) In de handel gebracht door BOEKHANDEL SALAS, Willemstad, Curac;ao voor wat de Nederlandse Antillen betreft en SPRlNGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. STUDIES ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES I-II De zoogdie't'en Van de Nederlandse Antillen. Mammals of the Netherlands AntilleSa oor A..M:.H-".=us-so-n-" 196ö, 168 blz., 43 platen:-:- • • • • •• A. f Rotstesen.1 en Van Cura9ao,. At'uba en Bonaire, III (Linear rock c1esi.gns of "curaCä'ö" A'ruba and BonaIre,III ) doör'"'P. Wagen aar .•... ~urnmellnck, 1961, 44 blz., 16 platen ••••••• =~=:=:=~ A f :::=::======== "Nos tera ta baranca, i solo ta kima.- - Ma toch nos ta stim'eIe, Ariba tur nacion." STUDIES ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES: 1-11 NOTES ON THE POTTERY OF ARUBA, CURACAO AND BONAIRE , BY C. J. DU RY A SURVEY OF THE NON- CERAMIC ARTIFACTS OF ARUBA, CURACAO AND BONAIRE , BY H. R. V AN HEEKEREN -- NATUUR~TfNSCHAPPfUUKf ~ WERKGROEP ; NfDfRLANDSf ~~ ~ <:s> ,ANTlLLfN A.'I' H ~ ~ ,,:>0J> 8<4Q4NCA' \ SPRlNGER-SClENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. ISBN 978-94-015-3761-2 ISBN 978-94-015-3848-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-3848-0 Reprinted from NIEUWE WESTINDISCHE GIDS XL C. J. DU RY STUDIES ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES: I NOTES ON THE POTTERY OF ARUBA, CURA<;AO AND BONAIRE For more than eighty years the Dutch islands off the north coast of Venezuela have aroused the archaeological interest of a few people, whose work the government has failed to appreciate. Whenever an appeal was made to the competent authorities in the horne country to try to cast more light on the past of the islands under its rule, a barrier of bureaucratic dilatoriness and amiable misunderstanding was encountered, and hence the few ardent advocates of the Antillean cause should not be blamed for not having managed to elevate archaeological knowledge of the region to a respectable level. Moreover, none of the persons concerned has been a prof essional archaeologist. Father A. J. VAN KOOLWIJK cannot be described as such, and nor can Professor J. P. B. DE ]OSSELIN DE ]ONG. However, the latter, though really an ethnologist and linguist, is entitled to be called an archaeologist on account of his careful and scientific methods. Dr. P. WAGENAAR HUMME LINCK is not a trained archaeologist either; as a zoologist, he naturally has quite another sphere of activity. But his many sided love for the islands has also made hirn an indefatigable champion of the cause of archaeology there. The National Museum of Ethnology (Rijksmuseum voor Volken kunde) at Leiden now has an extensive collection of archaeol ogical specimens which has been amassed by the above-mentioned persons.1 Since VAN KOOLWIJK'S material has already been published bij DE ]OSSELIN DE ]ONG, we have mainly paid attention to the 1 HUMMELlNCK not only did collecting work himself, but also obtained material from several other sources, such as the Dominican Fathers in Bonaire; A. D. RINGMA (Cura~ao and Aruba); Dr. A. C. J. BURGERS (Bonaire); and G. BOGAERS (Aruba). SI C. J. DU RY Fig. 1 Sketchmap of the Islands Aruba, Cura~ao and Bonaire, showing localities mentioned in the text. latter two eolleetions, about whieh nothing has yet made known. Preparation of this material raised many problems. We rec eived it with but little information, whieh did not enable us to get a eorrect idea of its arehaeologieal eontext. Stratigraphie data were eompletely absent, and it is preeisely these whieh are so important to investigation of a site, to enable the various periods of oeeupation and their relative ages to be determined. Even if the site eoneerned has had only one period of habitation, the stratigraphie situation of the speeimens nevertheless remains important in that they will show us at any rate the initial and final dates of settlement. The arehaeology of our three islands at onee makes special demands in this respeet. The eomparatively one-sided develop ment of the Indian population and, on the other hand, the nature of the soil (Le. erosion and, in particular, the insignificant thiekness of the eoneentrations of shells) render stratigraphy weIl nigh out of the question. Henee it must have been impossible for DE JOSSELIN DE JONG, when digging at Santa Cruz, Aruba, in 1923, to see where exaetly the virgin soil began; where the old surfaee line (Le. the stratum on which the historical population lived) was; and in what rel ation to these strata the potsherds or other objeets were found. Moreover, in many plaees the soil had been ploughed, and eonseq uently it is highly probable that nothing is lying in its original plaee, or has been lying there sinee the first exeavation. Anyway, he had the sherds earefully put away and c1assified in large drawers. As regards the site at Santa Cruz, where he dug in " ~' " :SH NA c::?' /B-;'~.. ) 6UIA ''''10\ /"11. ,O .' " ENAOA TOBAd C DdI ST/r;'os E T OS s -L alitie c o -.(Rtl8A CtlRA('AO ..OMA/RE ~. ~ -, .i.ASAVES . LOSROfiVES '. BLAN~V~"A h . _-!;~Cfl/l.4 (ÖRO ,1IAR~TOCUYO 70RTlIGA COSTA OE LA <::> ~S CVBAltUA<=> ~ c \' (). \ AfOGly'Gl. _ IAGUAIRA /SAN FEUP,E PUERTÖC;ABElLO CARA= • MARACAY. LOSrEQUeS eARQUI~IMETO VALENCIAQ ~RCELONA GUAPO TOCI!.YO TR~J1LlO u v E Z L E N E Fig.2 Sketchmap of northern and middle Venezuela, showing lmentioned in the text. A O RI , " I Y , ... -' , -' , I I I I . I tllt , • ~I .' . !.'''''·\I''~ o • • \ ...l , ME" • . , • o I' , o : .. SAN CHRJSTOBAL , • '-""" , _-_-' ... .... ., ..... C. J. DU RY three different places, precise indications have been given as to whether the object concerned comes from trench A, B or C, while every square metre in the trench has been numbered and the depth at which the object was found has been indicated as either 0 to 25 or 25 to 50 cm. The same obtains for the other sites that were excavated by him, such as Savaneta in Aruba and Sint J an, Knip and Asiento in Cura~ao. Thanks to DE JOSSELIN DE JONG'S description of VAN KooL WIJK'S material (1918), and owing to the long-known connection between the islands and the mainland of Venezuela, it was possi ble for us to try to group the different kinds of pottery by com paring them with material from Venezuela. We started our investigation by distinguishing the various earthenware utensils and by carefully sorting them info, for instance, figurines, amulets, griddles, pottery discs, and finally ordinary domestic crockery, which may itself be subdivided into different sorts. In archaeology, in most cases, and certainly in this particular case, pottery is the most important starting point for a historical reconstruction of the area to be investigated. Accordingly, we tried to draw up a relative chronology on the basis of the pottery. With the aid of the sherds we had to attempt to ascertain whether, and, if so, in what sequence, various civiliz ations had followed one another, or, if there could only have been one single continuous civilization, what important facts are conspicuous in it and what chronological relations were with the contemporary inhabitants of neighbouring countries or regions of which more is known. It stands to reason that a relative chronology gives no more than an unsatisfactory solution. But it is an indispensable prel iminary to an absolute chronology, which can and should only be based upon datings by means of radioactive carbon, pollen analysis or glottochronological determinations of dates. In establishing our relative chronology we started from various factors, viz.: historical correlations, which did not carry us farther back than the Spanish conquest of the islands; geological and geomorphological correlations; probable economic circum stances; trade and dissemination; and finally the typology of the pottery. In this we relied mainly on the publications by C. OSGOOD & G. D. HOWARD: An Archaeological S~ervey 01 Venezuela, 1943, and A. KIDDER 11: Archaeology 01 Northwestern Venezuela, 1944.