MEMMJ^M^ETTLEMEMTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL REALITY IN …
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MEMMJ^M^ETTLEMEMTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL REALITY IN THE LESSER ANmiJES^J^CA^OF_QlAiroE-TERRE, GUADELOUPE
André Delpuech, Corinne Hofman and Menno Hoogland
Abstract:
Geomorphological investigations revealed the significant modifications of the antillean shores during the
Holocene, in relation to sealevel rises. In the same way, the analysis of erosion!sedimentation processes is
required to estimate the representativeness of archaeological remains along the coasts. The comparison between
the Atlantic coast of Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, and the Grand Cul-de-Sac marin, on the toestem side,
illustrates the importance of these parameters for the reconstruction of the successive Amerindian settlements in
their own palaeoenvironment.
Résumé:
Les études géomorphologiques révèlent des modifications importantes des rivages antillais durant l'Holocène en
liaison avec l'élévation du niveau marin. Dans le même temps, l'analyse des processus d'érosion!sédimentation
est utilisée pour évaluer la représentativité des vestiges archéologiques le long des côtes. La comparaison entre la
côte Atlantique de la Grande-Terre de Guadeloupe et le Grand Gul-de-Sac marin, sur la côte ouest, illustre
l'importance de ces paramètres pour la reconstruction des habitats amérindiens successifs dans leur
environnement.
Resumen:
Los estudios geomorfologicos indican importantes modificaciones de los orillas antillanas durante el Holoceno
relacionadas con la subida del nivel marino. Al mismo tiempo, se ha hecho análisis de los procesos de erosion I
sedimentación para valuar la quantidad verosímil de vestigios arqueológicos a lo largo de las costas. La
comparación entre la costa atlántica de Grande-Terre de Guadalupe y el Grand Cul-de-Sac marino en la costa
oeste, demuestra la importancia de estos parámetros para proponer una reconstrucción de los habitats amerindios
sucesivos en su ambiente.
Introduction
During our recent researches on Guadeloupe, particular attention has been paid to post-depositional
processes which have affected the material remains discarded by pre-Columbian peoples. The main
question is related to the representativeness of preserved archaeological sites, the only ones observed
and studied by archaeologists in comparison with the reality of Amerindian settlements.
In the insular surroundings of the Lesser Antilles, most of the Amerindian settlements are coastal and
therefore the post-depositional history mainly deals with marine processes affecting the
archaeological record.
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A number of scholars have treated these questions among whom Nicholson (1976) on Antigua, Ruppé
(1980) in Florida, Waiters (1992) on Barbuda, Vega (1990) on Puerto Rico, Keegan (1992) in the
Bahamas. We would like to point out the work of David Watters (1981) who introduced the notion of
oeeano-archaeoiogy and, next to anthropological questions of maritime adaptations (prehistoric
peoples' interactions with the ocean), insisted on the prominent role of post-depositionai history.
1. The case of Grande-Terre
To illustrate our purpose, we choose the example of the island of Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe. Situated
in the outer or limestone arc of the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern part of the Guadeloupean
archipelago, Grande-Terre has an area of 590 km2 and rises up to 135 m above sea level. This flat island
is fully covered by limestone of the Plio-Pleistocene age. The role played by tectonics is fundamental,
with a general tipping of the island and the subsidence of the western coast together with an elevation
of the eastern coast. The configuration of the two islands of Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre forms two
large marine bays, le Grand and le Petit Culs-de-Sac marins connected by a small arm of the sea, la
Rivière Salée.
At first sight Grande-Terre offers a surprising archaeological picture from a geographical and
chronological point of view (fig. 1)
First, the map of inventoried archaeological sites (without distinction between types of sites : from a
few sherds collected on the surface to structured settlements like Morel or Anse à la Gourde), offers a
considerable contrast. Out of a total of about fifty sites, 20 are located on the south coast, about 20 on
the Atlantic coast to the east, and only 6 on the northern part of the west coast. There are practically
no sites in the area of the Culs de Sac marins (Delpuech 1998).
Second, we have a question of chronological order:
- there are no pre-ceramic sites inventoried on the island, with the only possible but not confirmed
exception of La Pointe des Pies at Saint-François in the east (excavations G. Richard 1993).
- The early Saladoid occupations are scarce with only a few sites in the area of Le Moule, on the north
east coast.
- The late Saladoid occupations are somewhat more numerous.
- The majority of the sites are post-Saladoid.
This may partly reflect a population growth but post-depositional parameters play certainty a major
role in this vision as we'll see.
2. The east and south Atlantic coasts
Exposed to the Ocean swell and to tropical storms, the east and south coasts of Grande-Terre are
characterized by large calcareous cliffs bordered by a littoral shelf.
The configuration we see now largely proceeds of the last interglacial when the sea level was higher
than the present one. This has led to the erosion of the high cliffs and the formation of a submerged
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coastal platform. This low littoral terrace is made of coral reefs and beachrocks dated between 160 and
120 000 years (Battistini & Hinschberger 1985).
The Atlantic coast shows two distinctive parts (fig. 2):
- To the north of le Moule : the littoral plateau has been completely submerged by the rise of sea level
during the Holocene age, and the last interglacial cliffs are once more attacked by the sea. No former
Amerindian settlement has been preserved along the waterfront on the beaches. This region has been
little accessible by the sea except for some small inlets in the cliff (Porte d'Enfer, Anse des Corps) with
some indications of sites. Some material was also collected on the surface of the ridges of the cliffs. It
pertains to late sites, poorly preserved due to the lack of sedimentation.
- To the east of Le Moule, the sea did not yet reach the level of the latest interglacial and the cliffs are
stable with an accumulation of colluviums at their base. The coastal shelf is still partly emerged.
This low terrace constituted a very favourable location for human settlement, but is above all a
privileged place for recent sedimentation with the formation of littoral deposits (beaches, dunes,
beach rocks) which preserved archaeological remains.
However, the constant rise of sea level during the last millennia favoured the progressive erosion of
these Holocene deposits which enclose the principal Guadeloupean archaeological sites. The whole of
these remains will eventually disappear as was demonstrated by our investigations at Anse à la
Gourde, Anse à l'Eau and Morel.
The morphological evolution at Anse à la Gourde during the last two millennia is a good example of
this process as presented at the congress on Grenada (Delpuech, Hofman & Hoogland 2001).
The 1999 survey at Anse à l'Eau, and the 1995 and 1999 salvage excavations at Morel did show that
these dynamics of coastal retreat and of destruction of archaeological remains were particularly
dramatic.
The configuration of Morel 2000 years ago, during the Huecan and Cedrosan occupations, was
completely different (Hofman, Hoogland & Delpuech 1999). With a sea level about 2 m lower than
today, the coastline might have been hundreds of meters seawards. As observed on aerial
photographs, different ridges of cays and of beachrocks extend over 500 m from the present littoral.
This process actively goes on and, between 1947 and 1999, the beach retreated by 30 to 40m. The
coastal dunes which were still in place in 1984 have completely disappeared. Moreover, the Morel I
level is located only a few centimeters above the actual sea level. According to the descriptions of
Edgar Clerc in the 1970, Morel I was then covered by 2 meters of sand while it is now exposed to the
surface as observed after hurricane Luis in 1995.
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What is now to be seen of the remains of the occupations at Morel is limited to a narrow strip at the
foot of the cliffs and will soon completely disappear. We have no idea of the original extension of the
Huecan and Cedrosan settlements.
3. The Culs-de-Sac marins
The western coast of Grande-Terre offers a very different vision (Fig. 3).
The lagoon of the Grand-Cul-de~Sac is bordered to the north by a 29 km long barrier reef. This reef is
the longest in the Lesser Antilles, and protects the lagoon from ocean waves. This bay of 150 km2, with
depths of only a few decimeters to some meters with a maximum of 20 meters in its central part, is a
vast subsidence area between the two main islands of Guadeloupe. The bay is intersected by sub-
aquatic fossil valleys formed during the last glacial period (Guilcher & Maree 1978). Various small
islets, sandy patches at sea level and coral formations rising to the surface are stretching all around the
bay. Along the low mud and sheltered coasts and along the Rivière Salée, an important mangrove has
developed on an area of 60 km2. On a reduced scale, the Petit Cul-de-Sac offers the same
characteristics.
We can observe that the Holocene formations are extremely well developed in the Culs de Sac area.
The bottom of the bay is covered by clayish and sandy sediments of essentially marine , but also of
terrestrial fluvial origin. These sediments can be more than 6 m deep in some places as the lagoon of
Belle-Plaine (Assor & Julius 1983).
In the mangrove zone, formations of peat have been developing considerably. Some auger testing
done by a University of the Antilles and Guyana team, in the area of Canal de Perrin, in the south
eastern part of the Grand Cul-de-Sac, revealed an accumulation of 7 m of peat, on top of 3 m of clayish
sediment (Feller & al 1992).
In addition to interesting paleobotanic information, this stratigraphy permitted the reconstitution of
sea level rise in this area during the last 7000 years:
- sea level rise was very rapid between 7000 and 4000 BP by approximately 3,4m / 1000 years.
- much slower between 4000 and 1000 BP : 0,8 m / 1000 years.
These numbers are equivalent to those registered elsewhere in the Caribbean.
- However, a relatively important sea level rise of 1,80 m has been observed for the last millennium.
This could be partially due to local neo-tectonic activity, in the context of the general subsidence of
the island of Grande-Terre to the west.
We can thus understand that with the shallow topography of the Culs de Sac, these combined eustatic
and tectonic movements have been leading to thorough changes of environment during the last
millennia. The coastline considerably moved in the course of the Holocene (Fig. 3). A 2 meters lower
sea level puts the shore in some places up to 8 km away from the present one. The submersion of very
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large surfaces, notably in the eastern part of the bay, is very recent and this process goes on during
historic times. Several islets of the Petit Cul de Sac marin represented on a map of 1667 are now
submerged. They have, in particular, undergone a tectonic subsidence of about 30cm during the
earthquake of February 1843 which completely devastated Pointe-à-Pitre (Sainte-Claire Deville 1848).
On the archaeological point of view, the region of the Culs de Sac raises a serious problem of site
prospection and identification with usual methods : in addition to the thick layers of sedimentation,
the mangrove vegetation obscures the substrata and in the two bays only sub-aquatic archaeology is
operational.
Some sites were recently registered:
- At the Pointe Saint Vaast, in the south of Grand Cul-de-Sac: a site is located in one of the very few
zones without coastal mangrove.
- On the Islets of Fajou and Christophe in the core of the bay. In the latter, post-Saladoid remains are
to be seen under the level of the sea.
Some scarce other remains were identified in the cultivated lands behind the mangroves, on the
limestone plateau.
The investigations have not been very intensive until now, but one may put into question the
efficiency of the conventional prospection methods.
4. Archaeological reality and Amerindian settlement. In the foregoing part we have seen the importance of combining the study of anthropic and natural
parameters in order to correctly approach the historical reality of the human occupation of the
Guadeloupean archipelago.
In a diachronic vision, we might consider that the lack of pre-ceramic sites is certainly not due to the
absence of Meso-Indian occupations, which are to be found on the neighboring island of Antigua. For
a large part it may be explained by significant modifications of the coastline during the past 3 or 4000
years. The challenge is thus to find sedimentary formations older then 500 BC which could have
preserved such remains. On the other hand, the scarce and for a large part destroyed early ceramic
sites on the Atlantic coast, do not offer better stratigraphie research conditions, as we have seen during
our investigations on the site of Morel.
On a synchronic point of view, the complete distortion between the east coast with a large number of
sites and the archaeological desert of the west coast, only reflect a simple archaeological vision and a
problem of site detection. It cannot correspond to a reality of settlement when one takes into account
the ecological wealth of the Culs-de-Sac, well sheltered from the winds and where the European
chronicles mention settlements.
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Without doubt the Culs-de-Sac marins offer a promising potential and may be considered a privileged
recorder of Amerindian settlements. Serious paleo-environmental studies will be of utmost
importance in the future for a predictive orientation of in depth or sub-aquatic archaeological research.
These questions of the prominent role of post-depositional processes must be extended to the whole
of the Lesser Antilles and specifically to the volcanic islands with a young and steep relief, which are
subject to strong erosion (gully erosion, landslides), not to forget the impact of volcanic eruptions as
we recently could witness on Montserrat.
References :
Assor R. & Julius C , 1983. Caractéristiques sédimentologiques et micopaléontologiques de la
lagune de Belle-Plaine (Mangrove de Guadeloupe). Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, XXV-6 :
889-902
Battistini R. & Hinschberger F., 1985. La morphologie des côtes au vent de Grande-Terre et de
Marie-Galante. Bulletin de l'Association des Géographes Français, Paris, 1985-2, 85-92
Delpuech A., 1998. Habitats amérindiens dans l'archipel guadeloupéen. In: G. Camps (éd.)
L'Homme préhistorique et la mer. Actes du 120ème congrès national des sociétés historiques et
scientifiques, Aix-en-Provence, 23-26 octobre 1995, éditions du CTHS, Paris, 1998, pp.307-318 ; ISBN 2-
7355-0370-4
Delpuech A., Hofman CL. & Hoogland M.L.P., 2001. Excavations at the site of Anse à la
Gourde, Guadeloupe. Organisation, history and environmental setting. In XVIIIth International
Congress for Caribbean Archaeology, Grenada, ll-17th July 1999, Edited by A.I.A.C, tome 2, pp. 156-161
; ISBN 2-9510685-7-3
Feller C , Fournier M., Imbert D. ... [et al], 1992. Datations 14C et palynologie d'un sédiment
tourbeux continu (0-7 m) dans la mangrove de Guadeloupe (F.W.I.). Résultats préliminaires. In
Symposium PICG 274 / ORSTOM, Cayenne (Guyane), 9 - 14 nov. 1990 ; Organisé par l'ORSTOM :
Evolution des littoraux de Guyane et de la zone caraïbe méridionale pendant le quaternaire. Paris : ORSTOM.
pp. 193-202. ISBN 2-7099-1109-4.
Guiicher A. & Maree A., 1978. Le récif-barrière et le lagon du Grand Cul-de-Sac marin
(Guadeloupe, Antilles françaises). Géomorphologie et sédiments. Oceanologica Acta, revue européenne
d'Océanologie, 1-4 :.435-444
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Hofman CL., Hoogland M.L.P. & Delpuech A., 1999. The presence of a huecan assemblage on
Guadeloupe : the case of Morel I. In CL. Hofman and M.L.P. Hofman (eds), Archaeological investigations
on St-Martin (Lesser Antilles) : the sites of Norman Estate, Anse des Pères and Hope Estate with a contribution
to the 'la Hueca problem'. Archaeological Studies Leiden University n°4, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden
University, 1999, pp.303-312. ISBN 90-76368-04-X
Keegan W. F., 1992. Lucayan settlement patterns and coastal changes in the Bahamas. In;
Johnson, L.L. (éd.), Paleoshorelines and Prehistory : an investigation of method, CRC Press, Boca Raton FL, p. 5-14
Nicholson D., 1976. The importance of sea-levels to Caribbean Archaeology. Journal of the
Virgin Islands Archaeological Society, 3-1 :19-23
Ruppe R. J., 1980. Sea-level rise and Caribbean prehistory. In Compte-rendu des communications
du huitième Congrès International d'Etudes des Civilisations Précolombiennes des Petites Antilles, St. Kitts,
juillet 1979. Arizona State University, 1980. (Anthropological research papers ; 22). pp. 331-337
Sainte-Claire Deville C , 1848. Voyage géologique aux Antilles et aux îles de Ténériffe et de Pago. Paris : Gide et J. Baudry éditeurs. 504 p.
Vega J.E., 1990. The archaeology of coastal change, Puerto Rico. PhD Thesis, University of Florida, 158 p.
Watters D.R., 1981. Linking Oceanography to Prehistoric Archaeology. Oceanus, 24-2 :11-19.
Watters D. R., Donahue J. & Stuckenrath R., 1992. Paeoshorelines and the the prehistory of
Barbuda, West Indies. In : Johnson, L.L. (éd.), Paleoshorelines and Prehistory : an investigation of method,
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, p. 15-52.
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