Perforated peccary incisor from the site La Poterie in Grenada, Lesser Antilles (Photo: Catrina Guzzo Falci in Hofman et al. 2020).
The peccary incisor pendant from the La Poterie site in Grenada was submitted to use - wear analysis. According to the results, the pendant was worn frequently and for a long period of time. Isotope analysis showed that the tooth must have been transported to Grenada from mainland South America.
Peccary incisor (photo: Catrina Guzzo Falci in Hofman et al. 2020)
Bodily ornaments from animal teeth were circulated often around the Caribbean region. Animal teeth, were used to make various items, such as necklaces, belts, arm bands, and pectorals (ornaments worn on the chest). The pendants were attached in different ways: tooth could be hung from a string, sewn against a fabric band, or were almost entirely covered by woven fabric.
Isotope analysis performed on the peccary incisor shows that the tooth presents values that fit the area between the Guiana Shield Region and the Columbian Andes.
This tooth was discovered together with two others at the same site. However, the differences observed on the attachment method and use-wear traces indicate that the teeth belonged to different ornaments and were not all part of the same pendant. For all three teeth different places of origin have been proposed. The diversity of origins could be due to long-distance exchange networks, in the Caribbean region, or due to transportation to the Lesser Antilles from first generation migrants from mainland South America. The varied origins of the pendants are another proof for the extensive communication networks between the Lesser Antilles and the South America.
Text by Eleni Seferidou, reviewed by Jason Laffoon, based on original published research (see further reading)
Falci, C.G., J. Cuisin, Delpuech, A., V.G. Annelou and Hofman, C.L., 2019. New insights into use wear development in bodily ornaments through the study of ethnographic collections. Journal of Archaeological Method Theory 26, 755–805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-018-9389-8.
Hofman, C.L., L.S. Borck, Laffoon, J.E., E.R. Slayton, Scott, R.B., T.W. Breukel, Falci, G.C., M. Favre and Hoogland, M.L.P., 2020. Island networks: Transformations of inter-community social relationships in the Lesser Antilles at the advent of European colonialism. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, ahead-of-print, 1-27.
Laffoon, J.E., 2014. Exploring the origins of exotic mammal tooth pendants from Grenada, Lesser Antilles. Archaeology in Transition Symposium 25 9 2014-26 9 2014 [conference poster].