Plum Piece is an archaeological site, located in the tropical forest of Saba. What makes this site so special and interesting for archaeologists, is that its location and diet change most of what archaeologists thought they knew about Archaic Age (2000 to 400 BC) settlements in the Lesser Antilles.
The site was first found at the end of the 1990’s, when the local farmer Carl Zeghers started planting crops in the area. If not for Mr. Zeghers, researchers would have most likely remained unaware of this archaeological site for a very long time. This is because most archaeologists would not think about looking for an Archaic Age archaeological site located at an altitude of 400m (1/4 mile), in the tropical forest. Not only is this a very difficult area to carry out archaeological investigations, due to the dense vegetation, but also because before this time it was believed that Archaic Age settlements were mainly located near the coast.
Unlike the Archaic Age coastal sites, the diet of the people that lived at Plum Piece did not primarily consist of maritime resources. In fact, only a relatively small number of fish and shellfish remains were found at the site. Because everyone needs food, they would have needed an alternative. And they had. For their proteins, the people at Plum Piece hunted in their direct surroundings for mountain crabs and birds. Some of shell and stone the artifacts that were found, indicate that these people were also processing seeds, fruits, nuts and possibly other types of crops, like zamia.
Most, if not all of the bird remains that were found at the site are of the same bird: the Audubon’s Shearwater. Today this bird is also known as a wedrego. Because these birds spend their days above the sea, hunting them is only possible at night during the breeding season, when the adult birds leave the nests. This means that these birds could only be hunted seasonally.
Another species that was found in large numbers during the Plum Piece excavations, was the mountain crab. Just like the Audubon’s Shearwater, this crab was only available to be hunted seasonally, during their breeding migrations.
During the excavations, only remains of temporary shelters were found, and it seemed as if tools were left at the site on purpose, to be used again at a later time. This is why archaeologists think that Plum Piece was a campsite that was only used during the dry season, when both the Audubon’s Shearwater and mountain crab could be hunted easily.
Text by Anouk van de Ven, based on original published research (see further reading).
Hofman C.L. and M.L.P. Hoogland, 2003. Plum Piece, Evidence for Archaic seasonal occupation on Saba, northern Lesser Antilles around 3300 BP. Journal of Caribbean Archaeology 4, 12-27.
Hofman, C.L., A.K. Bright and M.P. Hoogland, 2006. Archipelagic Resource Procurement and Mobility in the Northern Lesser Antilles: The View from a 3000-year-old Tropical Forest Campsite on Saba. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 1(2), 145-164.
Keegan, W.F. and C.L. Hofman. 2017. The Caribbean Before Columbus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pagán-Jiménez, J.R., 2011. Early phytocultural processes in the pre-Colonial Antilles: A pan-Caribbean survey for an ongoing starch grain research, in C.L. Hofman and A. van Duijvenbode (eds.), Communities in Contact: Essays in archaeology, ethnohistory & ethnography of the Amerindian circum-Caribbean. Leiden: Sidestone Press.