Seafaring capabilities in the pre-Columbian Caribbean

Fitzpatrick reviews the evidence for seafaring in the pre-Columbian Caribbean: canoes, paddles, sails and canoe construction, and the way ocean currents, winds, the visibility of islands and the spread of settlements shaped travel and contact. He then measures Caribbean capabilities against the technologies of Pacific voyaging. The review combines a small archaeological record of watercraft and paddles, historic accounts, linguistic evidence, seafaring simulations, radiocarbon chronologies, artefact comparisons and environmental data.

The evidence

Canoe remains are few: two fragments from Los Buchillones in Cuba and the 'Stargate' canoe from the Bahamas. The fragments' age and exact provenience are unknown. Historic descriptions supply most of what is known about canoe size and construction, and currents and winds are used to judge possible routes and how hard they were (pp. 106–119).

Proposed mainland connections rest on similarities in stone tools, ceramics, plants, animals, architectural features, iconography and raw materials. Fitzpatrick considers links with Florida and the Southeast United States, Mesoamerica and the Isthmo-Colombian region, setting them against travel simulations and local and South American sources of materials such as jadeitite and obsidian (pp. 119–129).

The argument

Caribbean Amerindians were capable seafarers, Fitzpatrick argues, but the evidence does not indicate the sails, outriggers, double hulls or navigational systems associated with long-distance Pacific voyaging. Dugout canoes and basic navigation were enough for many inter-island journeys and for travel to South America, given the geography and prevailing currents. He questions the idea of an always-connected pan-Caribbean region and proposes maritime pathways whose reach and direction varied with the environment.

The strongest evidence for sustained interaction links the Antilles with northern South America, and he considers two-way travel between them feasible under some seasonal conditions. Travel to Mesoamerica and the Gulf Coast looks less direct and in some cases difficult against the winds and currents. He calls for more sourcing studies and better-dated archaeological contexts to clarify the timing and routes of exchange (pp. 127–132).

Dating

The regional labels are Lithic or 'Casimiroid', Archaic or 'Ortoiroid', and Ceramic Age or 'Saladoid'. Fitzpatrick places early occupation of Trinidad around 6000 BCE, and dates Archaic movement into the northern Caribbean to about 3000–2500 BCE, Saladoid pottery appears in the Antilles from around 500/400 BCE, and Fitzpatrick places the settlement of Jamaica and the Bahamas around 600 CE (pp. 107–108, 123–126).