Precolumbian Flaked Stone Assemblages in the West Indies

The present work examines the history of the development of West Indian lithic research and proposes a new classificatory mechanism for West Indian flaked stone tool analysis based on technological process. Precolumbian flaked stone assemblages in the Caribbean have been classified in the past using continental models of hunting and gathering societies and stylistic variation in the artifacts has been used to explain cultural variation among early precolumbian periods. Samples of lithic assemblages from Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are the materials used in the present research. The effect of raw material on stylistic variability is shown using paradigms and demonstrates the applicability of this analytical method to West Indian assemblages. The work is a methodological study in the applicability of this analytical scheme and demonstrates some of the non-cultural variables which affect these island assemblages.