CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY AT CAMP SANTIAGO SALINAS, PUERTO RICO

Transcription

1 2 CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY AT CAMP SANTIAGO SALINAS, PUERTO RICO MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ I. General Settng Puerto Rco s the easternmost and smallest of the Greater Antlles. Is s located between Hspanola to the west and the U.S. Vrgn Islands to the east (Fg. 1-A). As other Carbbean Islands, Puerto Rco has been subjected for centures to ntensve agrcultural actvtes. One of ts negatve results has been the destructon of many of our archeologcal resources. A. The Sem-Dry Foothlls Nevertheless, there are some physographc zones n the sland where, due to partcular ecologcal and land use pattern, the damage seems less. One of them s the strp of Sem-Dry Foothlls or Pedmont of the south coast of Puerto Rco, that comprses approxmately 10% of the Puerto Rcan terrtory (Fg. 1-B). The land of ths strp of low foothlls has been dedcated manly to cattle pastures and few felds have been plowed. The regon s very dry and gets only from 40 to 60 nches of ran per year. There are perods of ntense drought between December and Aprl, when less than 2 nches of ran hardly fall per month (Pcó 1969). Moreover, t s a regon of sparse populaton as t has less than 2% of the whole sland nhabtants.

2 24 A T L A N T I C PUERTO O C E A N P A C I F I C O C E A N Utl SANTIAGO B FIG 1 - A_. Puerto Rco n the Carbbean Regon. B. Camp Santago and Major Physographc Zones n Puerto Rco.

3 25 B. Camp Santago Camp Santago Mltary Reservaton s located toward the center of ths regon, between the towns of Salnas and Coamo (Fg. 2). Ths s the prmary tranng nstallaton for the Puerto Rco Natonal Guard Forces. The base occupes a large area of 12,750 acres (51.6 Km. 2), whch represents half of 1% of the whole terrtory of Puerto Rco. Accordng to the Holdrdge classfcaton of lfe zones, Camp Santago and the south central coast of Puerto Rco s part of the Dry Sub-Tropcal Forest Zone ( well and Whtmore, 1973). Untl the frst half of the present century, the area of Camp Santago was devoted to cattle rasng and subsstence agrculture. Its few nhabtants were forcefully dslodged from ther propertes and homes n 1952 by the local government, as part of an agreement wth U.S. mltary authortes. Snce then cvlan entrance has been strctly regulated. The southern and eastern half of Camp Santago s used for aereal bombngs, artllery frng and nfantry tranng. On the other hand, the northern and western half s made up of a large dry sub-tropcal forest of natve trees that act as a buffer zone around some sectons of the base. C. Archeology of Salnas The man gate of Camp Santago s located about two klometers from the Carbbean Sea Coast, just north of the small coastal town of Salnas (Fg.2 ). From an archcologcal pont of vew, Salnas s one of the rchest regons of Puerto Rco. Dstngushed Amercan and Carbbean archeologst, such as Samuel

4 26.M. ' f í C/4c,VN 3. V 4-.,-',»íl. HI.- -,-

5 27 Lothrop (1934), J. Alden Mason (1941). Irvng Rouse (1952), Veloz Ilaggolo (1975) and others, have carred out archeologcal research n many mportant Btes of Salnas, some of them n the perphery of Camp Santago. But, untl ths year, when we started our project, there was not one report concernng prehstorc stes wthn the lmts of the mltary reservaton (Fg. 3). II. The Project Due to all the above mentoned reasons, Camp Santago has been for many years a sort of dream for many local archeologsts. It s rght n the mddle of a hghly senstve regon and presents the most deal condtons for a research project. At the end of 1982, the dream started to come true. The Natonal Guard Bureau and the Puerto Rco Natonal Guard sgned a contract wth the Unversty of Turabo Museum n Caguas, Puerto Rco, for the purpose of carryng out the frst phase of a Cultural Resources Survey of Camp Santago. A. Goals avalable funds: The followng goals were establshed on the bass of the 1. to carry out a systematc sample survey of at least 10% of the base 2. to prepare an overvew of the cultural resources at Camp Santago 3. to desgn a predctve model for ste denstes and locatons wthn the reservaton, usng sol types and other ecologcal varables 4. to provde management recommendatons for the cultural resources at Camp Santago

6 FIG. 3 - Archaeology of Salnas, Puerto Rco. From No. 1 to No Known archaeologcal stes known n Salnas, pror to our survey. From No. 15 to No New archaeologcal stes dscovered n Salnas durng our survey of Camp Santago n 1983.

7 2* In my opnon, there are some mportant aspects of ths project that mght be relevant to Carbbean Archeology. They are: frst, the general strategy for the sstematc reconnassance and, second; the methodology and fndngs of the feld work. III. Research Strategy For the systematc selecton of 10% of the base land we develope a stratfed random sample survey n whch three dfferent ecologcal strata were taken nto consderaton. A. The Grd System Frst of all we dvded Camp Santago nto a system of 204 square unts of 500 mt. X 500 mt. each (Fg. 4). The grd system has two scales, and each of the unts wll, therefore, have a specal code composed by the letter and number of ts coordnates. B. Defnton of Ecologcal Strata The second step was the defnton of the ecologcal strata to be used for the selecton of the sample. The frst level of strata belongs to the two man hydrographe systems that serve as dranage to the base. There are the Río Jueyes and the Salnas Rver (Fg. 5). The second level of ecologcal strata ncludes the two man physographc zones n whch the reservaton s dvded. They are a small zone of coastal plans to the south, whose lmt s the 50 mt. hgh contour n the U.S.G.S. topographc maps, and the scm-dry foothlls or pedmont that extend throughout the rest

8 S 3 a s s R p 0 N M L K J I M G F c 0 a A V / N / fs 'Ht.,' n,1 au-.» A" ê Q * N r S y 1 J y À 'l 1 \! a.à x._. X CAMP SANTIAGO SALINAS, P.P.. f J a ( I I SAL.. [NAS *. 1 ÇOASW»^»LAII US I / \' D 1 Í7 L..I. * r! Y > \! RI MB.INA * a d *»- *.' S X. L TJ X, :. D:\ I O I j L; V / / 1 km. FIO. 4 - SURVEYED UNITS ANO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES, C CAMP SANTIAOO GRIO SYSTEM.J

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10 32 of the base (Fgs. 2 and 5). Between these hlls there are, also, some nteror valleys well defned by the topography. As thrd level of strata, we select the seven dfferent knds of sol seres that accordng to the maps of the Sol Conservaton Servce are to be found n Camp Santago. These are; Amela, Coamo, Jácana, Guarnan!, Descalabrado, Rockland and Cobbly Alluval Sol Seres (Fg. 6). C. Selecton of the Sample A map ndcatng both rver systems and the two physographc zones was then overlad by one ndcatng the extenson of the seven sol seres. The number of possble combnatons was reduced consderably because, for example; there are no Río Jueyes coastal plans wthn the lmts of Camp Santago, and not all seven sol seres are present n each physographc zone. Fnally, nne dfferent combnatons of strata were defned. Then, we selected 21 square unts of the grd systems by means of a random number chart n such a way that 10% of each of the nne combnatons of strata were proportonally represented n the sample. In that way, the systematc feld survey ncluded the entre range of ecologcal and physographc zones wthn Camp Santago (Tg, 4). Alternate unts were also chosen n the same manner. IV. Feld Work Procedures The feld team work was made up of a group of my outstandng archeology students from the Unversty of Turabo at Caguas, and was

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12 34 conducted under my drect supervson. Some actve members of local archeologcal organzatons of the Salnas area were fulltme partcpants, too. A. Frst Part The frst part of the feld work was carred out durng the dry season, between the month of February and Aprl. Wth the excepton of the forested areas to the north of the base and some hlls wth xerophtc vegetaton to the east, all surfaces were completely exposed. The tmng for the reconnassance was therefore perfect. Lets look at the way n whch we carred out the nspecton of the selected unts. The team went over on foot and examned the surfaces of the unts followng a system of paralel transects orented n a noth-south and vce-versa drecton. Each of the eleven transects of every unt had a length of 500 meters and we always kept a separaton of at least 50 meters between the transects (Fg. 7). The small separaton between transects and the good vsblty made ths nspecton one of an ntensve and metculous type. The possbltes of havng omtted any mportant cultural resource wthn the lmts of the unt are, therefore, mnmal. r. Second Part In the second part of the feld work we returned to each of the dscovered stes n order to document them n a prelmnary manner. The recorded data ncluded locaton of the stes n the U.S.G.S. maps, some dea about ther horzontal extenson, presence

13 35 t* 1!«'t» >» t *!! 1 f f,, 1 > > '3 1 l 1 I o*n m ***t> ( ( ) FIG. 7 - CONTROL SHEET FOR EACH UNIT, \ 7 í r FIG. B - MAYOR RIVER SYSTEMS ANO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN CAMP SANTIAGO,

14 36 of mddens and/or assocated prehstorc stone constructon, such as central "plazas" and ballcourts and other basc nformaton. In some stes we were able to topographc or sketch maps. In others, we dd some small test pts or surface recollectons. V. Prelmnary Results Although we have not been able to fnsh the analyss of the data we wll pont out some prelmnary results. A total of 22 prehstorc stes were dscovered n Camp Santago durng the frst phase of the feld work. Fve of them were located n the 21 preselected unts and the other seventeen stes durng our trps and walks nsde the reservaton (Fg. 4). Other sx stes of hstorc mportance were also dentfed at Camp Santago, but wll not be ncluded n ths report. A. Stes and Ecologcal Strata If we take nto consderaton the man ecologcal strata n whch we based our 10% sample we can pont out the followng fndngs. As far as hydrographe basns are concerned three of the 22 stes or 14% belongs to the Río Jueyes system and the rest, 19 of 22 or 86% to the Salnas Rver system. In all the 22 stes, ther locaton s along sde or at short dstance from the present or old rver beds of these systems and ther man trbutares (Fg. 6). On the bass of the man physographc dvsons, there are three stes or 14% n the coastal plans regon, and 19 or 86% n the sem-dry foothlls and ts assocated nteror valleys and terraces (Fg. 5).

15 37 For both strata, the amount of archeologcal stes s n the same proporton wth respect to the whole part of the land that belongs to each strata. B. Stes and Sol Seres But, f we take a look to the Sol Seres we notce that a majorty of the prehstorc stes, sxteen out of twenty two or the 73%, are located n unts or sol pockets that belong to Jácana, Coamo and Amela sol seres (Fg. 6). Although, they only represent 30% of the land at Camp Santago these three sol seres have almost 75% of all stes dscovered. The Jácana, Coamo and Amela seres are made of deep sols wth good dranage that are present n terraces and alluval fans at the foot of the low hlls of the regon. They are of hgh natural fertlty, and when rrgated and plowed, they offer the maxmum agrcultural productvty that can be obtaned n Puerto Rcan sols. Ths s an outstandng fact because we know that the prehstorc nhabtants of Puerto Rco were farmers whose man crops were "cassava" and corn. The presence of adequate land for ther crops must have been a man factor to be consdered at the moment of the selecton of a place for the constructon of an aborgnal vllage. The prelmnary fndngs at Camp Santago should be consdered as bass for the developng of a predctve model for ste locaton at the regon. I must add that we also carred out an nvestgaton among the small farmers who lved n the Camp Santago grounds before 1950.

16 38 They ndcated that "cassava" and corn were precsely the crops from whch they obtaned a greater output n the plots of these sol seres. C. Cultural and Chronologcal Aspects Up to now we have been able to assgn a tentatve cultural and chronologcal classfcaton to each of the 22 prehstorc stes already dscovered. For these purposes, we have used the chronologcal and cultural theoretcal framework orgnally desgned and developed by Irvng Rouse (1952, 1964, 1981) durng hs fve decades of contnuous work n the Carbbean. Followng Rouse's framework there s not one ste of the 22 already dscovered from Perod I or before 100 AD, consdered as a pre-ceramc or archac ste (Fg. 9). We have not found ether stes belongng to Perod II, that runs between 100 AD and 600 AD. Ths Perod II correspond to the prehstorc nhabtants of the Igner culture, whose pottery belong to the Saladod Seres or related ceramc styles (Fgs. 9 and 10). Accordng to most Carbbean archeologst, Saladod or Igner ndans were the frst pottery-makng to colonze the Lesser and Greater Antlles some 2,000 years ago. We have at least one large early Saladod or Igner ste n the Salnas coastal plans, less than two klometers south of Camp Santago. But durng Perod III,between 600 AD and 1,200 AD an ntense and apparently sudden aborgnal occupaton ocurred n Camp Santago regon and n the rest of the foothlls of the south-central coast of Puerto Rco. These ndans moved nto the foothlls regon and establshed ther vllages on ts nteror valleys and terraces. We have

17 39 n lü Z K < HH U W M DC _l < O O U U I- M < Ct 13 >-> LU O»- DJZ Q. O < w en Z X MUD. IT Z en < < D U O D M Z Z or < t- Lu Q_ >- D oc u I O DC I- LU en > M O u ca u en tr M 0. D PI?! 7 s! 1 ' l s r > ' " r:? n 4 O N J Z - (11 n o _j» «a. (/) (J 8 t c «X fej lu «z s o - m lu G V CL " ; ' g ' ï 1 «2 = S 3 S «I!! O E e U. X n «U 0. ou u c. - 1 p I I I- =} O en LU X I- LL O > cc o h- cn t- Lu LT 0. O ru K CD DC CI) hj r- D D. cn < D U _l < DC I- Z LU U eu n o LT E 0 L LL O D P O O D D U «««««* «D O g c L p o o g en 1 H ru 0 0) <j - D M LL

18 40 üentfed 13 stes for ths Perod III (Fg. 10). Pottery of the Elenod Seres s present at those stes. These stes are mostly shell mddens, some of them clearly observed over the actual surfaces. But some stes such as G (Fg. 11) and F-3-01 are complex stes. Both of them have a large number of mddens and at least one assocated prehstorc stone constructon. In the G ste we have a large two-sded ballcourt around whch at least nne mddens are located. On F-3-01 ste there s another type of prehstorc stone enclosure surrounded also by large mddens. The Perod IV, that extends from 1,200 AD to 1,500 AD corresponds to what generally s called the Tano ndan cultural component (Fg. 9). Tano ndans were the prehstorc people found by Colombus n the Greater Antlles at the tme of the end of the XV Century. There are only 3 new stes for ths Perod III at Camp Santago, but there are another 3 other stes prevously nhabted durng Perod III that are stll occuped n Perod IV (Fg. 10). One of these b-component stes, the P-13-01, s the largest of all stes already dscovered at Camp Santago. It must have been one of the large aborgnal vllages of the Salnas regon n ths Perod IV. The remanng 15 stes were abandoned before Perod IV began. VI. Stes Condtons and Mltary Actvtes A queston that must be n the mnds of all or you s the condton of ntegrty of the stes, specally those located near the zones of mltary actvtes. We have seven (7) stes that have been partally mpacted by bombngs, constructon of roads, buldngs and

19 CAMP SANTIAGO SITE NO. G Fq Ste No. G-15-01

20 ranges. Nevertheless, almost all of them stll present some bass for studes. The remanng 15 are n the most deal condtons of ntegrty that should be expected from a prehstorc ste n Puerto Rco. The Puerto Rco Natonal Guard have offered guarantees that they wll protect those most threatened stes untl the other project's phases are put n effect. We hope that ths wll be so, nasmuch as up to ths moment, we have reled on the most wllng cooperaton from the mltary authortes of Camp Santago, the Puerto Rco Natonal Guard and the Natonal Guard Bureau. VII. Fnal Words Ths project s a challenge for the Puerto Rcan Archeology. It s one of the most mportant projects of ts type n Puerto Rco and the frst one n charge of Puerto Rcan archeologst and coordnated by a local unversty. n the archeologcal work. I want to thank my student's dedcaton Also, I must recognze the cooperaton of leaders of the local archeologcal groups Iván Méndez and Angel Colon, wthout whom the work would have been more dffcult. I want to thank also the colleagues and teachers who vsted us durng our feld work at Camp Santago, among them Dr. Rcardo Alegría, Juan González Colón, Edgar Maíz, Karen Anderson, from the Puerto Fco State Hstorc Preservaton Offce and Wllam Russell, from the Natonal Guard Bureau. Above all, I must emphasze the cooperaton we have receved fron Dr. Vctor Carbone and the Archeologcal Servces Branch of the Natonal Park Servces. I must make specal menton to archeologst Gary Vescelous, who recently ded durng hs work at Veques Island, east of Puerto Rco. Gary Vescelous was the frst person who ponted out n the

21 43 Carbbean many of the deas and methodologcal and theoretcal concepts and approaches that we have followed n our research at Camp Santago. The best way to pay trbute to hs memory s to contnue dong archeologcal work wth the same dedcaton and professonalsm that characterzed hs whole lfe. ooooo BIBLIOGRAPHY Alegría, Rcardo E "On Puerto RCBn Archaeology," Amer car Antquty 21: Carbone, Vctor 1980 "Some Problems n Cultural Paleoecology n the Carbbean Area." Proceedngs of the Bth ICSPCLA, Arzona State Unversty, pp Ewell,J.J. and Whtmore, J.L The Ecologcal Lfe Zones of Puerto Rco and the U.S. Vrgn Islands. U.S. Forest Servce Research Paper ITF-8. Insttute of Tropcal Forestry, Ro Pedras, Puerto Rco. González Colón, Juan Archaeologcal Ste Forms from Puerto Rco Documents on fle at the Insttute of Puerto Rcan Culture and the State Hstorc Preservaton Offce [S.H.P.O.], San Juan, Puerto Rco.

22 44 Kng, Thomas F The Archeologcal Survey: Methods and Uses. Hertage Conservaton and Recreaton Servce, U.S. Department of Interor, Washngton,0.C. Lothrop, Samuel K Archaeologcal Stes n Puerto Rco. [ A photocopy onflewththeauthor.] Pco, Rafael 1969 Nueva Geografía de Puerto Rco. Edtoral Unverstara, Unversdad de Puerto Rco, San Juan, Puerto Rco. Rodríguez, Mguel 1983 Prehstora de Collores. Tess de Maestría del Centro de Estudos Avanzados de Puerto Rco y el Carbe, San Juan de Puerto Rco La Arboleda, Salnas: Un Proyecto de Salvamento Arqueológco en la Costa Sur de Puerto Rco. Pulte Homes Inc. y Ofcna de State Hstore Preservaton Offce [S.H.P.O.] San Juan, Puerto Rco. Rouse, Irvng 1982 Orgn of the Ostonod Seres: Mgraton or Interacton. New Haven, Conn Puerto Rcan Prehstory. Scentfc Survey of Puerto Rco and the Vrgn Islands, Volume 18, Parts 3 and 4. New York Academy of Scences. Sol Conservaton Servce and UPR College of Agrculture 1977 Sol Survey of Humacao Area of Eastern Puerto Rco. USDA, San Juan, Puerto Rco.