Papers by Sandrine Grouard
Journal of Zoology, Nov 18, 2020
The introduction of exotic species is one of the major causes of the decline of global biodiversi... more The introduction of exotic species is one of the major causes of the decline of global biodiversity. Tropical insular ecosystems, including many biodiversity hotspots, are particularly threatened by biological invasions. Two wild carnivores have been introduced in the Caribbean, the northern raccoon Procyon lotor and the small Indian mongoose Urva auropunctata. Understanding the spatial distribution and activity patterns of both species is crucial for conservation purposes. Here we used camera trap data to model single-season occupancy and detection of these two species on two Caribbean islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Our survey highlighted the broad distribution of both species on these islands, with the exception of the northern raccoon population in Martinique which appears very limited. Moreover, spatio-temporal co-occurrence with other bird and mammal species revealed that the northern raccoon and the small Indian mongoose face few or no competitors. Finally, our models show that the occupancy of both species was not influenced by any variable tested (i.e. elevation, precipitation, temperature and land cover) and that the probability to detect small Indian mongooses was influenced by land cover and camera model. These results highlight the potential of both the northern raccoon and the small Indian mongoose to have a significant impact on the native ecosystems in these hotspots of biodiversity and demonstrate the necessity to develop conservation actions towards control and limitation of these invasive carnivores. concomitant increase of non-native species introductions (Cooke et al., 2017). Notably, two wild carnivores were introduced in the Caribbean during the 17th and 19th centuries: the northern raccoon Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758), and the small Indian mongoose Urva auropunctata (Hodgson, 1836) (formerly Herpestes auropunctatus or Herpestes javanicus, see Veron et al., 2007; Veron & Jennings, 2017). The northern raccoon is a meso-carnivore native to the North American continent (Lotze & Anderson, 1979). However, human activities, and particularly pet and fur trade, have led to its introduction in many regions worldwide. The species was introduced in the Caribbean during the 17th century, as well as in several regions in Europe, Iran and Japan during the late 20th century (Salgado, 2018; Louppe et al., 2019). In the Caribbean, the northern raccoon has been introduced to the
Latin American Antiquity
In precolumbian insular Caribbean archaeological sites, domestic dog (Canis familiaris) remains h... more In precolumbian insular Caribbean archaeological sites, domestic dog (Canis familiaris) remains have been recovered from varied contexts, such as formal burials, in refuse deposits, and as modified artifacts, indicating their complex and multifaceted role within indigenous societies. In this study, isotopic and morphometric analyses provide biochemical and morphological correlations to assess this differential treatment. We examined collagen values (n = 21) of carbon (δ13Cco) and nitrogen (δ15N), and enamel values (n = 81) of carbon (δ13Cen), oxygen (δ18Oen), and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) of dog remains from 16 precolumbian sites. Five comparative parameters were used to assess dietary variations between different groups: buried versus nonburied, local versus nonlocal, Greater versus Lesser Antilles, chronology, and modified versus unmodified remains. The only statistically significant difference in diets was between local and nonlocal dogs. Sufficient data were available to conduct iso...
Nature
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, mode... more Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled char...
Nature, 2021
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, mode... more Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled char...
The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
Environmental Archaeology
Barbuda and Antigua's national animal is the fallow deer, Dama dama dama, a species native to the... more Barbuda and Antigua's national animal is the fallow deer, Dama dama dama, a species native to the eastern Mediterranean that has been transported around the world by people during the last 8000 years. The timing and circumstances by which fallow deer came to be established on Barbuda are currently uncertain but, by examining documentary, osteological and genetic evidence, this paper will consider the validity of existing theories. It will review the dynamics of human-Dama relationships from the 1500s AD to the present day and consider how the meaning attached to this species has changed through time: from a symbol of colonial authority and dominance, to a 'walking larder' after the slave emancipation of 1834, and now an important part of the island's economy and cultural heritage that requires careful management.
Caribbean Journal of Science, 2016
Stoetzel E., Fraysse A., Bochaton C., Gala M., Grouard S., Lenoble A. & Denys C. This stu... more Stoetzel E., Fraysse A., Bochaton C., Gala M., Grouard S., Lenoble A. & Denys C. This study presents new information on the diet of Tyto insularis in Dominica, Lesser Antilles. The study of 57 pellets and bulk material collected in 1999 (23) and 2000 (34) contained 517 prey items of relatively high diversity. These included squamates (2 species), rodents (2 species), bats (7 species), birds (17 identified taxa and several unidentified Passeriformes) and insects. Although our inferences stem a few owls, results suggested that the diet of T. insularis in Dominica is similar to the diet of T. glaucops in Hispaniola.
Aux Petites Antilles, le village précolombien de Hope Estate offre de nombreuses particularités :... more Aux Petites Antilles, le village précolombien de Hope Estate offre de nombreuses particularités : il est localisé à l'intérieur des terres de l'île de Saint-Martin, il présente une longue séquence chronostratigraphique avec une succession d'occupations Huecan-Saladoïde et Cedrosan-Saladoïde (500 av. J.-C.-700 apr. J.-C.)et il a livré un très grand nombre de restes de vertébrés particulièrement bien conservés. À côté des imposantes tortues marines, des chiens, des rongeurs, des reptiles, des oiseaux et des poissons complètent le régime alimentaire : 75 taxons ont été identifiés. Une analyse taphonomique a permis de caractériser la constitution des assemblages osseux, leur état de dégradation et la part des facteurs anthropiques. L'étude de 38 885 restes a montré que le rôle des ressources vertébrées a varié considérablement selon la période chronologique considérée. Une comparaison diachronique des variations des stratégies alimentaires et de captures est présentée. Elle se focalise notamment sur les modifications des comportements de prédation intéressant les rats des rizières et certains poissons.
Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2015
Archéozoologie, histoire des sociétés humaines et des peuplements animaux Cet article présente le... more Archéozoologie, histoire des sociétés humaines et des peuplements animaux Cet article présente les grandes phases culturelles précolombiennes des Petites Antilles, les principaux sites archéologiques associés et leur localisation géographique. On y repère les premières colonisations de l'archipel par des populations précéramiques, puis les migrations et/ou révolutions culturelles céramiques successives, jusqu'à la période de contact avec les premiers européens. Les modes de vie quotidiens de chacune de ces cultures y sont présentés. Enfin, les sites majeurs, caractéristiques de chaque période et les sites éponymes sont localisés géographiquement. Cette présentation permet de faire le point sur les principales lacunes de la recherche aux Antilles et sur les contributions nécessaires dans un avenir proche. Mots clefs : Petites Antilles, Archéologie précolombienne, Précéramique, Saladoïde, post-Saladoïde, Période de contact. This article presents the great pre-Columbian cultural phases of the Lesser Antilles, the main archaeological sites associated with them and their geographical locations. The first colonisations of the archipelago by Preceramic populations are identified, then the migrations and/or successive ceramic cultural revolutions, up to the Contact Period with the first Europeans. The daily lifestyle of each of these cultures is presented. Finally, the major sites characteristic of each period, and the eponymous sites are geographically located. This presentation provides an overview of the main gaps in research in the Antilles and identifies pressing needs in this field.
The current archaeozoological knowledge in the Caribbean seems ill-matched and fragmented, we sho... more The current archaeozoological knowledge in the Caribbean seems ill-matched and fragmented, we should set the Caribbean archaeological research in its historical, epistemological and economical context. Initially practiced by naturalists and scientists from Occident, then by Caribbean, north-American and Europeans academics, this research reflects in one hand the major occidental thoughts in anthropology and human sciences, but on the other hand the political and economical regional diversity of the Caribbean. Indeed, since the beginning of the XXth century, the Europe an excitement about the Tainos of the Greater Antilles allowed both academic (governement and university) and rescue archaeology in the whole Caribbean. It is based on survey and excavation techniques adapted to the tropical environments, as well as on specialized studies, such as Archaeozoology, following European practices. Moreover, an increasing number of excavations occurred in the Caribbean for the past decades. ...
Journal of Herpetology
The origins of the two iguana species (Iguana delicatissima [Lesser Antillean Iguana] and Iguana ... more The origins of the two iguana species (Iguana delicatissima [Lesser Antillean Iguana] and Iguana iguana [Green Iguana]) occurring today in the Lesser Antilles are frequently questioned using mostly historical and genetic data. Osteological remains of iguanas are common in archaeological and paleontological deposits in the Lesser Antilles, however, and they could be important for understanding the past colonization processes of these two iguana species and subsequent sympatry. Unfortunately, although numerous questions exist about the past occurrence of those two species and their respective arrival dates, no osteological study has led to proper identification of subfossil iguana skeletal elements. Here we present a series of characters that allow for distinguishing the two species using isolated bones and emphasize the reliability of each recognized specific character. We also provide some comments about skeletal morphology of hybrids between both species and their identification ba...
26e congrès de l'Association Internationale d'Archéologie de la Caraïbe (AIAC/IACA), Jul 2015, Sint-Maarten, 2017
For fifteen years, French archaeological investigations in Martinique allow a fresh look at daily... more For fifteen years, French archaeological investigations in Martinique allow a fresh look at daily life in the past, from French settlement to the years that followed the abolition of slavery. The study of bone artefacts from the sites of Cour d'Appel-Rue Schoelcher (Fort-de-France), Allée Pécoul (Saint-Pierre), Habitation Perinelle (Saint-Pierre) and Maison Coloniale de Santé (Saint-Pierre) help us to better understand the close connection between France and its colonies, through society and customs. People maintained this " savoir-vivre à la française " though they lived 6000 kilometers from mainland France. Besides the bone artefact trade, the discovery of more than 500 fragment from button debris manufacturing together with finished buttons at the Habitation Perinelle site (Saint-Pierre; 1645-1763) confirm the presence of local bone working.
Throughout the modern day Caribbean, artisanal fishing constitutes an important part of domestic
... more Throughout the modern day Caribbean, artisanal fishing constitutes an important part of domestic
subsistence and household economies. Many of the traditional fishing practices on the islands today were
established during the Colonial Period, as enslaved Africans and their descendants developed social, economic,
and subsistence strategies to persist under the plantation system. The historical record provides little insight into
the day-to-day experiences of these enslaved laborers, including their subsistence regimes and practices. Fishing
by slaves in the colonial French Antilles is portrayed in the historic literature as a practice reserved primarily for
an ‘‘elite’’ group of fisherman held on wealthy plantations. Archaeology provides insight into the pieces of history
left out of the written record and offers valuable information regarding the everyday lives of the enslaved peoples
and communities underrepresented in this record. This article presents the results of the zooarchaeological
analysis of faunal remains recovered from enslaved laborer and sharecropper occupations at Habitation Cr`eve
Coeur, an eighteenth–nineteenth century sugar plantation on the island of Martinique. The data reveal that
fishing was an important economic activity for the slaves on this plantation and that the practice of fishing was
likely more of a communal act than one for a privileged few. Furthermore, analysis indicates that fishing
techniques that continue on the island today originated centuries ago, traditions developed by enslaved laborers
living under the severe constraints of the oppressive plantation system.
Historical Biology, 2017
This paper aims to demonstrate how subfossil bone remains from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits ... more This paper aims to demonstrate how subfossil bone remains from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits can
help to reconstruct the history of recently extinct taxa through the example of Pholidoscelis lizards from
the Guadeloupe Islands in the French West Indies. To achieve this, we conducted a new anatomical and
zooarchaeological study of fossil Pholidoscelis remains collected from 23 archaeological and paleontological
deposits on the Guadeloupe Islands from which this genus is nowadays absent. Our results shed light on
the past existence of large Pholidoscelis lizards on all the Guadeloupe islands but also on the difficulties of
confident specific identification for these remains. Nevertheless, we suggest a possible past occurrence of
the now extinct Pholidoscelis major on nearly all of the Guadeloupe islands. In addition, we identified a new
Pholidoscelis species, Pholidoscelis turukaeraensis sp. nov., on Marie-Galante Island, where no Pholidoscelis
lizards were previously reported. This new species underwent an increase in size after the end of the
Pleistocene period, possibly due to reduced predation pressure. We also highlight the consumption of
Pholidoscelis lizards by pre-Columbian Amerindians and the huge impact of European colonization, which
led to the extinction of all these lizards in less than 300 years.
Proc. R. Soc. B, 2017
Fossil remains provide useful insights into the long-term impact of anthro-pogenic phenomena on f... more Fossil remains provide useful insights into the long-term impact of anthro-pogenic phenomena on faunas and are often used to reveal the local (extirpations) or global (extinctions) losses of populations or species. However, other phenomena such as minor morphological changes can remain inconspicuous in the fossil record depending on the methodology used. In this study, we used the anole of Marie-Galante Island (Anolis ferreus) in Guadeloupe (French, West Indies) as a model to demonstrate how the morphological evolution of an insular lizard can be tracked through the Pleistocene/Holocene climatic transition and the recent anthropization of the island. We used a fossil assemblage of nearly 30 000 remains and a combination of anatomical description, traditional morphometry and geometric morphometrics. These fossils are attributed to a single taxon, most likely to be A. ferreus on the basis of morphological and morphometric arguments. Our results show the disappearance of a distinct (sub)population of large specimens that were about 25% larger than the modern representatives of A. ferreus. We also demonstrate an apparent size stability of the main fossil population of this species since the Late Pleis-tocene but with the possible occurrence of a reduction in morphological diversity during the Late Holocene. These results highlight the impact of anthropic disturbances on a lizard whose morphology otherwise remained stable since the Late Pleistocene.
During the 4th millennium BC, the Caribbean part of the Atlantic Ocean witnessed the development ... more During the 4th millennium BC, the Caribbean part of the Atlantic Ocean witnessed the development of insular societies in
the Lesser Antilles archipelago. These communities which combined shellfish collection, fishing, submarine and terrestrial hunting, a
possible proto-agriculture and gathering, developed a culture there rather specific to the tropical insular context. For this period, the
typology of the deposits and of the material productions, patterns in the exploitation of alimentary resources and of raw materials as
well as patterns in the territorial settlement, show that the natural environment had an influence on the lifestyle and organization of
these populations. Their social structure seems to be based on a cyclic system of exploitation of resources, shaped according to their
availability and to socio-economic necessities as well as to the needs of their symbolic world. The notion of archaeoecology presented
here comes from that of ethnoecology which analyses the interactions between humans and their natural environment with historical,
sociocultural and ecological perspectives. The concept of archaeoecology is used in this work in order to examine the past interactions
between the maritime hunter-gatherers of the Lesser Antilles, their activities and their environment. The palaeo-environments are
considered in a widely accepted way that is including living species, ecosystems and their evolutions, climatic conditions and their
variations. If it appears quite obvious that the natural environment partly influenced these societies, this aspect is even more distinct in
the very specific insular context of the Caribbean.
The island of Saint-Martin, localized in the Northern Lesser Antilles, offers a privileged field for this study. Indeed, it concentrates about a
third of the Archaic Age sites that are attested by absolute dates in the Lesser Antilles. The archipelago spreads over more than 1 000 km,
from Trinidad in the South to the Virgin Islands in the North, and thirty-seven Archaic Age sites have been, to this point, listed as far North
as the island of Vieques, south-east of Puerto Rico. The case of Saint-Martin, which yielded twelve out of these thirty-seven sites, allows
to examine, on a small territory, the sites’ settlement pattern, their formation and taphonomic evolution, and, in particular, the deterioration
parameters of the shell deposits. Little developed on a vertical scale in Saint-Martin, these shell deposits appear to result from the combination
of cyclic human settlements and stormy episodes bringing marine sand deposits which separate the successive discarding events in
the same spot or destroy them, especially during cyclonic episodes. A diachronic and detailed study of the settlements over close to four
millennia allows detecting an evolution in the human practices although they appear quite homogeneous at first sight. The global analysis
of all available parameters reveals a strong interaction of the trio: humans, activities and environment. Indeed, the origin of the raw materials
exploited in the industries and of the fauna which was consumed at the sites, show that these populations have a thorough knowledge
of the resources specific to each island of archipelago. These aspects suggest that the communities were highly mobile, moving from an
island ton another according to their needs and in adaptation to the availability and seasonality of some of these resources. The means of
subsistence are mostly based on the collecting of shellfish and, to a smaller extent, of crustaceans. The consuming of fish, mostly taken
from nearby reefs, is attested but it is difficult to evaluate its representation in the diet of the Archaic Age communities given the rarity of
bones found at the sites, probably as a result of differential preservation problems. Given the high occurrence of known littoral sites, all in
all quite coherent for nomadic navigators, it appears that these communities thus preferentially settled on the coast while they spent time
as well inland where terrestrial fauna then appears to be targeted.
Most of the activities registered at the sites are related to meat-based alimentation which seems to have conditioned the choice of places
to settle quite systematically, according to the settings of the collecting zones. Cooking and consumption were also taking place at the
settlements. The production and use of tools, attested by the debitage and shaping of stone, shell, and coral, are, in most cases, combined
with alimentary activities. Meanwhile, some sites have a more specific, more technical purpose and clearly stand as workshop
sites. Practices of a symbolic dimension are sometimes identified through, for example, unusual stone tools which aren’t functional a
priori. All these activities are also witnessed by human laying out: various types of firing, cooking and consuming zones, clusters where
the shells, mostly the queen conch (Lobatus gigas), were exploited for the making of tools, objects deposits in pits and empty areas
suggesting the presence of huts installed during bivouacs.
One of the special features of the Archaic Age settlements of Saint-Martin is the reoccupation of some of them, for hundreds or thousands
of years. This phenomenon appears to be directly led to by the communities’ lifestyle which establish themselves on the places
where they can find the resources they need. The results on the island of Saint-Martin allow defining the social profile of the Archaic
Age communities, that is highly mobile and nomadic populations that travel around using canoes over long distances. These data, compared
to those collected in the rest of the Lesser Antilles confirm and add to the so far understood pattern. Thus, the archaeoecology of
the Archaic Age populations of the Lesser Antilles reveals a relative symbiosis between humans, their activities and the environment.
This fragile balance for communities interdependent with the natural environment witnesses to a rather precarious lifestyle which will
be progressively discontinued in favour of semi-sedentary settlements at the end of the Archaic Age period. Meanwhile, the migration
of farmer-potter communities around the end of the 1st millennium BC leads to the disappearing of the Archaic Age populations in the
Lesser Antilles, integrated with the new societies or pushed away in the Greater Antilles where they lasted longer.
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Papers by Sandrine Grouard
subsistence and household economies. Many of the traditional fishing practices on the islands today were
established during the Colonial Period, as enslaved Africans and their descendants developed social, economic,
and subsistence strategies to persist under the plantation system. The historical record provides little insight into
the day-to-day experiences of these enslaved laborers, including their subsistence regimes and practices. Fishing
by slaves in the colonial French Antilles is portrayed in the historic literature as a practice reserved primarily for
an ‘‘elite’’ group of fisherman held on wealthy plantations. Archaeology provides insight into the pieces of history
left out of the written record and offers valuable information regarding the everyday lives of the enslaved peoples
and communities underrepresented in this record. This article presents the results of the zooarchaeological
analysis of faunal remains recovered from enslaved laborer and sharecropper occupations at Habitation Cr`eve
Coeur, an eighteenth–nineteenth century sugar plantation on the island of Martinique. The data reveal that
fishing was an important economic activity for the slaves on this plantation and that the practice of fishing was
likely more of a communal act than one for a privileged few. Furthermore, analysis indicates that fishing
techniques that continue on the island today originated centuries ago, traditions developed by enslaved laborers
living under the severe constraints of the oppressive plantation system.
help to reconstruct the history of recently extinct taxa through the example of Pholidoscelis lizards from
the Guadeloupe Islands in the French West Indies. To achieve this, we conducted a new anatomical and
zooarchaeological study of fossil Pholidoscelis remains collected from 23 archaeological and paleontological
deposits on the Guadeloupe Islands from which this genus is nowadays absent. Our results shed light on
the past existence of large Pholidoscelis lizards on all the Guadeloupe islands but also on the difficulties of
confident specific identification for these remains. Nevertheless, we suggest a possible past occurrence of
the now extinct Pholidoscelis major on nearly all of the Guadeloupe islands. In addition, we identified a new
Pholidoscelis species, Pholidoscelis turukaeraensis sp. nov., on Marie-Galante Island, where no Pholidoscelis
lizards were previously reported. This new species underwent an increase in size after the end of the
Pleistocene period, possibly due to reduced predation pressure. We also highlight the consumption of
Pholidoscelis lizards by pre-Columbian Amerindians and the huge impact of European colonization, which
led to the extinction of all these lizards in less than 300 years.
the Lesser Antilles archipelago. These communities which combined shellfish collection, fishing, submarine and terrestrial hunting, a
possible proto-agriculture and gathering, developed a culture there rather specific to the tropical insular context. For this period, the
typology of the deposits and of the material productions, patterns in the exploitation of alimentary resources and of raw materials as
well as patterns in the territorial settlement, show that the natural environment had an influence on the lifestyle and organization of
these populations. Their social structure seems to be based on a cyclic system of exploitation of resources, shaped according to their
availability and to socio-economic necessities as well as to the needs of their symbolic world. The notion of archaeoecology presented
here comes from that of ethnoecology which analyses the interactions between humans and their natural environment with historical,
sociocultural and ecological perspectives. The concept of archaeoecology is used in this work in order to examine the past interactions
between the maritime hunter-gatherers of the Lesser Antilles, their activities and their environment. The palaeo-environments are
considered in a widely accepted way that is including living species, ecosystems and their evolutions, climatic conditions and their
variations. If it appears quite obvious that the natural environment partly influenced these societies, this aspect is even more distinct in
the very specific insular context of the Caribbean.
The island of Saint-Martin, localized in the Northern Lesser Antilles, offers a privileged field for this study. Indeed, it concentrates about a
third of the Archaic Age sites that are attested by absolute dates in the Lesser Antilles. The archipelago spreads over more than 1 000 km,
from Trinidad in the South to the Virgin Islands in the North, and thirty-seven Archaic Age sites have been, to this point, listed as far North
as the island of Vieques, south-east of Puerto Rico. The case of Saint-Martin, which yielded twelve out of these thirty-seven sites, allows
to examine, on a small territory, the sites’ settlement pattern, their formation and taphonomic evolution, and, in particular, the deterioration
parameters of the shell deposits. Little developed on a vertical scale in Saint-Martin, these shell deposits appear to result from the combination
of cyclic human settlements and stormy episodes bringing marine sand deposits which separate the successive discarding events in
the same spot or destroy them, especially during cyclonic episodes. A diachronic and detailed study of the settlements over close to four
millennia allows detecting an evolution in the human practices although they appear quite homogeneous at first sight. The global analysis
of all available parameters reveals a strong interaction of the trio: humans, activities and environment. Indeed, the origin of the raw materials
exploited in the industries and of the fauna which was consumed at the sites, show that these populations have a thorough knowledge
of the resources specific to each island of archipelago. These aspects suggest that the communities were highly mobile, moving from an
island ton another according to their needs and in adaptation to the availability and seasonality of some of these resources. The means of
subsistence are mostly based on the collecting of shellfish and, to a smaller extent, of crustaceans. The consuming of fish, mostly taken
from nearby reefs, is attested but it is difficult to evaluate its representation in the diet of the Archaic Age communities given the rarity of
bones found at the sites, probably as a result of differential preservation problems. Given the high occurrence of known littoral sites, all in
all quite coherent for nomadic navigators, it appears that these communities thus preferentially settled on the coast while they spent time
as well inland where terrestrial fauna then appears to be targeted.
Most of the activities registered at the sites are related to meat-based alimentation which seems to have conditioned the choice of places
to settle quite systematically, according to the settings of the collecting zones. Cooking and consumption were also taking place at the
settlements. The production and use of tools, attested by the debitage and shaping of stone, shell, and coral, are, in most cases, combined
with alimentary activities. Meanwhile, some sites have a more specific, more technical purpose and clearly stand as workshop
sites. Practices of a symbolic dimension are sometimes identified through, for example, unusual stone tools which aren’t functional a
priori. All these activities are also witnessed by human laying out: various types of firing, cooking and consuming zones, clusters where
the shells, mostly the queen conch (Lobatus gigas), were exploited for the making of tools, objects deposits in pits and empty areas
suggesting the presence of huts installed during bivouacs.
One of the special features of the Archaic Age settlements of Saint-Martin is the reoccupation of some of them, for hundreds or thousands
of years. This phenomenon appears to be directly led to by the communities’ lifestyle which establish themselves on the places
where they can find the resources they need. The results on the island of Saint-Martin allow defining the social profile of the Archaic
Age communities, that is highly mobile and nomadic populations that travel around using canoes over long distances. These data, compared
to those collected in the rest of the Lesser Antilles confirm and add to the so far understood pattern. Thus, the archaeoecology of
the Archaic Age populations of the Lesser Antilles reveals a relative symbiosis between humans, their activities and the environment.
This fragile balance for communities interdependent with the natural environment witnesses to a rather precarious lifestyle which will
be progressively discontinued in favour of semi-sedentary settlements at the end of the Archaic Age period. Meanwhile, the migration
of farmer-potter communities around the end of the 1st millennium BC leads to the disappearing of the Archaic Age populations in the
Lesser Antilles, integrated with the new societies or pushed away in the Greater Antilles where they lasted longer.
subsistence and household economies. Many of the traditional fishing practices on the islands today were
established during the Colonial Period, as enslaved Africans and their descendants developed social, economic,
and subsistence strategies to persist under the plantation system. The historical record provides little insight into
the day-to-day experiences of these enslaved laborers, including their subsistence regimes and practices. Fishing
by slaves in the colonial French Antilles is portrayed in the historic literature as a practice reserved primarily for
an ‘‘elite’’ group of fisherman held on wealthy plantations. Archaeology provides insight into the pieces of history
left out of the written record and offers valuable information regarding the everyday lives of the enslaved peoples
and communities underrepresented in this record. This article presents the results of the zooarchaeological
analysis of faunal remains recovered from enslaved laborer and sharecropper occupations at Habitation Cr`eve
Coeur, an eighteenth–nineteenth century sugar plantation on the island of Martinique. The data reveal that
fishing was an important economic activity for the slaves on this plantation and that the practice of fishing was
likely more of a communal act than one for a privileged few. Furthermore, analysis indicates that fishing
techniques that continue on the island today originated centuries ago, traditions developed by enslaved laborers
living under the severe constraints of the oppressive plantation system.
help to reconstruct the history of recently extinct taxa through the example of Pholidoscelis lizards from
the Guadeloupe Islands in the French West Indies. To achieve this, we conducted a new anatomical and
zooarchaeological study of fossil Pholidoscelis remains collected from 23 archaeological and paleontological
deposits on the Guadeloupe Islands from which this genus is nowadays absent. Our results shed light on
the past existence of large Pholidoscelis lizards on all the Guadeloupe islands but also on the difficulties of
confident specific identification for these remains. Nevertheless, we suggest a possible past occurrence of
the now extinct Pholidoscelis major on nearly all of the Guadeloupe islands. In addition, we identified a new
Pholidoscelis species, Pholidoscelis turukaeraensis sp. nov., on Marie-Galante Island, where no Pholidoscelis
lizards were previously reported. This new species underwent an increase in size after the end of the
Pleistocene period, possibly due to reduced predation pressure. We also highlight the consumption of
Pholidoscelis lizards by pre-Columbian Amerindians and the huge impact of European colonization, which
led to the extinction of all these lizards in less than 300 years.
the Lesser Antilles archipelago. These communities which combined shellfish collection, fishing, submarine and terrestrial hunting, a
possible proto-agriculture and gathering, developed a culture there rather specific to the tropical insular context. For this period, the
typology of the deposits and of the material productions, patterns in the exploitation of alimentary resources and of raw materials as
well as patterns in the territorial settlement, show that the natural environment had an influence on the lifestyle and organization of
these populations. Their social structure seems to be based on a cyclic system of exploitation of resources, shaped according to their
availability and to socio-economic necessities as well as to the needs of their symbolic world. The notion of archaeoecology presented
here comes from that of ethnoecology which analyses the interactions between humans and their natural environment with historical,
sociocultural and ecological perspectives. The concept of archaeoecology is used in this work in order to examine the past interactions
between the maritime hunter-gatherers of the Lesser Antilles, their activities and their environment. The palaeo-environments are
considered in a widely accepted way that is including living species, ecosystems and their evolutions, climatic conditions and their
variations. If it appears quite obvious that the natural environment partly influenced these societies, this aspect is even more distinct in
the very specific insular context of the Caribbean.
The island of Saint-Martin, localized in the Northern Lesser Antilles, offers a privileged field for this study. Indeed, it concentrates about a
third of the Archaic Age sites that are attested by absolute dates in the Lesser Antilles. The archipelago spreads over more than 1 000 km,
from Trinidad in the South to the Virgin Islands in the North, and thirty-seven Archaic Age sites have been, to this point, listed as far North
as the island of Vieques, south-east of Puerto Rico. The case of Saint-Martin, which yielded twelve out of these thirty-seven sites, allows
to examine, on a small territory, the sites’ settlement pattern, their formation and taphonomic evolution, and, in particular, the deterioration
parameters of the shell deposits. Little developed on a vertical scale in Saint-Martin, these shell deposits appear to result from the combination
of cyclic human settlements and stormy episodes bringing marine sand deposits which separate the successive discarding events in
the same spot or destroy them, especially during cyclonic episodes. A diachronic and detailed study of the settlements over close to four
millennia allows detecting an evolution in the human practices although they appear quite homogeneous at first sight. The global analysis
of all available parameters reveals a strong interaction of the trio: humans, activities and environment. Indeed, the origin of the raw materials
exploited in the industries and of the fauna which was consumed at the sites, show that these populations have a thorough knowledge
of the resources specific to each island of archipelago. These aspects suggest that the communities were highly mobile, moving from an
island ton another according to their needs and in adaptation to the availability and seasonality of some of these resources. The means of
subsistence are mostly based on the collecting of shellfish and, to a smaller extent, of crustaceans. The consuming of fish, mostly taken
from nearby reefs, is attested but it is difficult to evaluate its representation in the diet of the Archaic Age communities given the rarity of
bones found at the sites, probably as a result of differential preservation problems. Given the high occurrence of known littoral sites, all in
all quite coherent for nomadic navigators, it appears that these communities thus preferentially settled on the coast while they spent time
as well inland where terrestrial fauna then appears to be targeted.
Most of the activities registered at the sites are related to meat-based alimentation which seems to have conditioned the choice of places
to settle quite systematically, according to the settings of the collecting zones. Cooking and consumption were also taking place at the
settlements. The production and use of tools, attested by the debitage and shaping of stone, shell, and coral, are, in most cases, combined
with alimentary activities. Meanwhile, some sites have a more specific, more technical purpose and clearly stand as workshop
sites. Practices of a symbolic dimension are sometimes identified through, for example, unusual stone tools which aren’t functional a
priori. All these activities are also witnessed by human laying out: various types of firing, cooking and consuming zones, clusters where
the shells, mostly the queen conch (Lobatus gigas), were exploited for the making of tools, objects deposits in pits and empty areas
suggesting the presence of huts installed during bivouacs.
One of the special features of the Archaic Age settlements of Saint-Martin is the reoccupation of some of them, for hundreds or thousands
of years. This phenomenon appears to be directly led to by the communities’ lifestyle which establish themselves on the places
where they can find the resources they need. The results on the island of Saint-Martin allow defining the social profile of the Archaic
Age communities, that is highly mobile and nomadic populations that travel around using canoes over long distances. These data, compared
to those collected in the rest of the Lesser Antilles confirm and add to the so far understood pattern. Thus, the archaeoecology of
the Archaic Age populations of the Lesser Antilles reveals a relative symbiosis between humans, their activities and the environment.
This fragile balance for communities interdependent with the natural environment witnesses to a rather precarious lifestyle which will
be progressively discontinued in favour of semi-sedentary settlements at the end of the Archaic Age period. Meanwhile, the migration
of farmer-potter communities around the end of the 1st millennium BC leads to the disappearing of the Archaic Age populations in the
Lesser Antilles, integrated with the new societies or pushed away in the Greater Antilles where they lasted longer.