Impressions of a Lost Technology: A Study of Lucayan-Taíno Basketry

A sample of 260 basketry-impressed Palmettan Ostionoid sherds were analyzed from the Pigeon Creek Site, a 15th-century Lucayan-Taíno site located on San Salvador, Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The study is part of a larger project examining the geographic distribution of basketry technology and design from sites of varying time periods and islands throughout the Bahama archipelago and northern Greater Antilles. Three subclasses of basket weaves were recognized from the impressions recorded in molds and casts. Several complex designs were identified. A four-row sequence we term the “A” pattern was used to create varying patterns. The roles of baskets as trade, tribute, or gift exchange in 15th-century Lucayan- Taíno society and the potential for using variability in basket weaves to infer social boundaries are discussed. Basketry may also have played a role in the expression and authority of shamans.