Crop Dispersal and Lucayan Tool Use: Investigating the Creation of Transported Landscapes in the Central Bahamas through Starch Grain, Phytolith, Macrobotanical, and Artifact Studies

Starch grain, phytolith, and macrobotanical evidence is expanding our understanding of the Lucayan transported landscape, plant food preparation, and cooking practices. Starch grain analyses reveal that the early colonists (a.d. 700/800–1100) of the central Bahamas brought a package of domesticated plants comprised of Calathea latifolia, Capsicum sp., Cucurbitaceae, Manihot esculenta, and Zea mays from their ancestral homelands, which they processed with artifacts made from local and imported materials. Late Lucayan period (a.d. 1100 to ca. 1530) macrobotanical remains yield evidence for Zea mays. Fruit-bearing trees such as the Sapotaceae and Arecaceae are found throughout the occupational sequence. Similarities in plant taxa and resemblances to tool form and use from other places in the Bahama archipelago and Antilles indicate shared plant-related food preparation and culinary practices.