INDIAN CREEK: ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA,

INDIAN CREEK

CERAMIC PERIOD: The Indian Creek village site can be found about half a mile up the Indian Creek inlet on the south-east of Antigua. The Amerindian village site is an internationally known prehistoric archaeological site and is the most important on Antigua. Just before the time of Christ, maritime Arawakan speaking people arrived by canoe from South America.

These agricultural people cleared the valley to grow their main staple ,cassava. Their life was sustained by the many different types of natural resources to be found from the mangroves, the creek and the sea. Arawak art was of high aesthetic quality and their agronomy was most productive in the Caribbean's ancient world. The settlement, whose population was about 50, lasted until about 1200 AD.

Amerindian Aftifacts

	ADORNO FROM THE RIM OF A VESSEL		MODELED FROG ON VESSEL WALL

In 1973, Yale University made several excavations, where workers unearthed middens (garbage dumps) on this site where Arawak chiefs and shamans had apparently lived, bringing to light long buried religious artifacts so that the Historical Society could continue reconstructing the religious practices begun by earlier work. Only about 1% of the site was excavated; the idea being that the rest should be left for future Antiguan archaeologists and for when better and more advanced method will be developed.

Development

We believe this site would make an interesting eco-tourism attraction. Amerindian houses are simple to build. Three full sized ones would make the site come alive. One house would be a museum showing the many artifacts that have been found there, another for facilities and the other for a caretaker and guide/lecturer. The interiors of the latter two would be modern.

INTERNATIONAL REFERENCES

JONES, ALICK 1978 Dietary Changes of the Arawaks at Indian Creek, Antigua. Am. Antiquity,Vol.50:3 913.031'155'Z5

OLSEN, FRED 1974 Indian Creek: Arawak Site on Antigua, West Indies. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press. 972.974'004'

OLSEN, FRED 1974 On the Trail of the Arawaks Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 408pp. 970.3 ROUSE, I.&

FABER MORSE BIRGIT 1999 Excavations at the Indian Creek Site, Antigua. Yale University Pubs in Anthro.No.82 1999,70 pp. 972.974'004'

STEADMAN 1980 Faunal Remains from Indian Creek. .See also Z2 Unpublished 913.031'155'Z2

GOVERNMENT MAP, PLAN n.d. Plan of Piccadilly Lands at Indian Creek, with owners. Unpublished 972.974I2
Information Taken from the Museum of Antigua & Barbuda